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Young Americas Forum An Open Dialogue between young people and international leaders

Forum Impact

The Young Americas Forum is an open permanent platform for the participation of young people in the Summits of the Americas and General Assemblies processes as well as Ministerial Meetings and high-level inter-American conferences. The Forum has been established as the official event and program that provides inclusive spaces for youth to contribute proactively in the definition of priorities and mandates in the Americas.

An in-person format of the Forum is celebrated every three years within the framework of the Summits of the Americas, institutionalized gatherings of the heads of state and government of the Western Hemisphere. During the Summits leaders discuss common policy issues, affirm shared values and commit to concerted actions at the national and regional level to address continuing and new challenges faced in the Americas. Young People contribute to the Summits process and participate as Social Actors, providing their recommendations and contributions to the Summits Themes.

At the Young Americas Forums, participants connect and gain skills, knowledge, networks through conferences, workshops, and networking events. A Youth Declaration of Commitment1 is adopted to be presented to Heads of State by youth representatives. Throughout the Forum’s process, this young people are able to make concrete proposals to governments, present innovative solutions to the Summits themes and setting up their own agenda for action and follow-up to the agreements reached at the Forum.

The Young Americas Forum was created by Young Americas Business Trust (YABT) in partnership with the Summit of the Americas Secretariat and the Organization of American States (OAS) in 2005, as the official hemispheric platform for the participation of young people to participate and make contributions as Social Actors, in the Summit of the Americas.

As a unique platform for young people to present recommendations, concerns, and most importantly, innovative actions that respond to the Summits of the Americas Themes, the Forum has the following components:

• Youth Participation with in-person local, national and hemispheric youth dialogues,2 policy making trainings (policy labs) and virtual consultations. To contribute to the Youth Declaration of Commitment and Action Plan.

• Entrepreneurship in Action, through the Talent and Innovation Competition of the Americas (TIC Americas), an international platform and business acceleration plan for young entrepreneurs and start-ups that provide training, coaching, funding, and access to an international network:

www.ticamericas.net

Since its creation, more than 28,000 young people from every Member State of the OAS have participated in the Summits of the Americas process through the Young Americas Forum.

1 Youth Declarations are the written proposals, recommendations and concerns from young people to governments; which include the voice of all young people involved in the Young Americas Forum process.

2 Since 2007 Hemispheric Youth Dialogues have been consolidated as the channel for the participation of Youth as Social Actors in the OAS General Assemblies.

•Colombia’s first lady María Juliana Ruiz -TIC Americas 2019 (Video: https://bit.ly/2ZgErSw )

•The Vice President of the World Bank for Latin America and the Caribbean, Jorge Familiar, in the IV Young Americas Forum

•S.E Luis Almagro, Secretary General of the OAS in the V Forum

•Panel “Tomorrow’s Leaders Speak Up: Intergenerational Dialogue between Today’s and Tomorrow’s Leaders”, in the IV Young Americas Forum (Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r66VhPsjdrk)

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Port of Spain Trinidad & Tobago

Mar de la PlataArgentina

Lima Peru

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Youth Involved+28 000

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The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is the global plan adopted by all the United Nations member states in 2015 to achieve prosperity for all people and the planet. This worldwide commitment consists of leaving no one behind and making the 17 SDGs a reality for everyone by 2030. The Young Americas Business Trust (YABT) works directly with today’s young leaders and entrepreneurs that are building a better future for our region and the rest of the world. In close collaboration with the Organization of American States (OAS), YABT fosters the innovative role of youth in economic development, social inclusion, environmental protection, as well as peace and democratic efforts.

About Young Americas Business Trust The Young Americas Forum and the Sustainable Development Goals

The Young Americas Business Trust (YABT) is a nonprofit international organization that works in cooperation with the Organization of American States (OAS) to promote social and economic development of young people around the world. While building entrepreneurial capacity and creating opportunities for future business leaders, the YABT community advances the global goals and strengthens youth-led initiatives for sustainable development.

Focus areas

Leadership: Connecting young entrepreneurs and national organizations in a vibrant community of global actors supporting youth development, citizen participation, learning, and exchanges of opportunities, to form a new generation of responsible business leaders.

