**Partners of the Americas**

**Youth Ambassadors Summit**

**Ouro Preto, Brazil**

**November 14, 2007**

**Partners of the Americas International Convention**

**Ouro Preto, Brazil**

**November 15-18, 2007**

**Youth and Volunteerism: Energy for the 21st Century**

Partners of the Americas, with support from the US Embassy Brasilia,
convened 14 Youth Ambassador Alumni for a Youth Ambassadors Summit at
Partners' International Convention. The Summit was designed to bring
together alumni from different years and countries to discuss ways that
youth can be more active in working with adults in various sectors of
society.

**Selection process**

Youth Ambassador alumni were selected from all participating countries.
Because of the location of the Summit and the longer history of the
program in Brazil, seven alumni were selected from Brazil, and one
alumnus was selected from each of the other seven participating
countries. To select the alumni from Brazil, Partners sent out e-mails
to gauge the interest of former Youth Ambassadors using the alumni
network. Of those who were interested, we discussed schedules and
availability. Seven YAs were interested and free during the time of the
Summit. Originally, Partners had only budgeted for six YAs, but one YA
was only able to make it for one day, so we were able to find the extra
funding for this time period.

In the other participating countries, Partners worked with local
volunteers to organize an essay contest in each country. Partners staff,
volunteers, and Embassy officials read the essays and selected one YA to
attend the Summit.

The attending Youth Ambassadors included:

Daniel de Oliviera, Brazil

Laize Lantyer Luz, Brazil

Adilson dos Santos Junior, Brazil

Luana Smeets, Brazil

Rebecca Carvalho, Brazil

Joao Palacio Ferriera Filho, Brazil

Paulo Batista Cunha, Brazil (US Immersion Program)

Johany Perez, Venezuela

Carlos Aguirre Collahauza Ecuador

Amalia Aguilar Ortiz, Nicaragua

Daysi Garcia Carballo, Paraugya

Emiliano Danielle, Argentina

Mauricio Ferrao Blanco, Uruguay

Juan DanielAveranga Bernal, Bolivia

**Youth Ambassadors Summit**

The Summit began with presentations of the participants and a group
discussion about the purpose and themes of the Summit. The group
discussed three themes related to different sectors of society:
Employment and the private sector, Volunteerism and the third sector,
and Participation and government.

The YAs divided into three groups to discuss each theme in more detail.
After discussing the themes, each group developed 3-6 resolutions that
portrayed actions that youth could take to help advance development in
these areas. The groups then reconvened to share their thoughts and
resolutions. The groups discussed the various resolutions and selected
those that they wished to include in the manifesto.

Partners then facilitated a workshop about networking for the YAs. This
workshop provided them with tips for how they should present themselves
at the Convention and about how to prepare for conversations that they
will have about the Youth Summit and the Manifesto.

**Partners' International Convention**

Following the Summit, the Youth Ambassadors participated in Partners'
Convention held at the same site. This included workshops, networking
opportunities, cultural events, and presentations. The YAs participated
in all organized activities: Workshops focused on volunteerism; programs
relating to youth, sports, human rights, and other themes; Partners'
future and organization; and the culture of Brazil and Minas Gerais'
Partner community in Colorado.

In addition, the YAs participated in cultural activities and dinners.
They practiced their networking during these times by talking to other
participants about the YA program, the manifesto, and their personal
interests. The YAs also organized a team to play in the Partners' Soccer
Tournament on the last day of the Convention.

YA participants also had the opportunity to meet with participants from
other youth programs within the Partners family. This included a young
man working on environmental protection in Brazil, and most notably two
young women from Partners' Vencer program in Brazil. These young women
joined the YA participants for events throughout the convention,
including the Youth Forum described below. Their interaction with the
YAs strengthened understanding of the types and impact of youth
programming and created stronger linkages between the programs.

**Youth Forum\
**

The YAs worked together to plan and facilitate a "talk-show-style" Youth
Forum for

Convention participants to learn about the YA program and to better
understand the message of the Manifesto. The Forum was led by YA Adilson
Junior. Adilson created a script for the Forum, incorporating interviews
of different YAs, acknowledgement of support from different groups,
videos of the YA experience, and audience questions.

