Dear YES family:

The dream has come true! Welcome to YES Alexandria 2007! Four years after that the YES Campaign was launched in the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA) in 2002, we gather again in the same place for a mid-YES Campaign Forum with its leaders.

YES Alexandria Forum 2007 is possible thanks to the join efforts of the Youth Employment Summit (YES) Campaign, Inc., (USA) and Bibliotheca Alexandrina, (Egypt) and the Arab Reform Forum. We want particularly thank to Dr. Ismail Serageldin and his team at BA for his permanent support as a YES Campaign Committee member and host of this forum.

The YES 2007 as a mid-YES Campaign Forum has been planned to build and strengthen the capacity of the YES Country Networks, across the globe, to undertake in country youth employment projects and programs. The goal of the Forum will be to share good practices and foster synergies among the YES Country Networks.

The deliberations and activities at the Forum will centre around three identified sectors namely, Information and Communications Technologies (ICT); Integrated Rural Businesses; and Youth Employment and the Role of Social Entrepreneurship. We want to specially thank to YES Egypt for having prepared the toolkits in this three sectors which will help to build up the capacity of the YES networks on it.

We hope that you will enjoy these days with the YES family and that you will share with your peers as well as you will take advantage to exchange and learn from the experts, development practitioners, donors, government and business leaders that will also join us during the forum.

We celebrated worldwide the Youth International Day, last August 12th. As a contribution, we expect that this forum will renew the commitments of the YES family members and our partners, to build the core competence and the capacity of the young leaders to lead a youth employment movement across their countries.

In solidarity,

Poonam Ahluwalia

OUR INSPIRATION

Ismail Serageldin is an Egyptian national, born in Guiza in 1944. He is married with one son. He is tri-lingual: Arabic, French and English. He is the Director, Library of Alexandria; also chairs the Boards of Directors for each of the BA's affiliated research institutes and museums and he is a Distinguished Professor at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. He serves as Chair and Member of a number of advisory committees for academic, research, scientific and international institutions and civil society efforts which includes the Institut d'Egypte (Egyptian Academy of Science), TWAS (Third World Academy of Sciences), the Indian National Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the European Academy of Sciences and Arts. He is former Chairman, Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR, 1994-2000), Founder and former Chairman, the Global Water Partnership (GWP, 1996-2000) and the Consultative Group to Assist the Poorest (CGAP), a microfinance program (1995-2000). Serageldin has also served in a number of capacities at the World Bank, including as Vice President for Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development (1992-1998), and for Special Programs (1998-2000). He has published over 50 books and monographs and over 200 papers on a variety of topics including biotechnology, rural development, sustainability, and the value of science to society.

Message from the YES Global Networks Coordinator

Dear YES Leaders:

Welcome to YES Alexandria Forum 2007!

This Forum is particularly important for all of the YES family since it is a mid-YES event organized primarily for the leaders and members of the YES Country Networks and other key stakeholders from across the world.

We want to specially thank Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA) and YES Egypt team for the great support we have received to organize this forum. Without their support this forum would not have been possible.

YES Alexandria 2007 intends to build capacities and support for the leaders of the YES Campaign in different parts of the world in order to develop strategy and programs for youth employment and entrepreneurship.
It is very important for all of us to put it into perspective that this Forum isthe result of the conclusions and recommendations of the YES CoordinatorsWorkshop in Kenya and that it is the first-ever capacity-building forum for YES Coordinators. Its key objectives are:
1. To frame and move forward the strategic goals of YES Inc;
2. To train and develop capacities of YES Coordinators and other participating youth in three strategic areas for entrepreneurship development: Information and Communications Technologies, Integrated Rural Businesses, and Youth Employment and the role of Social Entrepreneurship.
3. To strengthen the YES Networks by building capacity in three thematic tracks: Community Building, Program Development, and YES Programs; and
4. To build and strengthen institutional capacity by fostering linkages and synergies between the YES Coordinators and YES Inc.

We are confident that after YES Alexandria 2007, the YES Campaign leaders will be ready to move forward it to the next phase at the global, regional and national levels! Welcome to a new era at YES!

Warm regards,

Dacil Acevedo Riquelme

One Spirit
YES TALENT NIGHT
Music, words, movements and feelings from the diversity

When we listen to our hearts, a strong and deep sound appears. Not like a normal one, it is the sound of life that transform in music. Nothing can be compared with the life sound. One Spirit: a YES Talent Show Performance tries to rescue that soul coming from our bodies, those ones that can’t move without dreams with sharing the diversity. Trough 2 hours, a wide diverse artist numbers will show a bit part of what we can feel when our intern music take us.
Let us take you where you can’t imagine. Open your mind to the senses and be part of the moment. Be part of the Spirit of the Life Fighters.

Program

It is… the SHOW TIME by Amany Soliman.
Memories of YES Egypt 2002 (film).
Music and songs from Egypt by the Infinitive Band.
Oriental classical Egyptian Music by Haythem Kamel & Evan Qursha(Egypt , Jordan)
YES Anthem by Emmanuel Edudzie (Ghana).
Poems: the letters of a nation by Jaime Aguilar (Nicaragua).
Believe by Theja Meru (India).
The Soul Voice by Pamela Braide (Nigeria).
Amigos para Siempre by Abiodun Ajijola (Nigeria)
Musical Medley by Dumisani Nyony (Zimbabwe)
Brilliant Azerbaijan Vokaliz (film)
Hearth’s Sounds: drama and dancing performance of Africa by Joel Bayubasire and Macumu Pierre (Congo and Burundi).
Typical Dance from Panama by Rosy Reyes
Sounds and movements from India by Saatvik Ahluwalia (USA).
Women Freedom Tusuy: a Contemporary Dance by Ursula Carrascal (Peru).

The YES Forum 2007 Facebook space created

Please go to http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=11654085477 to enjoy pictures of people, faces and hopes of the YES Family and friends. If you cant see it, please be part of Facebook network to be able to do and be in contact with YES members. Thanks to everyone that have shared their pictures. Also you can see the photos uploaded by others in the right side of this blog.

YES Forum 2007 Memories now in ppt presentation!

Please go to

http://projects.takingitglobal.org/yeslatinoamerica/docs/?msg=docuploaded and make click in memories, then you will be able to enjoy this ppt showed in the End Ceremony of the YES Forum!!