Business Skills and Training: Emphasizing practical experience to generate an entrepreneurial spirit and foster innovation in young people, while motivating and leading them through a “real life” business experience.

Competitions: YABT Competitions operate as business accelerator platforms in which young entrepreneurs develop their business ideas and startups. These hemispheric programs connect private sector, investors, and governments seeking to support business proposals with scalable innovations in different sectors.

Resources and Alliances: Working through international and national alliances that provide technical and financial support to young entrepreneurs programs and initiatives.

YABT Impact

Learn more about how YABT contributes to achieve the SDGs through all its programs.

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The V Young Americas Forum was held in 2018 in the city of Lima, Peru, as an official activity of the VIII Summit of the Americas. The Forum focused on addressing the central theme of the Summit, “Democratic Governance against Corruption” from the youth perspective in the course of twelve months thousands of young people, organizations and youth networks, worked with different sectors in their respective countries to take the challenge and commitment to organize 110 on-site dialogues involving people from hard-to-reach communities, at risk youth and underrepresented groups.

Involving more than 5,700 young people, as part of the preparatory process, the V Forum also had the implementation component, the Talent and Innovation Competition of the Americas “TIC Americas 2018”. TIC Americas accounted and brought to the Summit a total of 13,048 proposals submitted by 15,935 young people from 33 countries.

More than 400 Young People attended the V Young Americas Forum in person to discuss and adopt the Youth Declaration of Commitment of Lima and its Plan of Action to ensure the follow-up and development for each thematic axis of the Eighth Summit of the Americas. 1. Democratic governance and corruption; 2. Corruption and sustainable development; 3.Aspects of cooperation, international institutionality and public private alliances.

Youth representatives presented results of a Hemispheric Youth Consultation process to the Heads of Delegation at the 49th OAS General Assembly held in June 2019 in Medellin, Colombia. This report was built from the compilation, systematization and analysis of youth contributions, received from more than 1400 young people from all over the hemisphere.

The Report focused on the central theme: “Innovating to strengthen hemispheric multilateralism” with priority topics grouped in the thematic axes: New Role of the State and Society, Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and Economic Opportunities for the youth.

V Young Americas Forum April, 2018 | Lima, Peru

Young America’s Dialogue in the frame of the 49th General AssemblyJune, 2019 | Medellin, Colombia

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IV Young Americas Forum April, 2015 | Panama City, Panama

The IV Young Americas, an official event of the VII Summit of the Americas, was focused on the theme “Prosperity with Equity: The Challenge of Cooperation in the Americas”. During the preparatory process of the Forum YABT, partner organization and youth networks, worked with over 1500 young people between the ages of 18 and 30 to provide inputs for the “Youth Declaration of Panama 2015”.

More than 500 young people from different sectors and organizations attended the Young Americas Forum in Panama. It should be noted that the Youth Network of the Americas, Jóvenes Iberoamericanos, Red Latinoamericana de Jóvenes por la Democracia, Club “Botánico Ambiental”, Asociación Vale Emprender, and others partnered with YABT in this effort.

Among the participation components of the IV Forum, it is worth highlighting: 1) Face-to-face Dialogues: Regional, National and Local Dialogues led by young people will be developed in the different OAS Member States. 2) Virtual Community: Space of interaction where the social actors who debated and presented projects, recommendations and actions for the VII Summit of the Americas. 3) Virtual Consultation; Served as a channel to receive suggestions, proposals and concerns that will be taken into account for the development of the next Declaration of Commitment of the Youth of the Americas.

The IV Forum also had an implementation component, through which young entrepreneurs contribute innovative solutions and actions to the sub-themes of the VII Summit, the Talent and Innovation Competition of the Americas “TIC Americas 2015”.

The Young Americas Forum in Panama was the first official event within the framework of the Summit of the Americas that welcomed the attendance of 60 young Cuban citizens, marking a historic milestone for the Americas. For the first time, Luis Almagro, Secretary General of OAS participated at a Young Americas Forum reaffirming the commitment and vision of the organization with the youth, at a time when young people are marking the productive and social transformation in the Americas.

