VOLUNTARY NATIONAL REVIEW Youth Power .Pdf
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
UNITED NATIONS MOLDOVA National Youth Council of Moldova VOLUNTARY NATIONAL REVIEW Youth Power – on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development No Zero Good health quality gender Clean water 1 Powerty 2 Hunger 3 and well-being 4 education 5 equality 6 and sanitation Affordable and Decent work industry, reduced sustainable Responsible 7 clean energy 8 and economic 9 innovation and 10 inequalities 11 cities and 12 consumption growth infrastrucutre communities and production RePORT Climate Life life Peace, justice Partnerships 13 action 14 below water 15 on land 16 and strong 17 for the goals on the situation of young people institutions in the Republic of Moldova and their interaction with the Sustainable Development Goals Chișinău, 2020 AUTHOR: ” National Youth Roman Banari, Council of Moldova an expert in the field of youth rights and non-discrimination National Youth Council of Moldova 18, Petru Rareş St., Chișinău, MD-2005, Republic of Moldova The author thanks Phone: (+373 22) 23 51 75 all participants in the (+373 22) 23 30 88 Voluntary National Email: Review process and [email protected] web: in the activities during www.cntm.md the national campaign Youth of Moldova for #GlobalGoals. The involvement of young people is crucial in the implementation and monitoring of the Sustainable Development Goals. Young people in the Republic of Moldova have demonstrated that #YouthVoiceMatters and #YouthIsThePresent not the future. This report is part of the national campaign Youth of Moldova for #GlobalGoals, implemented by the National Youth Council of Moldova in partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the Swiss Agency” for Development and Cooperation and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The National Youth Council of Moldova and its partners are not responsible for the estimates and opinions presented in this publication. For any quoted material, the report should be cited as the source. LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women CNTM National Youth Council of Moldova GATU Gagauzia Autonomous Territorial Unit ICT Information and Communication Technology ASAP International Student Assessment Program MDL Moldovan leu (currency of the Republic of Moldova) NBS National Bureau of Statistics NEET Not in employment, education or training OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development PISA Programme for International Student Assessment SDG Sustainable Development Goals UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNFA United Nations Population Fund UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund VNR Voluntary National Review CONTENTS MESSAGE 4 INTRODUCTION 7 CONTEXT 7 METHODOLOGICAL ASPECTS 12 OBJECTIVES AND LIMITATIONS OF THE RESEARCH 12 METHODOLOGY 12 STRUCTURE AND CONTENT OF THE REPORT 13 PROGRESS IMPLEMENTING THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS IN MOLDOVA 14 AND THEIR CORRELATION WITH THE YOUTH SECTOR PEOPLE 14 Goal 1: No poverty 14 Goal 2: Zero hunger 18 Goal 3: Good health and well-being 19 Goal 4: Quality education 24 Goal 5: Gender equality 29 PROSPERITY 34 Goal 7: Affordable and clean energy 34 Goal 8: Decent work and economic growth 36 Goal 9: Industry, innovation and infrastructure 38 Goal 10: Reduced inequalities 40 Goal 11: Sustainable cities and communities 42 PLANET 44 Goal 6: Clean water and sanitation 44 Goal 12: Responsible consumption and production 45 Goal 13: Climate action 46 Goal 14: Life below water 47 Goal 15: Life on land 48 PEACE 50 Goal 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions 50 PARTNERSHIPS 53 Goal 17: Partnerships for the Goals 53 Actions recommended to the Government for implementation of the SDGs in the next decade 56 MESSAGE Starting from the premise Youth-led initiatives motivate and mobilize other young people to that young people are the implement SDGs at home. In the context of the Voluntary National present and not only the future, Review process under the auspices of the national campaign Youth of they are a key element in Moldova for #GlobalGoals, implemented by the National Youth Council promoting and implementing of Moldova (CNTM) and its partners, hundreds of young people from the Sustainable Development all over the country came together to learn, promote, and evaluate Goals (SDGs). The 2030 Agenda the degree of implementation of the SDGs. Young people and youth for Sustainable Development organizations are supporters and strong allies in implementing the offers young people from SDGs, alongside government, local public authorities and the private the Republic of Moldova a sector. wide range of opportunities for their development and According to national statistics, in 2019 in the Republic of Moldova, empowerment in various 743,200 people, or 27.7 per cent of the country’s population, were aged socioeconomic fields. 14–34. This figure is constantly declining, as young people emigrate because of the lack of opportunities at home. Young people migrate in search of better educational opportunities and paid jobs to help reduce the risk of poverty. Limited economic opportunities prevent young people, especially vulnerable groups, from finding attractive well-paid jobsand achieving their personal and professional aspirations, and thus increase the risk of poverty. A considerable problem among young people is their inability to buy their own home due to lack of financial resources. Also, many young people, especially the socially vulnerable, cannot access the state programme First House. Disparities in welfare, education, health, and economic opportunities are evident between urban and rural areas: young people in cities have access to a much wider range of opportunities compared with young people in villages. At the same time, disparities also exist in the quality of services that young people can access in rural and urban areas. Thus, young people in rural areas are exposed to more discrimination in their access to goods and services, and hence experience more poverty. At the same time, young people are subject to discrimination, including in the workplace. Discrimination towards socially vulnerable young people is high. An example is the situation of young people with disabilities: due to the lack of accessible public transport and buildings, young people with disabilities are limited in their access to education, work and health services. Moreover, the amount of accessible information (Braille, sign language, easy-to-read text) is limited. Young Roma face inequalities such as those relating to poverty, absenteeism in the education system, and the marriage of adolescent girls before adulthood. And, last but not least, gender discrimination persists. 6 Even though the Republic Against the background of a reduction in the total employed population, of Moldova has adopted there is also a constant reduction in the share of young population educational policies to in the total employed population. Inactivity and unemployment are modernize and streamline characteristic of young people aged 15–24. the provision of education to meet the current and future Alcohol and tobacco use are widespread among young people and needs of the labour market, have a detrimental effect on their health and development. At the same the education system is time, young people, compared with adults, are constantly exposed to not yet aligned with labour stress and daily worries, which risks influencing their health. Young market requirements, and people also face problems such as pregnancy and childbirth at a entrepreneurship is not young age, and sexually transmitted diseases. included in the educational In the context of the importance of SDG 9 on industry, innovation and curriculum; thus, both are infrastructure, young people in the Republic of Moldova have limited barriers to the integration of opportunities because of a lack of local facilities (youth centres, young people into the labour youth clinics, places to spend free time) as well as of public transport market. in villages and inter-city connections to enable travel for informal youth activities. At the same time, the Republic of Moldova is missing out on the considerable potential in the development of infrastructure and communities by not using the principles of ‘smart cities’, and by not using digitalization to help consolidate the youth sector. Moreover, young people remain concerned about environmental pollution in the Republic of Moldova and the authorities’ ignorance of the issue, failure to protect the country’s environment and lack of investment in the regeneration of plants and aquatic resources. At the same time, in the field of justice, young people see distrustbecause of the suspicions in society of there being a corrupt system. Regarding partnerships for goals and strengthening the youth sector in the Republic of Moldova, young people are missing out because a functioning national agency for development of youth programmes and activities, a governmental commission for youth policies, and district co-management commissions regulated by national legislation have not been established. There is also a problem related to insufficient local budgets for youth. Finally, young people report that their voice is not always heard by decision-makers; moreover, a real challenge is encouraging young people with limited opportunities to participate in decision-making processes. 7 INTRODUCTION Starting from the premise The SDGs, unanimously accepted by the international community, of the need to intervene to highlight the major problems facing humanity