 Friday
at the Prepcom
Making the Global Movement for Children come alive
New York, 15 June - Representatives of all ages and from all continents transformed the sedate Dag Hammarskjold Auditorium into a place of celebration on Friday to discuss how the Global Movement for Children (GMC) and the Say Yes for Children campaign could be expanded and improved.
The auditorium was festooned with colourful campaign posters, T-shirts and banners proclaiming each of the 10 items in the rallying call document. The posters and banners had been signed by the under-18 representatives attending the week-long third Preparatory Committee meeting of the UN General Assembly's Special Session on Children.
Enthusiastic participants met in their respective regional groups to discuss questions, concerns, visions and hopes for the GMC and the Say Yes campaign.
The following emerged as the specific regional concerns:
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Europe was particularly interested in how to use the Internet more effectively and how to reach street children.
- North America was concerned about how to keep the
momentum going after the Special Session and involve
under-resourced non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
- Asia sought strategies on how to more effectively target family units, include the family into the Say Yes campaign and reach the most marginalized children.
- Latin America asked why the GMC and Say Yes campaign
had been launched in some countries and not others,
and suggested that results of the poll showing which
issues were of most concern at regional and country
levels be made available after the Special Session.
- Africa was concerned about how the GMC and Say Yes campaign related to each other, and how to increase children's participation in both.
Concerns common to all regions included how to better distribute campaign materials, how to work more closely with one another within countries, regions and "clusters of concern', how to form partnerships with organizations and the private sector and how to secure the funding, skills and talent needed for various activities.
At the end of the workshop, there was general consensus among the participants that the GMC and Say Yes campaign should become household phrases around the world, that strong partnerships and networks should be formed and maintained after the Special Session and that the most marginalized children and societies should be touched by these activities.
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