III Young Americas Forum April, 2012 | Cartagena de Indias, Colombia

The III Young Americas Forum held in 2012 in the city of Cartagena, Colombia; centered for the first time to see ”Young people as “Partners for Prosperity”. More tools for participation started to be incorporated, like virtual consultations and in-person dialogues took place in different countries with the participation of more than 3,500 young people.

The Young Americas Business Trust identifies that this is possible through local partners, youth networks, NGOs, universities, incubators, chambers of commerce and others. The III Young Americas Forum adopted the Cartagena Youth Declaration of Commitment and its Plan of Action which has resulted in three major commitments:

1. Create a Youth Network of the Americas and strengthen the work of existing networks and youth organizations at the local, national and regional level;2. Establish a Youth Observatory for Monitoring and Control of the proposals and agreements of the Summit, through which the youth of the Americas, their networks and their organizations are vigilantes of the tasks of governments and, if appropriate, to propose contributions and improvements; 3. Organize the youth and participate in the process towards the VI Summit of the Americas, carrying out the III Forum of Young of the Americas to continue initiatives and projects in progress, promoting them and generating added values through a collaboration network.

The first Youth Conference of the OAS under the topic “Youth in Action: For Democracy and Entrepreneurship,” took place in December 2012 in Washington D.C. An initiative led by the Office of the Assistant Secretary General of the OAS and YABT. The conference held a second and third edition in 2013 and 2014 respectively, generating high-level discussions and follow-up on youth mandates.

In this sense, the mandate of the 38th OAS General Assembly in Medellin, Colombia, in 2008, where Member States entrusted the General Secretariat of the OAS to “incorporate the perspective of young people in programs and activities of the OAS, in particular those that focus on the promotion of democratic principles and values.”

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II Young Americas Forum Abril, 2009 | Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago

The Second Young Americas Forum was held in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago and had a strong emphasis on Youth, entrepreneurship, innovation, migration, business opportunities for young people in environmental issues and development of alternative energies, as well as the promotion of technologies that could connect to the Americas.

The Forum promoted a platform for participation through a series of online and live consultations; Hundreds of young people from all over the Americas discussed and adopted the “Declaration of Commitment of Port of Spain,” which was presented at the Dialogue of Ministers of Foreign Affairs with Social Actors of the V Summit of the Americas.

The Forum was preceded by and resulted from a process of participation that lasted more than eight months and included an online consultation and four sub-regional dialogues in Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago, Paraguay and the Dominican Republic. Through these activities, thousands of young people from different social backgrounds in the region contributed their opinions and commitments to the Summits of the Americas process and presented the youth perspective in relation to the priority themes of the Fifth Summit: Human Prosperity, Energy Security and Environmental Sustainability.

The First Young Americas Forum took place mid-2005 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was attended by 300 young people who contributed to the central theme of the IV Summit of the Americas “Creating Jobs to Confront Poverty and Strengthen Democratic Governance.”

There, the real articulation between young people from schools, universities, NGOs, entrepreneurs, civil society actors and the private sector began to take shape; as a result of joint efforts among youth and local and international partners. More than 8,000 participants responded and presented an “Action Plan” focused on decent youth employment.

This was the first opportunity for young people to present their recommendations, opinions, and actions to the Heads of State and Government of the Hemisphere. This gives rise to a new platform that allows young people to take up the challenge of being agents of change.

I Young Americas ForumAugust, 2005 | Buenos Aires, Argentina

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Youth and Education

The Education Working Group, who postulated in the Declaration that they wanted, as a youth, to be considered in the development of the Inter-American Agenda for Education. YABT channeled this request and the young people were able to make their contribution to the construction of the Agenda. A virtual consultation and a dialogue with experts in Education resulted in a Report that was presented to the Ministers of Education in the Day of Reflection towards the Construction of an Inter-American Educational Agenda.

Youth and Sustainable Development

Sustainable Development was another topic that recently achieved a “Declaration of Young Americans United for Sustainable Development” that was presented at the Dialogue with Civil Society in the framework of the Meeting of High Authorities of Sustainable Development developed in Tela, Honduras. This is another example of the follow-up to the proposals put forward by young people in April, in this case, to the Working Group on Environment.

