The Oxfam International Youth Partnerships (OIYP) is an initiative of Oxfam International, managed by Oxfam Australia. Originally started as the International Youth Parliament, it supports youth led initiatives, facilitates skills and capacity building programs and supports young people to advocate for their rights and freedoms and those of their respective communities. Participants are designated Action Partners and take part in a three year program developed to support them through a skills and grants program.
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In October 2000, 250 young people aged between 15 and 28 attend the sitting of the International Youth Parliament in Sydney, an initiative of initiave of Community Aid Abroad Oxfam Australia and strongly linked to the Youth Workshop of the Alliance for a Responsible, Plural and United World. The delegates were advocates for significant issues affecting their communities and regions focusing on three significant areas: Breaking the Cycle of Poverty, Youth in Conflict and Cultural Activism. The success of the gathering and the participants’ desire to remain connected led Oxfam Australia to support a two year program afterwards through a skills and grants program.
After the success of the first International Youth Parliament a second program was started in 2004. This time 301 young delegates were selected because they were already actively working for change and had the support of their local communities. The OIYP 2004 started, like the previous International Youth Parliament, with a conference held in Sydney in July 2004. Areas of the partners included HIV/AIDS, Labour and Employment, Indigenous Rights, Sustainable Development and Agriculture, Peace Building, Human Rights, Health, Youth Culture & Empowerment, and Education. Partners were eligible to apply for small grants for projects they were working on during these two years.
In 2007 the third cycle of OIYP was initiated and the main event, kaleidescope, happened in Sydney in October.
The OIYP 2010-2013 was launched in November 2010 in New Delhi. 300 Action Partners met and exchanged ideas. The program will go on until 2013 and will include different e-workshops, face-to-face workshops and grant programs to develop the skills and projects of the Action Partner.
The Global Environmental Advocacy & Production Association (GEAPA) was established in 2010 as an initiative of a small group of Oxfam International Youth Partner.
GEAPA’s mission is to build a global youth network that provides members with a space in which common grounds, practices and support can be found within and from which GEAPA global environmental projects, initiatives and themes can be promoted and fostered within members respective communities.
GEAPA envisions a diverse global community in which our young members work together towards the preservation, maintenance and sustainability of our precious environments.
Our efforts will go towards gathering our members to learn, work and grow together whilst uniting and harbouring best practices in environmental restoration.
At GEAPA, we value unity, diversity, sustainability and the protection of our environments.
Taste for Change is an annual gala dinner held in Sydney, Australia to raise funds to sponsor OIYP partners and their projects. The event consists of dinner cooked by Sydney's top chefs and performance by artists. In 2006, $70,000 was raised from this event to support OIYP partners and their projects.