During the Forum, the YAs also presented the Manifesto, the first
"launch" of their work at the Summit. This Forum was entirely designed
and implemented by youth participants. Partners staff provided support
and logistics for the YAs as they developed the Forum, but allowed the
YAs to express themselves and their vision.

Feedback after the Forum from Convention participants was very positive.
Attendees felt that it was one of the most informative and rewarding
sessions of the Convention and as a result they felt more interested and
capable of incorporating youth and the ideals of the YA program into
their own volunteer activities.

**Follow-up**

In order to maintain momentum from the Summit, Partners posted the
Manifesto in

English, Portuguese, and Spanish on its website and created a page where
people can sign on to the Manifesto to show their support. Currently,
Partners is brainstorming with YA alumni and network members through
on-line networking sites on various strategies to further promote the
manifesto and encourage the hemispheric community to sign on to the
ideals expressed in manifesto. One option is to work with the OAS and
IDB Youth to launch the manifesto across the hemisphere after it has
secured a significant number of signatures and other support. However,
launching and spreading the word through Department of State channels as
desired by DOS will be the first priority.

The participating YAs were responsible for sharing the results of the
Summit and

Manifesto with fellow YAs after returning home. Several gave
presentations to groups and Embassy officials. At the writing of this
report, YAs were still planning ways to share the Manifesto with their
friends and peers. Several YAs wrote reports on their experience to
facilitate this sharing experience. Three of these reports are attached.

The YAs also collaborated to write an article for Partners' next
newsletter that will broadcast the Manifesto and a call to action to get
other youth and adults to sign on to the Manifesto. The article is also
attached.

**Youth Ambassadors Summit**

Ouro Preto, Brazil

November 14, 2007

By Emiliano Nahuel Daniele (Youth Ambassador from Argentina)

The Youth Ambassadors Summit took place in the Partners of the Americas
2007

Convention, at the Conference Center of a hotel called Estalagem de
Minas Gerais. This hotel is near Ouro Preto (about 5 km from the city)
in the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil. There were many people attending
the meetings, including representatives of Latin American countries,
representatives of each chapter in the U.S. and the Youth Ambassadors as
well.

The Youth Ambassadors Summit started on Wednesday, November 14th at the
Agata Conference Room at the Convention Center. In this case, there were
also representatives of many South America countries. The names and the
country of each YA are listed below.

**Argentina:**

Daniele, Emiliano Nahuel

Brazil:

Batista Cunha, Paulo Cezar

Cavalcanti de Carvalho, Rebecca Mayara

de Oliveira, Daniel Augusto

dos Santos Junior, Adilson

Lantyer Luz, Laíze

Palacio Ferreira Filho, João

Smeets, Luana Barbara

**Bolivia:**

Averanga Bernal, Juan Daniel

**Ecuador:**

Aguirre Collahuazo, Carlos Andrés

**Nicaragua:**

Aguilar Ortiz, Amalia

**Paraguay:**

García Carballo, Daysi Auxiliadora

**Uruguay:**

Ferrao Blanco, Mauricio Nicolás

**Venezuela:**

Pérez Cordero, Johany Carolina

During the meeting, each one gave their point of view about the three
topics we were given. Those topics were:

• The Private Sector (Businesses) and Employment

• The Third Sector and Volunteerism

• The Public Sector (Government) and Citizen Participation

We were taking notes and after that, we split into three different
groups to discuss one of the themes in detail, using the notes we had
taken and our ideas.

Combining our thoughts, we prepared between four and six resolutions
about the issue we were given. Those resolutions were used to make the
final Manifesto.

