ABOUT THE PROJECT

A group of young people from Europe, India and South Africa, have joined hands across continents and taken up the challenge of empowering young people in our countries to contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

Our initiative, established under the framework of AEGEE’s Flagship Project, Beyond Europe – Perspectives for Tomorrow’s World, is named ‘The United Nations Millennium Development Goals – A Challenge for Today’s Youth?’

The year 2010 marks the tenth anniversary of the Millennium Declaration and 2010 has been proclaimed by the General Assembly of the United Nations as the International Year of Youth: Dialogue and Mutual Understanding.

In June 2009 we, on behalf of AEGEE-Europe applied to a call for proposals issued by the European Commission, Education, Audiovisual, and Culture Executive Agency, Youth in Action 3.2 ‘Youth in the World’  for a project aimed at raising awareness of the Millennium Development Goals.

We were successful in our grant application for a project designed in cooperation with the Gujarat Public School – BRG Group, AIESEC Baroda (based in Vadodara, India) and the Social Justice Coalition (based in Cape Town, South Africa), which is composed of four principle activities: a preliminary meeting held in Brussels in December 2009; two case study trips to India and South Africa in June and September 2010 respectively; and a final conference in Utrecht, The Netherlands, in November 2010, to discuss our findings and produce a concluding message.

The aim of the project is to develop young people’s awareness of the Millennium Development Goals and to empower youth in Europe, India and South Africa to contribute to the achievement of the MDGs, recognizing the crucial importance of youth for sustainable development in our role as leaders of tomorrow.

Our strategy is focussed on active citizenship. During the case study trip we will engage with NGOs and community-based organisations working on specific aspects of the MDGs, e.g. primary education, polio immunization and women’s health. We will complement their efforts in the field with the contribution of our participants, who will work as volunteers in their projects for the duration of their stay. Not only will this contribution increase visibility of local actors, but also ensure the basis for sustainable cooperation in the future.