I have been attending the commission everyday for the last week, including the civil society forum that began last Tuesday; anyway, I just wanted to write down some thoughts and perhaps pose some questions for a little food for thought. The theme for this year’s commission is to discuss the process to “eradicate poverty.” While this issue is not going to be solved through the discussions of a two week commission, it has been really interesting to witness the language that Member States use when talking about all of the major “issues of poverty eradication” without admitting their own short-comings or inciting substantive or tangible movement. Now, I understand why bureaucracy is legitimized and somewhat needed within the context of international affairs, however, when it comes to the point that bureaucracy, and even academia for that matter, has desensitized the humanistic nature of what poverty is. I mean to say, that through this rhetoric of population statistics and even through the use of the MDGs there does not seem to be evidence that people are not gaining access to food, clean water, education, or any other of their basic human rights. This is all to say, that while watching the commission I feel demoralized and over come by the conversation that seems to have replaced the concept of action.

Thankfully, this bleak picture was at least interrupted briefly during until last Friday morning’s plenary meeting. I can’t say that I am not still discouraged by the big picture, but my over all pessimism was challenged by an optimistic “silver lining,” so to speak. The meeting opened with a presentation given by a representative of The World Program of Youth Action called, “Tackling Poverty Together: the role of Youth People in Poverty Reduction.” The presenter, Julie Larson’s words surprisingly, did not fall on the stereotypical disinterest that is sometimes given to youth in these settings, it was seemingly on the contrary. She was received with discernible attention by Member States as well as fellow NGOs. She opened with the wise words of the General Secretary who said, “One important lesson is the need for a participatory process that is country driven and that promotes ownership as a necessary precondition for the successful implementation of policies and programmes,” and that is exactly what this program is designed to do. With a regional focus on Africa, the National Council of Swedish Youth Organizations (LSU) along with 25 African Youth NGO’s instigated this program to help motivate the youth movement in a grass root approach to the “eradication of poverty” within Sub-Saharan Africa. Comprising youth representatives from Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Sweden, Uganda and Zambia the first land mark workshop was held in Ndola, Zambia. This program holds elements as diverse as producing personal definitions of poverty based on a combination of experiences and interviews held while attending the workshop, reviewing UN documents and other governmental agencies youth policies to find inadequacies in current legislation, and finally plotting feasible outcomes that can realistically be implemented and gain positive results. This group of motivated youth advocates is really making a stir on both the regional level in Sub-Saharan Africa, within the United Nations, and also in substantially changing my mood! Read more about this organization at their web-site: http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unyin/TPT.htm.