Social Good Peru in V Young Americas Forum

An official activity of the VIII Summit of the Americas

By Jose Arrieta, Social Good Peru Chapter leader

On April 11 and 12, 2018, the V Young Americas Forum, an official activity of the VIII Summit of the Americas, was held at the Business Center of San Isidro, in the district of Lima-Peru.

The Young Americas Forum is an official platform for young people to engage in the processes of the Summit of the Americas, allowing them to contribute proactively in the definition of priorities and mandates for the region. Likewise, its tradition is to be a meeting point and interaction between actors of the private sector, young people, government leaders and civil society.

I had the honor of participating as the Youth Peruvian Delegate representing Peru and Social Good Peru. The invitation to participate as a Youth Delegate was brought to me by the Young Americas Business Trust (YABT), the Organization of American States (OAS), and the Government of Peru. There were about 700 applicants from Latin America and the Caribbean from the member countries of the OAS (Organization of American States). The working table that I attended was a group focusing on cooperation and public-private partnerships. The other working groups were Democratic Governance and Sustainable Development.

During the forum, I had the opportunity to meet young leaders and entrepreneurs from Haiti, Costa Rica, Mexico, Colombia, Panama, and other countries. Also, I had the opportunity to exchange words with Luis Almagro, Secretary General of the Organization of American States and Jorge Familiar, Vice President of the World Bank for Latin America and the Caribbean.

The V Forum of the Americas had the presence and presentation of Jorge Familiar; Luis Almagro; Juan Carlos Varela, President of the Republic of Panama; Diego Dzodan, Vice president of Facebook and Instagram for Latin America; Martin Vizacarra President of the Republic of Peru; Georgina Nunez, United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean; Welby Leaman, Senior Director Global Government Affairs of Walmart for Americas & Africa, and more.

Each iteration of the Forum of the Americas issues a Youth Declaration of Commitment related to the mandates of each summit. During this process, young people make concrete proposals to the governments and mark their own agenda of action and follow-up on the agreements reached in the Forum. From each declaration, actions are developed presented as recommendations to the actors linked to the forum and delegations of the participating governments.

We, the youth delegates, held intense debate sessions focused on the “Democratic Governance against Corruption” and its three thematic axes: Democratic Governance, Sustainable Development, and Public-Private Partnerships. We prepared a Youth Declaration of Commitment as official document that was delivered to the leaders and heads of state during the VIII Summit of the Americas.

This declaration calls for the continued development of youth empowerment initiatives, especially with those young people who are vulnerable and come from minority groups. The declaration is dedicated to young change agents who decided to take action to improve the quality of life of people in their communities and promote democratic values and youth citizenship in order to strengthen democratic governance capacities in their countries.

These are some of the prominent statements made in the Youth Declaration of Commitment:

“Young people consider that corruption is an anti-value that is spread, and the best way to mitigate it is for each individual to create a replica of good practices. Young people, or the Millennial generation, are committed to promoting good practices. In addition, we invite organizations to spread good habits with values, not only to have a better current present, but to leave that seed in future generations.”

“Young people believe that enriching the standards of dissemination and campaigns against corruption, generates a global environment of greater contributions for the development of our environment. As part of the solution, and since we are agents of change, we propose to develop innovative campaigns that leave back traditional and information vacuum, which seeks to encourage and enrich the standards and content of campaigns, educational resources and youth newspapers against corruption, generating in turn an environment of greater collaboration and exchange of experiences with other social actors.”

“We recognize that one of the current problems consists in the lack of coordination and strengthening of aspects of cooperation and public-private partnerships, while recognizing the progress made in recent years. Therefore, with determination and commitment, we call on governments in order to facilitate the mechanisms to create alliances and platforms that promote decent work in different population groups, strategic alliances between the public and private sectors, in which they support young entrepreneurs, based on the needs of the population, and support for the implementation of sustainability projects and institutionally aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda.”

“We invite influential people to work with young leaders and entrepreneurs, combining their talent and resources in their respective fields, to develop economic and social undertakings that are put to the consideration of the territorial and national educational community, in order to increase resources technical and monetary through public-private partnerships, which also involve small and medium enterprises.”

The experience of participating as a Youth Delegate, and representing the youth of Latin America and Social Good Peru, in the thematic working groups and plenary sessions was an exciting experience. Likewise, it was very enriching to interact with young leaders and entrepreneurs, experts and representatives from different sectors of the continent.