Young people continue to be the most affected by inequality, poverty and underdevelopment. They continue to be confronted with challenges of lack of access to education, lack of access to economic participation opportunities and lack of skills.
"Young people across the globe face a myriad of challenges that requires our governments to respond with urgency. This gathering therefore becomes very important to both local and international youth to define their destiny through influencing government policies and making valuable inputs in the discussion that will ensue during the conference," says National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) Executive Chairperson Andile Lungisa.
Daily conference presentations will give delegates an opportunity to discus social, political and economic issues towards the development of young people. These will include right to employment, economic issues, environment and development; public, free and universal access to education, science, culture and information; democratic rights, freedoms and human rights and the struggle for peace, sovereignty and solidarity against imperialism.
"As young people who are also the future, our survival depends upon overcoming these challenges towards a construction of a world where politics and the economy are oriented towards people as a whole and young people in particular," says Lungisa.
Lungisa says leaving in a democratic country has not taken South Africa's attention from other universal challenges that continue to confront other people of the world.
"We remain convinced that through our own ongoing struggle for social transformation there is a lot that we can benefit from the rest of the world and equally there is a lot that we have to offer," he says.
The Festival will officially get underway on Monday 13 December 2010 with an opening ceremony addressed by President Jacob Zuma at the Lucas Masterpieces Moripe Stadium in Atteridgeville at 14h00. The daily festival conferences will take place at the Tshwane Events Centre from 14 to 21 December 2010 and will be followed by cultural programmes focusing on the different countries from 18h00 to 22h00 everyday.
Delegates from over 100 countries are already in South Africa.
"It looks set to be 9 days of intense deliberations, but at the end of the day, we must reach a stage where through our collective efforts we are able to make a meaningful difference. Practical change must be seen in the lives of young people and we are taking that first step," concludes Lungisa.
From the NYDA website