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LATIN AMERICA YOUTH SPEAK FORUM 2016
BOGOTÁ, COLOMBIA
Introduction
On April 8th
2016, AIESEC welcomed over 300 young people from 28 countries around the world to
Latin America Youth Speak Forum in Corferias, Bogota. Youth Speak Forum creates a bridge to
connect the government, private sector, and young people to discuss solutions to problems facing
Latin America today.  This document has been created to provide a detailed account of the
collaboration of youth from over 28 countries that, with the collaboration of a diverse range of
stakeholders worked to understand what could be the main contribution of youth in Latin America
towards the decisions shaped by HABITAT III and the overall evolution of the implementation of
the Sustainable Cities and Communities (SDG number 11) in the region.

Thematic Sessions
1. Mobility
The most common issues identified were:
● Efficient transportation to airports which are often over 2 hours away from the city core.
● Lack of connectivity within public spaces
● Large amounts of trash being generated in airports and airplanes.
● Noise and environmental pollution are a big issue in metropolis.

Major Takeaways for Habitat III:
● Creating benefits for communities living in close proximity to the airport through jobs and
other forms of integration.
● Development of public transportation to airports
● Innovating environmental spaces in airports. Best case practice from Charles de Gaule in
France, where one can ride a bicycle to charge their phone.
● Airlines generating awareness for global climate change and environmental issues through
proenvironmental announcements.
● Every sector should be able to work closely and contribute to the issue in depth

2. Youth and Local Governance
● The level and knowledge from teachers are very uneven in different parts of Latin America
● The current limitations are specially regarding: background, and methodologies of
implementation for informal education settlements

● Funding issues are also very influential when it comes to implementation of educational
policies, teachers are often demotivated

● The mindset towards teachers needs to be changed. Their needs to be more respect for
them in society and their roles should be revered and encouraged.
● Teachers should be better paid to help reinforce this mindset shift.
● With better paid teachers and high reverence, we can begin to look at innovative methods
to teach kids. Only when we have highlyrespected teachers can we begin to have
collaborative discussions across sectors to create new and innovative methods to
accelerate teaching.
● Communal spaces could help create collaborative discussions and find a space for more
tutors.
● Better mobility and mass transportation could improve the educational prospects of
children, especially those in rural area who might currently have limited means to reach
schools.

3. Informal settlements and urbanization
● We need to see habitat and settlements  in a wide sense, it is just not about housing, it is about
conditions, rights, basic services, acknowledgement, Migration and rights.
● Is needed to be aware of the things crossing by the region you belong to: LATAM has one of the most
unurbanized and unequal city worldwide.
● Community Leaders are acting upon inequality in settlements, and youth have little role on the
implementation
● There is a lack of policies in order to guide and cover issues among informal settlements
● As the youth, they  are the key enablers of these projects; however, to truly understand the needs of
those living in settlements, is needed to be a way for enablers to be immersed in the settlement to
better understand their needs.
● It is important to have “community nomads” among settlements that can act as leaders’ that can go to
help other communities and take “good inputs” to adapt in hisher community in order to tackle issues.
● It is important to implement surveys, inquiry hubs or any kind of input gathering systems.
● It is important to awake a solutions oriented minds among vulnerable communities in order they just do
not stay waiting for government support (just highlighting 1 example).

4. Opportunities in Cities

● Connecting Sustainable Development with the creation of opportunities in cities and sustainable growth
of businesses. How can companies grow disruptively while creating the best opportunities for people in
cities and keep their growth sustainable?
● Policies to be flexible enough to be adapted in different cultures and contexts;
● Additional to visions, indicators and statements, a roadmap for the next midterm
ambitions should be ensured in companies
● Team Standards for Managers in Private Companies (Including Inductions, trainings,
organizational culture shaping (Mission & Vision), Clear Planning, Leadership Training,
Systematization, Functional Trainings, Quarterly revisions, Incentive Systems)
● Facilitation and Training systems: TraintheTrainer Models in Companies and continuous
trainings within the enterprise
● Define the markets of each country to see what focus the companies can have, cluster
demographics (age, acquisitive capacity, etc.)
● Keep accountability high through a scoreboard

5. Inclusion in Cities
● The cities are built around the companies but not around the people.
● All the  changes in the cities are short term. There is no plan in how the cities are
developed.
● We need to start working towards a creation of a cultural identity, that also allows people
to start feeling more coresponsibility.
● It is important to generate spaces where people can connect with each other. And break
the differences in the society.
● We need to start rethinking the education curricula to bring the citizenship as an
important discussion topic.
● Rethink the taxes distribution to make sure this is actually impacting the city's’
development.
● To have a clear transparency plan.
● Generate a new curricula where we can actually discuss about citizenship, and what does
that mean.
● Work on generating citizenship culture: have a common purpose; understand the rights
and obligations; become protagonist; think collectively.
● Work on how generate a coresponsibility sense to guarantee the changes.

6. Community Development
● Evolution of technology and how do we find ourselves in this world
● Changes in education system
● Changing from the for urban areas
● More information no always means more prepared
● Community development through education
● Transparency in the government
● Digital education as a key change in the technological way of educating people
● Spaces for experiential learning academic, coaching and technical
● Change of old mindsets and more innovation

7. Sports for Development
● Cities lack of spaces that integrate and provide community cohesion
● Routine in mobility systems enables “daily violence”
● There is a huge lack of sense of community among citizens, due to a lack of spaces for
community integration in public spaces of cities
● Infrastructure and lack of planning on it makes the system really bad
● Bureaucracy in cities and its management
● Enabling interaction spaces for communities ensures unity and reduces security
● Cities lack of good communication plans that awake ownership among people and good
citizen culture

● There should be more investments and funds for youth
● Cooperation with government and private institutions to make sports tournaments
● Parks are community hubs for people to interact and exercise too (more park gyms)
● More inclusion within kids, youth and adults

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