Once we finished with our special meeting, we attended some others and
we were given some workshops about volunteerism, leadership, how to
start new projects and how youth can be more involved with the
community. These interactive discussion groups had a moderator (as in
every meeting) and some panelists from the partnerships who presented
the topics and started the debates. The one that enjoyed the most was
"New opportunities- New Projects" in which the panelists shared their
experiences and their ideas about how to design a new program and they
explained to us the purposes, the way they carry out their projects and
the impact they have. Some other Youth Ambassadors and I were attending
this meeting, which was very useful. One of the things that I learned is
the importance of networks. We could see that it is really important to
establish networks among people when we are working (not only in a
project, but in daily activities as well) because it helps us reach our
objectives. By networking, we can share ideas, thoughts and points of
view with other people and try to solve the problems in the best way
possible. (We were talking about networks during the YA Summit, and in
this meeting, we could see how helpful networks are in every task).

The organization was excellent, with a well-prepared timetable. The
simultaneous translation facilitated the communication among people who
spoke different languages (for example, some people did not speak
English, so the translation helped them understand what was happening
during the meetings). The schedule included, besides the meetings, a
tour of Ouro Preto and a visit to Downtown, dinner at some restaurants
and a musical play at the Municipal Theater Ouro Preto.

The last day (Saturday, November 17) was the most formal of all, and it
started with the Youth Forum at about 9:45 a.m. Microsoft, the American
Embassy and Vencer Program sponsored the Forum and it was prepared by
Adilson dos Santos Junior (in the format of a talk show). He was the
interviewer in the Forum in which we talked about our experiences to the
audience (our experience in the US, in our countries and in the
Convention). In that very special meeting, Mauricio and I read out the
Manifesto. It was very important to show what we were working on during
the Summit because everyone was attending this meeting. In that way, we
could share our thoughts about the three topics mentioned above with all
the people who were taking part in the convention. The conclusions of
the Manifesto made everybody change their minds about Youth
participation and agreed that we can work all together (teenagers,
adults and elderly also). As a result, they decided to allow two
representatives of Youth in the following meetings (and that is the most
important advance we made after the Manifesto).

The convention, as a whole, taught me how to work with people. We are
all different, with different points of view about of same problem and
different ways of solve it. However, we can be successful if we share
our ideas and show the others what we think.

I had a great time during the convention, meeting new people and working
with other Youth Ambassadors from all over Latin America, sharing our
ideas about a better world, and what we can do, as youth, to change the
current situation.

**Report of the Youth Ambassadors**

**International Convention in Ouro Preto**

**November 14-18, 2007**

**Johany Carolina Pérez Cordero**

**(Venezuela)**

On Wednesday 14^th^

1.  In the morning we the Youth Ambassadors from Bolivia, Ecuador,
    Brasil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Nicaragua and Venezuela had a
    meeting at the Convention Center where we introduce ourselves and we
    were informed about the purpose of the meeting by Melissa Golladay
    and Heloisa Andrade, they told us that we need to talk about the
    importance of the youth in the different sectors of the society
    (public, private and the third sector). Dennis Shaw and Matt Clausen
    were observers of the meeting.

2.  We select which of these three areas we wanted to talk about, so
    they divide us in groups of 4 persons and gave us some questions to
    develop. The group where I was started to discuss and give opinions
    about the third sector and volunteerism and how important is that
    young people get involve in this part of the society.

3.  After that we gather around again in a plenary session and one
    representative of each group gave the conclusions and the different
    opinions so everyone could participate in the discussion. As a
    result of the meeting we put all our conclusions in a Manifesto that
    was presented at the end of the Convention on Saturday 17th.

**On Saturday 17th**

This last day we made a presentation for all the partners of the
Convention to introduce the Manifesto and to talk about our experiences
on the trip to the United States. The presentation was great because
everyone liked the Manifesto and our opinions about the participation of
the youth in society and more specific in volunteer work. After the
presentation many of partners came to us to congratulate us and to give
us their support on these ideas and to invite more adults to join us and
stimulated us on keep doing volunteer work like this because we the
youth has fresh ideas.

