Don’t get me wrong, orientation was great, it was something like (but not necessarily) wondering why you are in college to realize later in life that it was extremely helpful. If nothing else I got to meet the very talented and passionate people with whom I had been working over the past couple of months drafting case studies over conference calls, google docs and mass emails.

Sunday I met most of the youth delegates from other organizations at the Youth Caucus, this was a time when some pieces of the puzzle started to make sense together. By the end of the day we had established working groups to represent the children and youth voices at the different venues during this next two weeks.

I joined the working group that drafted and delivered the opening statement this morning. The plenary gave us one minute to raise our first remarks. The pressure was on as we felt that this first statement at the opening ceremony was going to set the tone in the next two weeks as we go along reviewing the six topics with other major groups. This is what we came up with:

 Mr. Chairman,
Distinguished Delegates,

The youth caucus, stand before you today, representing the children and youth of the world. Today, young people account for 50% of the Earth’s population, today we are inheriting an ailing world we did not contribute to shaping.

We believe that intergenerational forums, such as the CSD, are powerful examples of integrated models. The success of which is based on the unity of mind and action of the major groups.

If armed with education and technology, today’s young people hold the key to contributing substantially to an intergenerational dialogue on sustainable development. Whereas members of the youth caucus have been privileged with such things, 9.17% of the world’s children do not complete even primary school.

If the very people who are most affected by decisions of policy makers are ignored, no conclusions drawn from this year's review process can be of any practical use.


Youth and children are the social conscience of the world.


We are here, and we are ready to work together