UN MGCY WHS Working Group: Introduction Guide

Photo: UN OCHA

Photo: UN OCHA

Introduction Guide World Humanitarian Summit Youth Working Group

The Youth Working Group for the World Humanitarian Summit is facilitated by the UN Major Group for Children and Youth

Welcome!

As a young person wishing to represent youth in the World Humanitarian Summit, you are at the right place.

You are now an official member of the United Nations Major Group for Children and Youth World Humanitarian Summit Working Group (UN MGCY WHS WG).

If you haven’t yet, sign up on the Mailing List and the Registration Form to become a member.

What is UN MGCY? The UN Major Group for Children and Youth is the official space for children and youth to contribute to certain intergovernmental and policy processes at the United Nations.

We are mandated by Agenda 21 and UN General Assembly Resolutions (such as 2013’s A/Res/67/290), as well as ad hoc agreements with UN bodies and conferences.

The UN MGCY is not an organization, but a constituency and collaboration of individuals and youth-led organizations. It is a self-organized space with a democratic structure, where all members elect leadership and everyone can contribute. We are young people organizing and mobilizing to facilitate the representation and participation of youth.

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What is the World Humanitarian Summit?

The United Nations Secretary General will convene the first global humanitarian summit of this scale in Istanbul in May 2016. The goal of this Summit is to bring the global community together to commit to new ways of working together to tackle the humanitarian needs of our fast and ever-changing world.

In the two years leading up to the summit, extensive consultations will be held to gather the perspectives, priorities and recommendations of all stakeholders on what must be done to make humanitarian action fit for the future. This two-year initiative is coordinated by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA). The final summit and the process will set a new agenda for global humanitarian action.

The dialogue is built around four different themes and engages a variety of stakeholders. The themes of the WHS process are: • • • •

Humanitarian Effectiveness Reducing vulnerability and Managing Risk Transforming through Innovation Serving the Needs of People in Conflict

What is the Role of UN MGCY in WHS? This UN MGCY WHS Working Group is the official channel that facilitates the participation of young people in the process. This includes, but is not limited to, regional consultations, official inputs to reports, statements, interventions, global consultations, and the final summit itself.

The Working Group meets on a bi-weekly basis in an open online meeting, where decisions on strategy and actions are taken together by all members. The notes of this continuous group dialogue are available in an open live document: Click here Who Can Join the UN MGCY and the WHS Working Group?

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Any young person (up to 30 years of age) Any organization, network, committee, group or other association of individuals that signs up to the MGCY online or in person and that fulfills either of the following requirements: • Representative of the interests of children and/or youth, and has a policymaking body controlled by people 30 years old or under; or • Works with children and/or youth but doesn't have a policymaking body controlled by individuals 30 years old or under

Both individuals and organizations join by signing up to the Mailing List and filling out the Registration Form.

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Photo: UN OCHA

How are we organized?

The UN Major Group for Children and Youth has four Organizing Partners (OPs), which facilitate the coordination of all different working groups, with the WHS Youth Working Group just being one of multiple processes. Each working group is coordinated by Deputy Organizing Partners (DOPs).

Two of the WHS Youth Working Group DOPs are youth-led organizations: the International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA) and Youth Beyond Disasters (YBD).

These two DOPs had internal selections to determine the individuals helping to facilitate the process. A third DOP position is open for application to all members of the working group and will be elected in May 2015.

In addition, after an open call for applications, 8 Regional Focal Points were selected in a transparent and democratic process. To see who is occupying what position, please check our page on the UN MGCY Website here.

How is the youth engagement organized?

Youth engagement is built around four components. Depending on time and interest, it is possible to engage in one component, several or even all of them. Each component has a working group team, which consists of all members who want to contribute.

No team works separately, we discuss and share process regularly with each other through the Mailing List and the bi-weekly Working Group meetings. Opportunities are shared with the entire group and open to all members. This is a way to work together as a very large team. Together, we all ensure that youth priorities and concerns are an important part of the World Humanitarian Summit process.

Com ponent 1: M obilization, Outreach and Organizing How do we actively reach out and engage with youth all over the world? How do we connect young people in humanitarian action?

Com ponent 2: Capacity Building By acting, we are building our own capacity.

How do we ensure that we learn from each other and from our engagement in the process?

Com ponent 3: Consultations Open-ended consultations are an important tool to build capacity, raise awareness and collect youth perspectives. The active members are working on our consultation material.

Com ponent 4: Youth Policy and Advocacy How do we transform the input gained from consultations into meaningful policy? How do we communicate this policy?

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The four themes of the World Humanitarian Summit:

Growing needs and the changing contexts of emergencies mean that the pressure to improve the effectiveness of humanitarian action is building. The preparations for the WHS will look for ways to do this as a collaborative effort of all the actors involved.

Innovation is an umbrella term for concerted efforts to respond to new challenges or changing context, to improve existing programs or to integrate new developments from other sectors, such as advanced technologies.

The humanitarian effectiveness theme will explore how to meet the humanitarian needs of all people with timely and appropriate aid that is delivered in a sustainable manner, by those best placed to meet these needs.

This theme aims to bring about a major drive and commitment to invest in the proposed models for an effective humanitarian innovation eco-system in order to research, develop and scale up new and/or improved models that realize breakthroughs to humanitarian challenges.

The key question for this theme is how we can work together, so we can more effectively support countries and communities build resilience to the changing nature of shocks and stresses. This not only includes resilience to recurrent and predictable shocks, but also to the uncertainties of the future.

The scale, intensity and duration of armed conflicts including the massive displacement of people, continue to create immense humanitarian need. Work under this theme will include identifying more effective strategies and methods of providing assistance and protection to people affected by conflict even in areas where there is combat.

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Timeline and Participation W hat is the tim eline for the process?

Until the end of July 2015, the official WHS Regional Consultations will take place, bringing together actors and stakeholders in each region.

In September 2015, a Global Youth Consultation will take place in Doha, Qatar.

In October 2015, the Global Consultation of the WHS process will take place in Geneva, Switzerland, where the input from all regional consultations will be discussed and combined.

The World Humanitarian Summit itself will take place in May 2016 in Istanbul, Turkey.

You can find a great interactive timeline for the whole process on the World Humanitarian Summit website!

How Can You be Involved?

Participating actively is very easy! All work takes place through the mailing list, which features an Info Center that lists all the different components and projects, and what input or help is needed. You can be as engaged in what capacity suits you best and your participation can be as flexible and time intensive as you would like.

Due to the diversity of the process, your engagement can be as flexible and time intensive as you like. Here are some examples: • • • • • • • •

Learn more about the process and topics Take part in online consultations Host a consultation in your community Contribute to policy drafting Spread the word and connect the youth organizations and young people of your community or region with the WHS process Become a regional focal point Take part in official consultations and meetings - Regional and Global Advocate for a better humanitarian framework

W e are looking forward to your contributions!

Photos: UN OCHA

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Photo: UN OCHA

Photo: UN OCHA

Thank you for your engagement in humanitarian action!

Photo: UN OCHA

Photo: UN OCHA

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Contact us: Send a message to all members of the Working Group at whs@childrenyouth.org For all general inquiries, reach out to info.whs@childrenyouth.org Register here: goo.gl/5iIWXq Join our mailing list: goo.gl/DySERl Follow us on Facebook: facebook.com/WHSYouth