During the workshop organized by colleagues from Montevideo, representatives of EKLA KAS participated in the event with different themes. On Friday the 10th, Dr. Christian Hübner, Director of EKLA-KAS, made the presentation to welcome the representatives and academics from Costa Rica, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Mexico. In his presentation, he explained the points agreed in the "Living sustainably, preserve the quality of life Manifesto", document of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU for its acronym in German). As part of a search for well-being and quality of life for citizens, and based on pillars of the CDU to achieve sustainability (solidarity, responsibility and democracy for human rights), the manifesto states actions to achieve six strategic areas: empower consumers, boost sustainable economy, improve the quality of education and research, scale sustainability and quality of life at international level, improving the quality of life in cities and regions, and strengthening the governance and administration. With the above, Dr. Hübner invited the participants to take the CDU as an example of how a political party can lead issues beyond environmental and directly affecting the quality of life of people.
The next day, María Fernanda Pineda, Project Coordinator of EKLA-KAS, together with representatives of Generation +1, Alonso Tufino and Marycielo Valdez, made a presentation on the outlook of the youth, climate change and its relationship with political parties with focus in Peru. The big question that led the presentation was "how to mobilize young people who are active on the public agenda towards participation in politics agenda?". Each of the exhibitors made a brief reflection of their experiences in approaching to politics and how this environment creates mistrust and is very underrated by young people. After understanding that youths are different social constructs that vary according to cultural factors and that climate change is a phenomenon intensified by people, which is affecting and will affect the quality of life, the publication "Change youth participation, change the climate: young people in the definition of national contributions in Latin America and the Caribbean" was revised. From this, it emerged that adults and young people must share control of governance in climate change; however, the reality of the countries analyzed is that young people still have a very superficial participation. At the workshop, as part of a dynamic to answer the initial question, deputies and representatives suggested strengthening youth groups through training and research, link them with groups representing other sectors of society to act together from the group "citizen" and agree on the positioning of the environmental problem from a more social perspective.
At the end of the day, the presentation by each of the participants, served as inspiration and source to encourage and continue the work of strengthening political parties through the axis of sustainable development.
Watch the full publication of the event at the link on the right.
