Introduction During the 21st session of the Governing Council that oversees the work programme and budget of UN-HABITAT, member countries in 2007 passed a resolution calling on the executive director of UN HABITAT to set up a special fund to help young people living in poverty. A high proportion of the worlds population is young, especially in the developing world, and this segment of the population is disproportionately affected by the problems of unsustainable development. At the same time, urban 15-24-year-olds in developing countries have immense potential to contribute to social and economic development if given the right opportunities. UN-HABITAT recognizes that young people need to be active participants in the future of cities. Its Strategy for Enhanced Engagement of Youth aims to promote leadership and participation of young women and men in all its efforts to improve the lives of people living in the rapidly expanding cities of the world. It sees the urgent need to create opportunities for youth to play a much more active and constructive role in making cities the engines of development. Championed by Norway, the new Opportunities Fund for Urban Youth-led Development is designed to improve understanding, and lead to more effective ways of involving young people in sustainable urban development. UN HABITAT in partnership with the Norwegian government will be launching the Opportunities Fund for Youth Led Development, a fund which will fund youth led initiatives globally at the third World Urban Youth Forum from (WUYF) 1 to 2 November, 2008, prior to the main Fourth Session of the World Urban Forum, building on the huge success of the previous two forums in Vancouver and Barcelona. 2 Why Youth-led Development? All over the world young people are responding to the development needs of their communities through social projects and youth-led businesses. Youth want to be involved and all development actors should take youth-led development (YLD) seriously in their efforts to achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), as well as the Convention on the Rights of the Child (art.12), which guarantees youth the right to participate in decision-making. Putting youth at the centre of development can be compared to the challenge, two decades ago, of putting gender issues on the development agenda. A similar shift in societys thinking is now required for youth in urban development. Young people are the most vulnerable to social problems caused by unemployment and poverty. Girls and young women are most at risk. With over 200 million youth living in poverty, 130 million illiterate, 88 million unemployed and 10 million young people with HIV/AIDS, there is a clear need to direct efforts and resources to youth. While youth are the promise of the future, failure to invest in them greatly reduces potential for future development. YLD is about young people making a living and future for themselves and their communities. YLD involves business and community improvement projects, devised and managed by young people, often working alongside adults with skills to mentor them. The Opportunities Fund for Urban Youth-led Development has been set-up by UN-HABITAT to catalyze innovative approaches to YLD that can improve understanding, and lead to more effective policies and strategies to strengthen the role of youth in sustainable urban development. 3 THE INTENTION The Opportunities Fund aims to facilitate achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and their youth-related targets. It will help young people in the poorer neighbourhoods of cities in the developing world find new opportunities in life, especially in employment and entrepreneurship. The fund will strengthen youth-related policies, help governments, civil society organizations and the private sector address youth concerns, and support new information and learning channels for young people. The Fund will promote collaboration with the private sector, CSOs and other UN bodies, who can propose relevant initiatives to the fund as well as contribute their own resources. More specifically, the fund will support youth-led initiatives in the following areas: · Mobilization of young people to help strengthen youth-related policy formulation; · Building capacities of governments, civil society organizations and the private sector to better address youth needs and issues; · Supporting information and communication oriented networks; · Piloting innovative ideas on employment, governance, shelter and secure tenure; · Sharing of best practices; · Vocational training and credit mechanisms to promote entrepreneurship and employment for young women and men; · Promoting gender mainstreaming in all activities of urban youth. While the Youth Fund will clearly benefit many youth and youth groups through direct support to their initiatives, it is intended to creating greater awareness of the urgency to mainstream a youth focus in development policy and strategies. It will thus promote strengthening capacity of youth organizations to participate in local development planning, as well as helping local and national governments to address youth issues as part of democratic processes. Knowledge about youth-led initiatives around the world is very weak. One of the benefits of a mechanism for supporting local initiatives is that information on what is happening on the ground can be easily obtained. In this way the Fund will contribute to learning on the role of youth in development, providing input to strengthening international and national youth policies. 4 How will it work? The Opportunities Fund is being set up under the authority of the Executive Director of UN-HABITAT. The operation of the Fund will be managed by a committee of experts drawn from UNHABITAT, donor governments and youth representatives. At least two youth representatives will also sit as members of the Advisory Committee. Funding activities will be based on applications from relevant groups. A Steering Committee will assess proposals and develop strategies to enhance access to and effective implementation of the fund. The Committee will facilitate linkages with partner agencies, and put in place procedures for promoting the fund, monitoring and evaluation of projects and documentation and dissemination of best practices. The Youth fund will represent a milestone marking recognition at the highest levels of the need to practically support youth-led initiatives and lead the way for other organizations and governments to place youth at the centre of their development strategies. For more information: Partners & Youth Section, UN-HABITAT, P.O. Box 30030, Nairobi, Kenya Tel: + 254-20-7623710/4218; Fax: + 254-20 -7624588, 3080; E-mail: partners@unhabitat.org