I went to a lot of meeting where I could hear about the different
programs that are in Partners and the different opportunities they give
to people to go to the U.S and to learn English. I also had the
opportunity of sharing with different people many of these who came from
different parts of the Unite States and from Center and South America
like Guatemala, Colombia, Haiti, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay and many
others I also had the opportunity to learn about some programs like
Farmer to Farmer were they give the farmers technical assistance so they
can develop their cultivations, another program was A Ganar/Vencer where
the youth play soccer and through the play they learn to develop the
teamwork and to fight consistently by their goals, and many others where
they give children English class and teach them how important is the
volunteer work. I think that the dinners, the soccer match, the theater
and the trip to Ouro Preto were well related to the Convention because
it wasn't just a thing that knowing about the different programs but
also of knowing a bit of the Brazilian culture and connecting to each
other, not only go there and hear what they had to say but also make
friendship, I learn a lot about the others culture, the different words
that we have in our language (Spanish), I learn that you can communicate
with someone if you want to even if you don't know the language and I
think that I also had the opportunity to invite all of them to come to
Venezuela and see what wonderful things do we have here; I also learn
some new words in English and of course improve my skills while
communicating. I could see how many people is involve in volunteer work
and with just have the spirit and the desires to help others you can do
such great things.

**New friends**

I met a lot of persons from different places of the hemisphere; it was a
wonderful experience to have the opportunity of making friends in
Ecuador like Carlos Aguirre,

Bolivia like Juan Daniel Averanga, Argentina like Emiliano Daniele,
Nicaragua like

Amalia Aguilar, Paraguay like Daisy Garcia, Uruguay like Mauricio Ferrao
and from

Brazil like Luana Smeets, Joao Palácio, Adilson dos Santos, Rebbeca
Cavalcanti,

Daniel de Oliveira, Paulo Cesár Batista and Laíze Lantyer and many
others from Colombia, Guatemala and other places from the Unite States.
Sharing with them in the dinners and in the soccer match and in many
meetings was amazing.

**Partners of the Americas 2007 Convention**

**Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais, Brazil**

**Volunteerism and Youth -- New Energy for the 21st Century**

This document will include an overview of what was like the Convention
and also will highlight some very personal impressions that I had as an
youth, an Youth Ambassador and as a new member of Partners of the
Americas.

**Wednesday, November 14th**

**Youth Summit**

The group formed of Youth Ambassadors from different countries of Latin
America, which were participating on the Convention, discussed how to
engage youth in the three sectors: Public Sector, Private Sector and the
Third Sector.

At the first moment the group, coordinated by Heloisa and Melissa, had
the opportunity to know each other better by a short individual
introduction.

Instead of a serious and boring meeting we had a precious opportunity to
think about a better future for the world and to bring up some possible
solutions to take the first steps. It was really interesting because we
were divided into 3 groups and each group discussed about one of the
three sectors.

My personal view of this discussion was that the solutions we had were
really general because, for example, when I suggested something another
person of the group said it was not a possible solution for his/her
country and then the whole group started to think about how can we have
solutions not only for our countries but for the world. This was amazing
because we wrote many solutions and after that we started a discussion
to decide which of them were better fit for different countries and not
only for a specific one.

I had the pleasure to talk and discuss with youth from Bolivia,
Paraguay, Nicaragua, Argentina, Venezuela, Ecuador and Uruguay and this
was a fantastic cultural interchange. I got an overview of the reality
for youth in those countries. After the small groups discussions we got
everybody together again and read our ideas for the others in order to
improve our ideas, to share our point of view and to make sure we were
working as a group. While we were discussing, coordinated by Melissa,
Heloisa was taking notes of everything.

Everybody delivered the ideas wrote in a paper to Heloisa and Melissa
and with this material they worked and this ended up into our Manifesto.
(see in attachment)

**Saturday, November 17th**

**Youth Forum**

In the format of a talk show we presented some points of our priorities
and ideas to build a better world. Adilson dos Santos Junior, Youth
Ambassador from Juiz de Fora, was the host of the talk show and
interviewed five people of our group, in which two girls were from the
Vencer program.

