The UN Information Centre (UNIC) in Beirut and the Lebanese American University- Outreach and Civic Engagement Unit launched a campaign on “Facebook”, entitled “Arab Youth Appeal” within the framework of the International Year of Youth that was declared by the United Nations on 12 August 2010.

The online campaign aims at heeding Arab youth aspirations and demands in relation to the future of the region, and creating an interactive forum for debates and exchange of views. This will lead to building a clear vision of what the youth really want from the UN, which can influence world leaders to transform youth visions into reality.

The campaign will last for one month, at the end of which an “Arab Youth Appeal” will be drafted from the comments of various participants. The appeal will be addressed to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who will take note of it and publicize it among concerned parties.

All youth who wish for change are invited to participate in the campaign by accessing:

http://www.facebook.com/groups/ArabYouthAppealGroup

on 30 June, as part of the activities for the 10th Anniversary of Volunteers (IYV+10), the International Year of Youth and the 7 Billion Actions Campaign, the UN Information Centre (UNIC) Khartoum, in partnership with the UN Volunteers Programme in Sudan and the UNFPA Y-Peer, organized an event celebrating the diversity of the population in Sudan.

Students from the Universities of Al-Ahfad for Women in the capital Khartoum, Al-Geneina in West Darfur and Kassala in Eastern Sudan volunteered to communicate the meaning of diversity in the 3 regions through drawing on walls.

On 23 July, the partners organized a session that brought together some 20 students from Al-Ahfad University for Women.

The session which was facilitated by the renowned Sudanese artist Khaled Hamid discussed the theme of the event and allowed students to draw sketches for the wall paintings.

The UN Youth Champion Monique Coleman visited Bogota, Columbia from 21 to 22 July 2011. The UN Information Centre (UNIC) in Bogota organized and supported the events during her stay.

The UNIC supported Ms. Coleman to attend a National Campaign on Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR) for Children and Youth “Mambrú no va la guerra, este es otro cuento” and its celebration event on 22 July. Ms. Coleman also joined an informal talking session about Youth issues with 200 high school students. In addition, she met disengaged young people from illegal groups in which she had an opportunity to hear the experiences of disengaged young boys and girls, their reasons to abandon the conflict and their new life projects.

The UNIC also arranged Ms. Coleman’s media appearance on Caracol TV, RCN TV and Semana JR.

The United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) Yaounde organized a 2 day Workshop on “United Nations and the Youth” to commemorate the National Day and the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development to link to the ongoing International Year of Youth (IYY).

UNIC used the opportunity to share information about the Role of Youth in National Development, Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development, proposals in the UN General Assembly Resolution 64/134 of December 2009 proclaiming the International Year of Youth under the theme “Dialogue and Mutual Understanding”.

During the 2 day workshop opened officially by the UNFPA Cameroon Representative, Mr. Alain Sibenaler, the 22 representatives of Youth Associations from all regions of the nation grouped under the umbrella Association UNYA (United Nations Youth Association legalized on 30 October 2007)  listened to the presentations by UNIC’s National Information Officer, Anne Nsang. The participants also had Presentations by 4 Representatives of UN Agencies on Actions / Interactions with the Youth in Cameroon.

The Group Work done on Day 2 after the presentations enabled the participants to put all the information into practice through 3 Project Ideas shared in plenary at the end of the day.These 3 Project ideas were shared with the UNFPA Representative, Mr. Sibenaler at the closing session, as possible axes for action before the end of the International Year of Youth. Mr. Sibenaler advised the Youth leaders (participants) on the importance of being realistic on Projects and Actions for IYY and thereafter, raising several new issues.

At the end, Attestations of participation was handed over to each participant, as well as, an Information Kit containing  UNSG Message on Youth Day, IYY Resolution, Basic UN Documents  like Charter, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, MDGs, Africa Renewal were distributed to all participants. Posters of MDGs and IYY were also given to participants along with Documents given by UNCHRD, UNAIDS and UNFPA.