Publications from OIYP's Research Program
OIYP has always been committed to research – in the past through publications like The Youth Guide to Globalisation and Highly Affected, Rarely Considered. In this cycle of action, since OIYP2004, OIYP has been committed to a different type of research – research that takes advantage of the enormous opportunities that this network offers to learn about how to create change more effectively! Watch this page for publications throughout this cycle of action.
OIYP's Research Program
At the beginning of this cycle of action, OIYP went through a process of defining our approach to research. We held a number of workshops in Sydney that some of you participated in. We also looked at the network and the opportunities for learning. Then we engaged with others in Oxfam to gain their input. From this process, OIYP has determined three major domains that we are focused on learning about in this cycle of action:
- Models of change: Asking questions like how change can be achieved? what works and what doesn’t? what is most sustainable? what local conditions affect change?;
- Role of young people in promoting change: Asking questions like how young people become involved in change, what are the issues that particularly affect young people, how young people contribute to change and what impact do they have?
- Why and how are people empowered or dis-empowered in making change: Asking questions like what are the global trends or issues that most affect people either in driving them to promote change (or resist inappropriate change) or preventing them from acting? what skills are most important for making change? what are the biggest obstacles to making change? what are the particular groups which are most disempowered from making change by external structures (eg Indigenous Peoples, women, sexual minorities, ethnic minorities etc) and how these obstacles can be overcome?
We have been pursuing this by analysing and drawing out learning from the work of action partners. Our first action research project - on awareness raising and behavioural change strategies is below.
We are looking at a number of future research projects including:
- Youth-led responses to HIV/AIDS (collaborating with the Global Youth Coalition against AIDS)
- The ‘who’ in social change – organizations and individuals (who can make a difference and how?)
Send ideas or feedback to iypaction@oxfam.org.au.
OIYP CASE STUDY COLLECTION - AWARENESS RAISING & BEHAVIOURAL CHANGE
Do you try to raise awareness of issues and their impact in your work for change? Do you try and empower, inspire or encourage people to behave differently in your work for change?
Many OIYP Action Partners do - and this research presents a series of case studies and questions for reflection around our use of these strategies for change. In the collection there are case studies on workshops, peer education, campaigning, creative action for change and technology platforms for change.
Download OIYP's Case Study Collection:
This is just the beginning.
After the publication of OIYP’s Case Study Collection on awareness raising and behavioural change strategies (campaigning, peer education, conferences, creative action for change…), we held a four week online forum in August 2005 to discuss obstacles and how to monitor and evaluate our work! We had some great discussion and insights, particularly into peer education – who are our peers?; follow up to conferences, including action planning and how to evaluate whether awareness has been raised or behaviour changed. Thank-you to everyone who participated and thanks also to everyone who answered the online survey!
OIYP will be updating the case study collection with more case studies, commentary and a new section on reflecting on our work for change looking at monitoring, evaluating and adapting our work! Watch this space for more information.
You can be involved in reviewing the next draft. Contact May - maymd-AT-oxfam.org.au.
Register to receive the final publication by emailing iypaction@oxfam.org.au with your name, organisation and address.
get involved in hiv/aids reserach
THE ROLE OF YOUNG PEOPLE IN COMBATING HIV AIDS: OIYP – GYCA research
From Imane Khachani, OIYP Action Partner
Today, there are a growing number of young people across the world who are working within their communities to reduce the vulnerability and risk behaviours of their peers. With often limited resources, thousands of young activists are leading grassroots initiatives worldwide, contributing to the fight against HIV epidemic’s spread through peer education based programmes, home care for HIV positive patients, advocacy for an equal access to treatment etc…
Oxfam International Youth Parliament and the Global Youth Coalition on HIV-AIDS* are currently conducting a research on youth driven initiatives in the area of HIV-AIDS.
This youth-led research aims at making light of the contribution of young activists’ work in the area of HIV AIDS worldwide and represents a great opportunity for sharing experience, knowledge and lessons learnt among them. It will result in an advocacy document with evidence around the contribution that youth-led projects and programs make to be shared at the 2006 International AIDS Conference in Toronto, as part of the Toronto Youth Force process. It may also result in recommendations to be presented to parties attending Toronto.
Get Involved! Fill out a case study survey.
Read more here. Or download the case study survey here
OIYP Input on the MDGs
OIYP has contributed input into the Youth Report on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which goes to The United Nations Millennium Project. OIYP's input is available here. The Youth Report draft is available here. We will keep this page updated with the final report.
Background:
The Youth Report was inspired by a meeting in April 2004 with Professor Jeffrey Sachs at the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (UN CSD) focusing on the MDGs. At that meeting, the chair of the UN CSD Youth Caucus asked him how the Millennium Project was going to involve young people as partners. He replied, "You tell us."
