World Youth Congress Visits the Hōkūle'a

During a recent trip to Hawai‘i, members of the World Youth Congress took a break from planning their 2010 Congress in Turkey to visit the Hōkūle‘a.

The World Youth Congress series was born in 1997 following the Rio +5 meeting where governments and organizations met to discuss the progress made since the original Rio Earth Summit. There was great concern on how best to keep the concept of sustainable development in the public eye.

The World Youth Congress was conceived as a kind of Young People’s Earth Summit. It became, instead, a process of identifying priorities for the new millennium. The first Congress, held in Hawai‘i in October 1999, was entitled the Millennium Young People’s Congress (MYPC). It identified ten key priorities for the new millennium – eight of which closely mirrored the UN’s Millennium Development Goals.  The key message of that first congress was, “Young people want to be active in development, not just beneficiaries of development aid delivered by others…”  So was born the foundation of youth-led development which is central to the whole World Youth Congress Series.

Subsequent congresses – in Morocco in 2003, Scotland in 2005 and Quebec City, Canada in 2008 – have all discussed one main question.  “What are the most effective ways that government, UN and other development aid agencies can use the incredible talent, energy and idealism of young people in their shared effort to make poverty history in a sustainable way and achieve the UN’s Millennium Development Goals?”  Each Congress is unique; hosts are encouraged to stamp the identity and culture of their country on their congress and make it their own.