London Summit and DFID's new action plan - join the youth debate!
On 2 April leaders from all over the world are coming to London to talk about the big issues for people and the planet, and make decisions at the G20 London Summit which will affect all our futures.
Presidents and Prime Ministers from Africa, Asia, Europe, North and South America will be talking about the things that can’t be solved by single countries, like making sure there are fair chances and jobs for everyone, protecting the poorest people, and helping everyone to make greener choices.
The London Summit is our chance to think and talk about the biggest global challenges facing your generation – like how conflict, climate change, economic crisis and poverty are affecting people in poor countries and how these issues could affect us all (like increasing immigration, terrorism, more expensive goods etc).
It is also a chance to ask questions and get involved in the debates that will affect your future. DFID is also creating a new action plan this year, called a White Paper, to tackle some of these issues. The White Paper will help to develop Government policy to eliminate world poverty over the next five years by tackling these new issues caused by the economic downturn and climate change. We want to hear your views.
If you could ask Ministers and World Leaders one question, what would it be?
Join the youth debate here:
- Take part by
putting your questions to world leaders. - Read the DFID Youth Reporters
blog,
bringing you video reports on the big global issues that world leaders will
be debating at the London Summit
- Join the DFID Youth Reporters
Facebook group.
- Find out more about the Youth Reporters and the Youth Debate on the
London Summit website.
- Visit
BBC's Crunch-arama for
a chance to get your school to get involved in
discussions.
- Join the Conflict Children campaign.
DFID Youth Reporters
We have been enlisted by the Department for International Development (DFID) to raise awareness and enthusiasm of issues like climate change, conflict and the global financial crisis in the run-up to the Summit on 2 April 2009. |
Nineteen-year-old Chris Cooper asks Sir Bob about perceptions of the world's poorest countries and the role they have in global economic recovery. |
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We want to relay the opinions of world leaders and institutional heads to young people, and show them that the majority of us do want to know – the key is showing us how we can make a difference. We started by reporting live from a conference in London on 9 and 10 March 2009, Eliminating World Poverty: Building our Common Future, where we interviewed Sir Bob Geldof and Foreign Secretary, David Miliband! See our reports on our
Attia, Heather, Lucy, Hannah, Chris, Joe, Sophie, Sunball and Hannah |
Heather Kitt and Chris Cooper interview Douglas Alexander. He says young people have a really important role to play in international development - the world needs their idealism, ideas and willingness to get involved. |
We're a team of 9 youth reporters from the UK and over
the next month we'll be bringing you videos and blogs on the big global
issues and debates world leaders will be discussing at the London
Summit.
The DFID Youth Reporters are participating in specialist content-creation workshops, day-long edit sessions and are being matched with experienced journalist and film-maker mentors.
The team come from Platform2, DFID’s Youth
Board (made up of representatives from youth boards of leading international
charities as part of DFID’s CSO Children and Youth Network), and
Live Futures.
What's happening
The world is witnessing the worst international banking crisis that the world has seen for many generations and we are facing an urgent need to tackle big challenges like climate change and conflict.
On 2 April leaders from all over the world are coming to London to talk about
the big issues for people and the planet, and make decisions at the G20
London
Summit that will affect all our futures.
Presidents and Prime Ministers from Africa, Asia, Europe, North and South America will be talking about the things that can’t be solved by single countries, like making sure there are fair chances and jobs for everyone, protecting the poorest people, and helping everyone to make greener choices.
On 9-10 March 2009, the UK Government’s Department for International Development (DFID) held a two-day conference in London on Eliminating World Poverty: Securing our Common Future a month ahead of the London Summit of the world's biggest economies.
The conference, referred to as a ‘poverty summit’, was organised by Douglas Alexander, International Development Secretary, to ensure the poorest people are not forgotten in the response to the global economic downturn. It was addressed by the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, and included speeches from Sir Bob Geldof, as well as leaders of aid organisations and senior figures from the World Bank and World Food Programme.
The Prime Minister vowed that tackling poverty would be central to next month's G20 gathering in London of the leaders of the world's major economies. He told the development conference that the Government would draw up plans with other rich countries and the World Bank to set money aside for developing nations loosing out because of falling levels of investment and aid.
The DFID conference also looked at new strategies for development, which will help create an updated policy for a new DFID White Paper in July 2009. The White Paper will help to develop Government policy to eliminate world poverty over the next five years by tackling these new issues caused by the economic downturn and climate change.
