Towards a WAS Youth Initiative
According to the UNFPA, more than 1.5 billion people today are between the ages of 10 and 25. It is the largest generation of young people in history. Over the past decades, scientific research and numerous surveys have continuously demonstrated the many sexual problems faced by young people, which are related to their particular developmental characteristics. Hence, in its Millenium Declaration, the WAS (2008) recognizes their great need for comprehensive sexuality education and sexual health services. But as well as youths are prone to be affected by many sexual issues, they can also become powerful sexual health advocates, as their actions have proved over the last years.
Thus, it is crucial for the concretization of the Millenium Declaration, and for the institutional life of WAS, to start developing mechanisms of youth participation within WAS itself, as youths can become a driving force that would contribute to the consolidation of WAS as the leading global organization devoted to sexual health.
The WAS Youth Initiative emerges in this context, with three main strategies to undertake: the constitution of the WAS Youth Initiative Committee with youth members of the five WAS Federations; the use of modern communication technologies, particularly, the creation of Internet sites that would spread all the Initiative activities; and an International Consultation, “Youth’s Sexual Health in the XXI Century”, in response to the new sexual health challenges and, consequently, in a necessary effort to define, through a youth-adult partnership, the WAS guidelines to develop future work targeting youth.
