BYND 2015 : 2013 COSTA RICA DECLARATION

2013 COSTA RICA DECLARATION We, the participants of the BYND2015 Global Youth Summit, represented here and online, on behalf of other young people around the world, in recognition of our unique place and role in a deeply transformed and interconnected world, which will be shaped by the post-2015 global development agenda declare the following: Youth are transforming our world. We are a force for progress. Ensuring our full participation in decision-making processes is vital to improving democracy. We urgently require measurable targets to monitor the empowerment of young people at regional, national and international levels. We call on member states to provide more fexible, dynamic, transparent and open structures for governance that engages more directly with citizens. We call for the creation of open data, information and technical knowledge, in all areas critical to our lives. Health, civic engagement, online protection, environmental protection and economic success all depend on having unfettered access to knowledge which ICTs can extend to everyone. The spread of information amongst young people can directly foster empowerment and innovation on a global scale. The key to a new global development agenda is innovation. Old methods and systems are poorly suited to the transformed and interconnected communities we live in today. We call on member states, civil society and the private sector to foster innovation to build the future we want.