Youth and Social Inclusion

Since IV Forum, emerged the need to work on the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the different areas of the Organization of American States. That is why, accompanying a proposal that emerged in Panama, a project for social inclusion for persons with disabilities “Accessible OAS” was presented to the new Secretariat for Access to Rights and Equity of the OAS. In this way YABT accompanies the youth in their concern to guarantee access to information and contents in the OAS for people with disabilities.

Connection with Ministerial and other Hemispheric Events in the Inter-American Agenda

Youth and Indigenous Groups

Another important aspect of the Forum was that, for the first time in the framework of the Summit of the Americas, the young members of indigenous people had a space and made their voices heard. They drafted a “Declaration of the Indigenous Youth” which was presented to the presidents of the Member States. This was a historic Forum, where voice was given to those who had no voice.

General Assembly of the OAS

Another event where youth is represented every year is the General Assembly of the Organization of American States. It is a goal of YABT to include young people in the OAS process as drivers of change. In Washington DC and later in Santo Domingo, the youth made their recommendations regarding the pillars of the OAS and were listened to by the highest authorities of the Organization and the heads of Delegation, so that their words reached every corner of the hemisphere. Prior to the Assemblies, YABT developed virtual dialogues and virtual surveys that involved hundreds of young people from all over the hemisphere making their contributions to the OAS.

Annual Meeting of theWorld Bank and International MonetaryFund

Another historic milestone was the World Bank and IMF Annual Meetings held in Peru in 2015, which, after more than 50 years, was held outside of Washington D.C. Jim Kim, President of the World Bank, was the keynote speaker at the event that convened more than 500 people to talk about youth and entrepreneurship in the Peruvian capital.

“Young entrepreneurs: drivers of sustainable growth” was the title of the activity that took as a prelude 4 months of interaction with the youth of 43 countries to know and be able to replicate their success stories in Lima. There the Young Americas Business Trust coordinated the development of a report that shows how young people have become drivers of innovation, economic growth, and positively impacted their societies.

Prior to the meeting in Lima, YABT opened different channels of participation, where thousands of young people were involved: 3 global dialogues, in English, French and Spanish, 25 National dialogues covering 5 continents and more than 1,000 responses to virtual queries.

Youth and migration

The Committee on Migration Issues of the OAS, provided a prominent place for Youth in the Forum “Migration and Development: Towards the implementation of the Agenda 2030”. The results of this dialogue as well as 27 hemispheric dialogues developed in partnership with the Ibero-American Youth Network, the Youth Network of the Americas and other local, national and regional initiatives were presented at the Dialogue of Social Actors with the Heads of Delegation to the General Assembly of the OAS.

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Youth and Employment

In December 2016, the “Intersectoral Workshop on Youth Employment: an articulation between education and work” was held in Brasilia, bringing together authorities from the Ministries of Education and Labor and other key actors to analyze experiences and discuss youth employment strategies. There, a youth spokesperson had the opportunity to share the contributions of 24 national dialogues held during that year in follow-up to the Forum process. The meeting sought to recognize the changes that are taking place in the world of work and the demands imposed by the new technologies and the so-called ‘fourth industrial revolution’ in employment, education and training. YABT had the task of bringing the youth vision to that workshop.

Open dialogue with the Secretary General of the OAS

In May 2016, the young people had the opportunity for the first time to participate in an open dialogue with the Secretary General of the OAS. More than 500 young people from 26 countries from all over the continent participated in the celebration of the 4th anniversary of the formation of the “Youth Network of the Americas” in response to the “Action Plan” of the Young Americas Forum in Cartagena.

Annual United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) YouthForum

Since 2013, YABT plays a central role in the UN ECOSOC Youth Forum by elevating the voice of young people in the Americas to the UN Level. YABT has been speaker, moderator, presenter and responsible to connect with the Youth Networks in the Region. Intervention include: 2016, YABT Executive Director Valerie Lorena was a panelist at a plenary session on promoting alliances that involve youth in the implementation of Agenda 2030. In 2017, YABT CEO Luis Viguria was in charge of moderation and presentation of the results of the session on the challenges of youth in Latin America and the Caribbean.

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Young Americas Business Trust

Young Americas Business Trust General Secretariat of the Organization of American States

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