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Theoicyouthstrategy THE OIC YOUTH STRATEGY 1 Contents No. Subject Page 1 INTRODUCTİON 3 1.1 General Overview of Youth Status in the OIC Member States 4 1.2 General Overview of OIC efforts in Building Coordinated Youth 4 Policies 1.2.1 Efforts of OIC Institutions Active in the Field of Youth 6 2 THE YOUTH STRATEGY: NECESSITY AND MAIN AREAS OF 8 PRIORITIES 2.A The Concept and Necessity for an OIC Youth Strategy 8 2.B Main Fields of Priorities 11 2.B.1 Education 11 2.B.2 Youth Employment 13 2.B.3 Social Inclusion 16 2.B.4 Youth and Extremism 18 2.B.5 Entrepreneurship 21 2.B.6 Health Services 23 2.B.7 Marriage and Early Marriage 26 2.B.8 Youth Engagement and Civil Society 29 2.B.9 New Cultural Challenges and Globalization 30 2.B.10 Migration and Integration 33 2.B.11 Youth and Environment 35 3 MODALITIES FOR SUCCESSFUL IMPLEMENTATION OF THE OIC 37 YOUTH STRATEGY 3.1 The role of intra-OIC and international cooperation in achieving the 37 objectives of the Strategy 3.2 Institutional structures on youth policy coordination 39 3.3 Programmes of the Strategy 40 a) The OIC Youth Waqf 40 b) OIC Youth Centers 41 c) Research on Youth Issues 41 d) OIC Young Leaders’ Summit 41 e) Youth Day and Award 41 f) Communication and Visibility Plan 42 4 THE WAY FORWARD 42 2 3 1. INTRODUCTION 1. The OIC Member States together account for one-fourth (27 per cent) of young population in the world. By 2050, OIC Member States are projected to have more than one-third (35 per cent) of the world’s young population.1 2. With such a remarkable demographic composition, there is considerable youth potential for development and state building in the OIC Member States. However, the same demographics also present deep concerns. The youth in the OIC Member States are met by constantly evolving challenges in the areas of education, employment, access to health services as well as personal development opportunities. In a number of societies, youth are being threatened, on the one hand by globalizing processes, and on the other, by the rapid rise of marginalization, extremism, and radicalization 3. The OIC Member States need to respond rapidly to these challenges facing youth, especially in today’s context where young citizens are active in the global digital world and increasingly seeking to take part in decision-making processes. 4. Effective youth empowerment would not only improve life conditions of young people, but would also reinforce core values as human rights, dignity, and progress underpinning socioeconomic growth; effectively placing youth issues as one of the main priorities of the OIC Member States. 5. To act upon this priority, it is necessary to have a common guiding framework; namely, an OIC Youth Strategy. Such a common framework would enable the OIC Member States to engage with peer support mechanisms, utilizing tools and instruments to respond to national youth needs. For this purpose, stakeholders with competencies and responsibilities in the field of youth are to work together to develop clear objectives, define sets of actions, and identify timelines and implementation procedures. 6. In this regard, the Strategy should define what constitutes youth segments of populations. Universally, youth is understood as a transitionary period where a person transits from childhood into adulthood and from dependency to independency. For policymaking, this conceptualization implies that youth can no longer benefit from protection assured for children and at the same time, they are not yet able to enjoy the range of opportunities available to adults. When translated into actual age brackets, however, this conceptual definition becomes fragmented and diverse. Across OIC Member States, some define youth at the 15-24 range while some use a broader range at 15-35. Despite this variation, a youth age bracket has to be defined for practical purposes of policy-making and data-collection. Considering these key practical aspects, the strategy suggests adopting the UN definition of 15-24 as the common 1 UN World Population Prospects. 4 young age bracket. Any other age bracket used by Member States in accordance with their national policies will be respected and taken into account in the implementation of activities pertaining to this Strategy. 7. The present OIC Youth Strategy is a proposed guideline for OIC Member States to implement in the context of their own national priorities and youth policies in accordance with their own national and sovereign will to do so. 1.1 General Overview of Youth Status in the OIC Member States 8. Youth are surrounded with unique cultural, economic and political environments and hence diverse challenges in different OIC Member States. Nevertheless, a general overview of the status of youth in the OIC Member States demonstrates that there are common challenges facing youth. These challenges are generally interrelated and are found across key areas of society. These areas, most notably, include education (ranging from low literacy rates to gender disparity), economy (including but not limited to high levels of unemployment, underdeveloped entrepreneurial environments, weak skills and education-skill mismatch), migration including brain drain, limited civic and political participation (including social isolation and exclusion), health and wellbeing (covering a wide range of issues such as forced marriage, violence, malnutrition, and limited access to health services), extremism and deviant political rhetoric and,cultural and social changes triggered by globalization. 