The youth have voiced their concerns and ideas for a better future during consultations that will help shape the post-2015 global development agenda.

The One UN, through the United Nations Volunteers and its partner, Youth Parliament, better known by its French acronym, Pajer, engaged in consultations with four vulnerable groups of youth and compiled the findings into an art exhibit and networking event at Inema Arts Centre in Kigali on Tuesday.  

"You have to find interesting ways to present their views, otherwise it’s just another report that lands on somebody’s desk and doesn’t get read,” said Frances Nixseaman, from Pajer.

The UN Millennium Goals expire in 2015 and a global discussion on new development agenda is ongoing. Consultations have taken place in Rwanda in the past under the One UN system.

The new consultations targeted specific groups of youth, including girls, the deaf community, the Muslim community and refugees, to give them opportunities to make their voices heard.

Youth at Kigeme Refugee camp in Southern Province created paintings to express their opinions visually. On display at Inema Arts Centre in Kigali, each painting tells a story.

Majority youth populace

The small canvases each represent a development issue important to the youth such as the need for potable water, recreation centres and peace.

"It’s a really unique way of sending a message because as an artist there’s a lot of things people hide in their thoughts and it’s easy to portray them creatively,” said Emmanuel Nkuranga, the director of Inema Arts Centre.

In Rwanda, 65 per cent of the population is under 35. The post-2015 development agenda will have an impact on young people and their future.

"It’s important we hear the wishes and aspirations of young people because they’re often ignored,” said Aylin Schulz van Endert, the UN Youth Volunteer UNDP. 

Secondary students representing girls and young women were given an opportunity to air their views at the event on Tuesday.

"They came to us to seek our views and our goals and see what is most important to put into action,” said Mahoro Mastel Pierrette, a student at Lycee Notre-Dame de Citeaux in Kigali. 

Students at the girls’ school zeroed in on good governance and eradicating infant mortality as the most important development issues for the world post-2015. 

"There can’t be a good country without a capable government and, without the youth, who is going to lead that country?” Pierrette posed. 

The consultation findings were presented to the Ministry of Youth and ICT to help impact policy in Rwanda and to the UNV who are one of the lead agencies influencing the global project.