A message from Poonam Ahluwalia, Executive Director of the YES Campaign

Dear Friends,

Today is one of our favorite days ? the International Youth Day! On behalf
of the Global Campaign for Youth Employment ? the YES Campaign, I want to
restate our commitment to working tirelessly to promote this year's theme -
youth employment! Last year the Alexandria Youth Employment Summit placed
the issue of youth employment firmly on the global agenda.

As we celebrate our young people, let us also reflect on the challenges
youth face, and take stock of the youth employment crisis unfolding before
us. Data fails to reflect the true nature of youth unemployment, leaving
researchers to guess at the real rate. However, we do know that given the
fact that over 3 billion people are below the age of 25 all around the
world (UNFPA, 1998), large investment must be made to effectively address
the youth employment challenge. Research, capacity building, skills
training and policy formulation must begin to focus more directly on youth
livelihoods given the current statistics. Young people themselves must
ensure that this issue is given the priority it deserves.

The YES Campaign is working as a partner organization with the UN Youth
Employment Network and appreciates the high-level attention being provided
to this issue by them.

As always the YES Country Networks are doing breakthrough work under the
leadership of young people. They stand ready to work alongside other
stakeholders to fulfill the goals of the YES Campaign.

In solidarity