Main actors: The Commonwealth
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3.1. MAIN ACTORS AT INTERNATIONAL LEVEL
3.1.1. Intergovernmental and supranational organizations
The Commonwealth is an association of 53 independent states consulting and cooperating in the common interests of their peoples and in the promotion of international understanding. Commonwealth states were formerly British colonies. As independent states they decided to join the association voluntarily. It was founded in 1949. The Commonwealth Secretariat, established in 1965, is the main intergovernmental agency of the Commonwealth, facilitating consultation and cooperation among member governments and countries. The association has always had a priority on investing in youth, and has had a youth program since the founding of the Secretariat.
Commonwealth Youth Program
http://www.thecommonwealth.org/subhomepage/190725/
The Commonwealth Youth Program (CYP) works with young people up to age 29 to help them to become active citizens and to fully participate in development projects that create opportunities for themselves and their communities. CYP operates through its pan-Commonwealth Office (at the Commonwealth Secretariat in London) and its four Regional Centers—in Zambia for Africa, in India for Asia, in Guyana for the Caribbean, and in the Solomon Islands for the Pacific. CYP focuses on four strategic program areas: Participation in decision-making; Research (adopting the evidence-based approach to youth policy development and implementation); Sport (addressing social exclusion, HIV/AIDS and professional youth work); Technology (to take advantage of technological opportunities to bring about change and improve efficiency and effectiveness of youth development programmes and interventions); Strategies and standards (sharing of best practice to enhance the youth development agenda).
More information about the opportunities for youth available through the Commonwealth and its youth program can be found in the Mapping of Donors in the Youth Sector.