Presentations at side events and the delivery of the joint Youth Statement at the Plenary of the 66th CND empowered youths to increase their contribution to the global drug policy-making arena and bring their voices to the forefront. Youths made interventions at the side events organized by Japan (“Dame. Zettai.” (Never. Ever.) “Value Yourself.” Drug Prevention Appeal From Japan After 30 Years) and UTrip (Youth Engagement In The Education Sector: Increasing Youth Participation, Social Justice Awareness Through Schools And Prevention Impact On Community Engagement).
Claudio Llatas shared his inspiring experience of working in the NGO 'LIPREC' in Peru, through the DAPC-supported project by CEDRO. Youth leaders of LIPREC were supported by capacity building workshops on drug use prevention, youth empowerment, and social skills development, and contributed as agents for change in the Santa Anita community of Peru. He emphasized the active involvement of youth in the project, from planning to evaluation, which enabled them to make tangible impact in their community.
Moe Yokoro, along with 2 other students from Japan, highlighted the continued need to pay attention to drug use prevention. They shared how youth in the Japanese community are actively involved in conducting youth-to-youth education sessions in schools, communicating accurate information, raising awareness through prevention campaigns and fund-raising activities. They called for continued action on promoting prevention, moving towards a common goal, even if they are small steps at a time.
Vinayak Menon shared his journey of contributing towards drug use prevention, and urged the audience to give youth a seat at the table and genuinely involve them in prevention work. To champion the next generation of leaders, he recommended to encourage youth involvement in local grassroot environments, provide learning opportunities, and support the nurturing of their leadership skills. He stressed the critical role that young leaders play in rendering positive change: “If we want young people to be the leaders of today and tomorrow, we have to give them autonomy and let them lead their own projects.”
A big highlight of the Youth Forum is the drafting of the joint Youth Statement, to enable their voices to be heard in the global policy-making arena. Youths were divided into groups and outlined the key messages they wanted to spearhead to various stakeholders. The process was collaborative and inclusive, making sure to include equal contributions from each of the small groups, which was completed after the youths went through the collated draft statement, and reviewed and edited the sentences and words to best represent their collective common thoughts.
Youth participants also had the opportunity to showcase their work on drug use prevention and health promotion from their shools and communities to their fellow participants. Their presentations were a testament to the hard work and dedication that the participants had put into their community projects, and also enabled open dialogues and questions with everyone to learn best practices and get inspirations of their own.