All the youth had the opportunity to show that we all are available to
help and willing to learn as much as we can in order to help our
communities and share all the knowledge we acquire with our parents,
relatives and friends. We demonstrated we can be the present and not
only the future, since tomorrow\'s consequences depend on today\'s
action.

The most important thing, in my opinion, was that we had this
opportunity to show that we are here to help and most of the time people
don't realize we can be important "tools". One amazing thing happened
after our presentation because people were really interested to know
more about us. So many people invited us to meetings and we started an
intense network time.

**Events and Networking Opportunities**

From the day that I arrived to the day that I left the Convention I had
a lot of network opportunities. I met people from different regions of
the US and Latin America. More than that I had the opportunity to get to
know better the members of my chapter and the fantastic projects they
are developing. Now I have a better idea of how I can help them and how
they can help me.

**1. Youth Summit**

This meeting was a great opportunity to get in contact with the reality
for the youth in different countries of Latin America and work as a
group to write a document with some ideas well fit for all of us. The
Youth Summit was more than a discussion to bring up solutions. This was
a time to think about the problems of the world and how youth can help
to solve this. The Manifesto we wrote was a consequence of this
interchange.

**2. Dinner and Talent Show**

We had a wonderful dinner with music and dance. All people were
interacting with each other and this provided us a pleasant night.\
\
**3. Partners of the Americas Congress and Elections**

It was an opportunity to know more about what the chapters are doing and
how they are acting in each state or region. Even that we didn't have
the chance to write we had the chance to learn more and I think this is
the first step because we can't have an opinion about something we don't
know well.

**4. Awards Lunch**

More than an awards lunch it was a network time. We saw people being
recognized and also those who develop many interesting projects in
different fields.

**5. Panel -- Brazil -- Land of 1000 Colors**

A time to learn more about our culture and to realize how people are
interested in learn more about Brazil. We watched a short movie in the
end which made me reflect about our power in the world and that we are
responsible for the maintenance and the preservation of our natural
wealth.

**6. Opening Ceremony -- Municipal Theater Ouro Preto**

We watched a fantastic play about our history (Brazil's history) with
music and dance. I think they presented a very optimistic way to face
the differences as we live in a "country of mixture".

**7. Plenary Panel: Forging Partnerships for Youth**

We had the chance to listen different ways to help youth to be engaged
with social matters. In the end of the lecture we had the chance to make
questions.

**8. Concurrent Sessions**

I attended different ones but one thing discussed that I was really
interested was the discussion about fundraising. I realized this is a
problem for almost all the chapters because sometimes people have good
projects and so many volunteers but don't have sponsorship to take the
first step to start their projects. I started thinking about different
ways to self support our projects and maybe I'll try to apply some of
these ideas I had in my project. I think this is something we need to
think about together and work as a group to solve this problem.

**9. Dinner and Entertainment**

Another pleasant night with music and network opportunities.

**10. Youth Forum**

Our chance to show our ideas and our needs. A time to make people think
more about youth and ways to give opportunities for us to get engaged.

**11. Intergenerational Soccer Match**

We had a lot of fun with this soccer game and another opportunity to
work as a group.

**Networking Opportunities**

**Lunch with São Paulo/Illinois chapter**

Ciro Croce invited me to participate at a meeting with the São
Paulo/Illinois chapter in which I had the chance to give some ideas to
improve the interaction of the members and to attract youth to
participate. They took notes and now I'm developing a project with
Fernão Croce, called Youth Partners of the Americas for the youth of our
chapter. "This is just the beginning\..."

**Youth Track**

We organized a youth track and this was one more opportunity to have an
interchange of ideas and to have fun all together.

**Embaixadores da Esperança**

Rebecca and I were asked by Matt Clausen and Melissa Golladay to think
about ways to engage the youth from "Embaixadores da Esperança" program
in a more effective way with POA. This was a way to make us interested
to know more about this program and make searches to read about it.
These network opportunities that I described are just some of the many
that I had there.