9. These common challenges are further exacerbated for young people in OIC Member States that are struck by on-going conflict and war undermining the well-being of youth at a greater extent and with greater implications. 10. While these problems are commonly experienced by the youth in OIC Member States to varying degrees, whether a sound national policy exists or not, largely determines how well governments and communities can address and respond to such challenges. An appropriate national youth policy framework is necessary not only to cater to today’s needs, but also to effectively address emerging and upcoming challenges. 11. It is unfortunate that not all OIC Member States have national youth policies. A joint framework would offer an opportunity to exchange practices and benefits among Member States on youth policies, best practices and sharing of expertise. 1.2 General Overview of OIC Efforts in Building Coordinated Youth Policies 12. Youth populations affect all aspects of socio-economic growth and development with a direct bearing on unemployment rates, violence, political participation, innovation, research, industry, job creation, and entrepreneurship. Effective youth empowerment would actualize youth potential, while reinforcing central values and core ideals underpinning socioeconomic growth. 5 13. In this spirit, the First Session of the Islamic Conference of Youth and Sports Ministers (ICYSM) was held in Jeddah. The conference recognized the need for complementarity and unified efforts, while emphasizing the intellectual, spiritual and physical empowerment of youth (OIC/ICMYS/1-2005/FC.FINAL). 14. The Second ICYSM adopted Res No. OIC/ISSF/ICYSM-2/2014/R-6 on the Broad Lines of the Draft Strategy for Promoting Youth Issues in the Islamic World and called on ISSF and ISESCO to develop the Strategy and to include it on the agenda of the third ICYSM. 15. As per the 42nd Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) held in Kuwait in May 2015, the OIC Member States emphasized the need to develop educational methods in light of needs and future challenges facing youth, affirmed the need for combatting drug abuse, the provision of capacity building programs for youth, and for safeguarding youth from disenfranchisement and extremism; by coordinating and organizing activities through Member States and participating institutions, including an MoU between the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), the Islamic Solidarity Sports Federation (ISSF), the Islamic Conference Youth Forum for Dialogue and Cooperation (ICYFDC), the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), SESRIC, and the International Union of Muslims Scouts (IUMS), as OIC institutions active in the field of youth with a view to facilitating their cooperation and coordination. In the light of the resolutions of this session, the ISSF became the ICYSM Secretariat on sports issues and the ICYF-DC on youth issues. 16. It is important to note that the 43rd CFM held a special brainstorming session on “Widening Opportunities and Promoting Creative Potentials of Younger Generations”, which resulted in a set of recommendations to enhance the conditions of youth in Member States and secure their future, as well adopting the resolution no. 11/43-ORG on the Establishment of a New Unit in Charge of Youth Issues within the OIC General Secretariat. 17. Moreover, as per the Final Communiqué of the 13th Session of the Islamic Summit Conference held in Istanbul in April 2016, the OIC reasserted its resolve to advance the capacity building of youth as a means to peace and security in the OIC Member States, and further underlined the importance of enhancing the role of youth in the development of societies in the OIC Member States (OIC/13TH SUMMIT 2016/FC/FINAL, Res 188 and 189). In fact, for the first time, a pre-Summit event, the “Young Leaders Summit”, was held by ICYF-DC, and culminated in the recommendations entitled “10 Goals in 10 Years”. 18. In addition, as per the OIC-2025 Plan of Action that was adopted during the Summit, emphasis was made on the need for youth capacity building and guided engagement in critical sectors of economic growth, peace and security, human rights and entrepreneurship. 6 19. The third and most recent session of the Islamic Conference of the Ministers of Youth and Sports was held in Istanbul 2016, an initial discussion took place regarding the OIC Youth Strategy.
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