United Nations

Office of the UN Resident Coordinator – MALAWI
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PRESS RELEASE

Fourteen Australian MDG Youth Ambassadors arrive in Malawi

Honourable Mr. Khumba Kachali, MP, Minister of Youth Development and Sports (centre) and the youth delegation from Australia Oaktree Foundation after their meeting with the minister at the start of their mission in Malawi. Also in the picture are (3rd right) Dr. Agnes Chimbiri, UNDP Malawi’s Head of MDG Cluster and Mr. Msasata, Deputy Secretary Ministry of Youth Development and Sports

LILONGWE, 17th July 2007 –A team of 14 youth from Oaktree Foundation, Australia's first entirely youth run aid and development organisation, are in Malawi on a one-week mission to learn about the challenges of achieving the Millennium Development Goals. The youth aged between 18 and 26 years, will also explore opportunities to forge partnerships with Malawian youth to strengthen their participation and campaign to accelerate progress to achieve the goals.

The youth kicked off their mission with a meeting with Honourable Mr. Khumbo Kachali, MP, Minister of Youth Development and Sports and officials from Ministry of Economic Planning and Development, National Youth Council of Malawi, United Nations and Bridge Malawi.

Hon. Kachali said his vision for the youth in Malawi was a robust leadership position and dynamic and innovative programmes that support the country in its development objectives and progress towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals.

The Ministry also highlighted some of the achievements of the ministry including vocational training and micro financing for youth. He reiterated his commitment to support the bill soon to be tabled in parliament that will enable the primary and high school curricula to include entrepreneurial skills so that graduating and drop out students can pursue a professional life that is not confined to ‘white-collar’ job searches.

The itinerary will take the youth to development and youth projects in six districts – Lilongwe, Mangochi, Zomba, Blantyre and Mulanje - in Central and Southern regions of Malawi, supported by Bridge Malawi, National Youth Council, Populations Services International and United Nations.

In Lilongwe Rural, the group prepared and served meals in three schools that are part of School Feeding Programme supported by Ministry of Education and World Food Programme (WFP) and visited youth centres supported by UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

Anna Tallant WFP demonstrates to the Australian Youth Ambassadors the preparation of the fortified porridge given to children at Mdzobwe Primary School in Lilongwe Rural, one of the schools in Malawi that is part of the school feeding programme supported by Ministry of Education and WFP.	The Ambassadors serving pupils at Mdzobwe Primary School

They will meet with secondary students in Mangochi and take part in youth outreach programmes in Mulanje supported by UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and Populations Services International (PSI), respectively.

In Mangochi, they will join Ndita! (I Can!) Sports - a Bridge Malawi initiative that uses sports, competitions and local games to strengthen life skills for HIV prevention and in Blantyre they will visit another youth centre supported by Australian government and UNICEF among others.

Terence Malamulo, MDG Youth Ambassador for Malawi together with the MDG Youth Support Team at Chancellor College have organised a mini-conference to begin mapping out a vibrant partnership between youth in Malawi and Australia.

The Oaktree Foundation was established in 2003 and has since then invested over $500,000 in education projects for peers in developing countries. The Foundation aims to empower developing communities through education.

Oaktree Foundation with the support of UNDP’s Millennium Campaign has started the project Our Generation’s Challenge to create a global network of young people to work together to achieve the MDG.

With 1.4 billion young people worldwide, 1.2 billion of whom live in developing countries, innovative partnerships must be forged for young people to lead the effort to end extreme poverty. Our Generation’s Challenge aims to raise the voice of the poor, strengthen the role of young people in delivering solutions to the extreme poverty of their own countries and harnesses collective efforts.

For more information contact:
Susan Muguro, UN Communication Officer, 01 773 500, 09 967 991 or susan.muguro@undp.org