**Meeting other Yas from other Countries**

Amalia Aguilar Ortiz -- Nicaragua

Carlos Andres Aguirre Collahuazo -- Ecuador

Juan Daniel Averanga Bernal -- Bolivia

Emiliano Nahuel Daniele -- Argentina

Mauricio Nicolas Ferrao Blanco -- Uruguay

Daysi Auxiliadora Garcia Carballo -- Paraguay

Johany Carolina Pérez Cordero - Venezuela

Youth Manifesto: Demonstrating Energy for the 21st Century

By Luana Smeets (Brazil) and Emiliano Daniele (Argentina)

**Promoting the Manifesto**

We, Youth Ambassadors from across Latin America, believe that the one of
the most effective ways to engage youth in social matters and volunteer
work is by first listening to them. The Youth Ambassadors were given a
great opportunity to do just that; listen to each other, express our
feelings, and share our ideas about ways to engage youth in service and
make an impact in our world. Fourteen Youth Ambassadors convened at
Partners' 2007 International Convention held in Ouro Preto, Minas
Gerais, Brazil to participate In a Youth Summit, which resulted in the
creation of the Youth Manifesto. Add link to the Manifesto on
[www.partners.net](http://www.partners.net/)

The Partners of the Americas International Convention brought up a very
important idea, which is easily observed by taking one look at its
subject: "Volunteerism and Youth -- New Energy for the 21st Century".
All in all, the convention and especially the Summit and the Youth Forum
served as a platform for the exchange of important ideas.

**The Importance of the Manifesto**

This written document shares our conclusions from the conversation we
conducted during the Summit.

The Manifesto is very important for the youth because it was an
opportunity to show that we are all available to help and willing to
learn as much as we can in order to improve our communities and share
all the knowledge we acquire from our parents, relatives and friends.

We demonstrated that we can be the present and not just the future,
since tomorrow's consequences depend on today's action.

These days it seems that youth are less involved in their communities;
that their primary objective is personal benefit (individualism), and
they don't have their own ideals for progress. Nevertheless, there is a
reason for everything. Sadly, youth are not motivated enough to
participate actively in their society because some politicians and
adults do not set a positive example. In addition, lack of commitment
has led youth to think about them only.

**What can we do to change this?**

The Manifesto was the first step. Now, we have a document that includes
all our ideas of how we can work together in order to create the change
we need. We, as youth, can start doing something (like work in
organizations, helping with our ideas, and of course, set an example for
not only youth, but adults as well). Moreover, this is another reason
why the Manifesto is so important. We can show its resolutions and
spread the thoughts that support it.

The most important aspect of this Summit was that we were given this
opportunity to show that we are here to help and most of the time people
do not realize that we can be important "tools".

This was a great opportunity to understand the realities many youth face
in different countries of Latin America and to work as a team to create
a document with ideas that fit for all of us.

For us, Youth Ambassadors, the Summit was more than a discussion to
think of some solutions, and the Manifesto is not just "a written
document". It is much more. It is the result of an international
discussion among youth from all over Latin America, who wanted to begin
something meaningful to invite everybody to understand and believe in
our ideas.

This was a time to think about the problems of the world and how youth
can help to solve them. The Manifesto we wrote was a product of this
exchange.

**Rolling Up Our Sleeves**

It is now time to expand the impact by promoting and showing the
Manifesto to new audiences in order to create a multiplier effect. It is
essential that people sign on to our Manifesto because this is a way to
show that they really care about our opinion and are willing to work
together with us, the youth, in order to build a better world.

It is impossible to do a good job all on one's own. Because of this, we
believe the

Manifesto is a wonderful example of how people can take the first step.
That is why they should sign on to it, to support us and to network
toward a better world for all of us.

Youth from different parts of Latin American worked together to come up
with solutions to problems of the world, so people should at least read
this document and reflect on the current situation of the world, their
responsibility, and what actions they are taking to change it.

Once we make a change, youth will be more aware of how their countries
work so they will feel more integrated. However, to accomplish that
objective, we need to act, because if we do not start changing
ourselves, we will not make any difference. We, as Youth Ambassadors,
must share our ideas with our partners to start creating a common ideal
of progress and growth. This Manifesto is only the beginning.