As a result of this invitation, an international team of youth experts from various non-governmental organizations (NGOs) worked together to formulate this Report. OIYP was invited to provide input on the draft. The OIYP Secretariat considered that the report was excellent but provided some comments on the emphasis of the draft as well as some case studies drawn from our network to be incorporated in the final drafting (February) before the report was submitted to the Millenium Project.
We would advise all those interested to read both the report and our input. You can also see the report online at www.mdgyouthreport.org.
Click here to read OIYP's input.
UNESCO Youth Declaration on Cultural Diversity
Email OIYP - iypenquiries AT oxfam.org.au for a copy of the declaration in English or French.
Cultural diversity enriches our lives in countless ways every day. It is also an important source of identity and basic human rights. The cultural diversity around us today is the outcome of thousands of years of human interaction with nature and among people with different customs, beliefs and ways of life. Having inherited this priceless legacy, we need to ensure it is passed down to future generations.
This transmission cannot and should not be taken for granted. All cultures are creative and dynamic, but they are also unique, fragile and irreplaceable. A culture neglected for a single generation can be lost forever. It is therefore crucial to create a safe environment in which all cultures can develop freely. In order to preserve cultural diversity in all its variety and vitality, the Member States of UNESCO unanimously adopted the UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity in 2001. The document you have in front of you is a version of this text that has been developed by and for young people around the world.
Through this version, we are seeking not only to introduce cultural diversity and UNESCO to young people but also to cultivate links among them wherever they may live. Through international and intercultural friendship, young people should benefit from cultural diversity and, through their actions today, help to preserve it for generations to come. Thus, while youth are the key to the future, it is essential that they shape the present too.
Koïchiro Matsuura
OIYP 2004 Communique
Email OIYP - iypenquiries AT oxfam.org.au for a copy of the Communique.
The world’s second sitting of the Oxfam International Youth Parliament (OIYP) took place in Sydney, Australia between July 5 and 12, 2004. 306 of the world’s most dynamic young leaders from 100 countries met to develop their skills, build networks, exchange strategies and to turn their ideas in to action.
Providing space for young men and women to create alternative directions is more important in today’s world than ever. Daily, we are presented with images of a divided world where distrust, greed and aggression dominate the way that peoples and nations interact. It is clear that new leaders are needed. Leaders who are open, thoughtful and compassionate and who have the courage to speak their minds and to find new and innovative ways to forge social, economic, cultural and political relationships.
OIYP is much more than just an event – it is a launching pad for action. The delegates to OIYP2004 are a new generation of leaders who are responding to global challenges with practical solutions. Be it a young HIV/AIDS educator in Zambia, a medical student from Iraq, a human rights lawyer from Zimbabwe, or a peace-builder from the Solomon Islands, the 306 OIYP action partners are committed to taking action and effecting real change where it is most needed in the world today.
Local Solutions - Global Impact is a testament to the work of OIYP Action Partners and their commitment to taking action within their own communities to achieve sustainable change. Please download, read and distribute Local Solutions - Global Impact as far and widely as possible.
Highly affected, rarely considered - youth commission report into globalisation
The first step in the Campaign was the Youth Commission into Globalisation - an inquiry into the impacts of globalisation on young people. The Commission unearthed a number of emerging issues, concerns and policy priorities of youth in the face of globalisation.
The Youth Commission findings are now available in the report "Highly Affected, Rarely Considered" which outlines the way globisation affects young people and their communities. Written by young people from all around the world, the report offers recommendations for action in order to maximise positive opportunities and minimise and negative impacts of globalisation.
We invite you all to read and distribute the report widely. Most importantly we invite you to TAKE ACTION!
Download the report in chapters below or email iypenquiries AT oxfam.org.au to receive a full PDF copy.
Introduction & Framing
Introduction ; Background & Methodology; Human Rights Framework; Agenda for Action
Chapters
Educationhttp://iyp.oxfam.org/documents/Chapter 1 Education.pdf;
Vulnerability of Agricultural Youth;
Violence & Young Peoples' Security;
Youth Activism and Human Rights;
Young People's access to Technology;
Global Youth Culture & Youth Identity.
Conclusion
youth guide to globalisation
Download the Youth Guide to Globalisation.
IYP's Youth Guide to Globalisation has been written by youth for youth and explores the definitions of globalisation from the perspectives of young people, examines the key players and the myths of globalisation, highlights the impacts globalisation is having on youth with personal
accounts, and provides practical responses to globalisation and the skills you can use in your everyday life!
