Opening remarks and introduction of under Secretary of Global Affairs Maria Otero at the Alliance for Youth Movements Conference
Published as prepared
October 15, 2009
Good morning ladies and gentlemen. On behalf of the U.S. Department of State, the organizers of the Alliance for Youth Movements Conference, and the U.S. Mission in Mexico, it is a real honor for me to welcome you to the second international conference of the Alliance of Youth Movements. The first AYM conference was held in New York, at Columbia University, last December.
That Summit brought together 17 NGOs from across the globe. It demonstrated that some of the most effective civil society organizations around the world are no longer found just in offices and in the street; rather, civil society NGOs increasingly are sharing information and effecting change through online groups and communications. In the past year, we have watched unlikely leaders – mainly tech savvy youth – rise from virtually nowhere to achieve incredible, real world changes around the world. Such 21st century social movements are the future of civil society, and there is a need to support, train, and empower the kinds of leaders that have a url instead of an office, Facebook group officers instead of staff, and a twitter hash tag instead of a marketed brand name. The Alliance for Youth Movement is a response to this need.
The conference organizers and I are very pleased that many of you have returned for the second AYM Conference. We’re delighted that many new voices and faces are joining this second AYM Conference. I’m particularly pleased that so many Mexican participants are attending. And I’m thrilled that all of you have chosen to be in my new home town, Mexico City, for the second AYM conference.
Over the next two days, you will be exploring the use of 21st century technologies and how those tools can advance grassroots movements that seek to make positive social change. This conference will focus a lot of attention on new media technologies. And that is very appropriate. Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, Picasa are still pretty new, they are constantly evolving, and their use across the globe, especially by young people, is growing at a phenomenal rate. They link people in stunningly new ways all across the globe. And they are all very cool. As young people here say, Son muy chidos.
But all of us have another, profound interest in this conference, an interest that far pre-dates these new media. What is vitally important about this conference are the ways in which people like all of you are using new media. Regrettably, the 21st century has not put an end to age old problems of injustice, poverty, and violence. Your dedication to alleviating these problems through direct, grassroots efforts, are truly laudable. And I hope this conference will be useful to expanding your efforts across the globe, whether in the U.S. or Canada, in Mexico or Malaysia, in Spain or Sri Lanka.
The AYM conference is an ideal forum to connect leaders of youth movements, leaders of civil society NGOs, and leaders in the new media industry, as you continue this vital work. The AYM Conference will provide many opportunities to exchange ideas, to share best practices and to explore innovative and creative approaches in using new media and social networking to deepen civil society.
Secretary Clinton announced this conference last March, during her first official visit to Mexico as Secretary of State, because she recognizes the importance of what you do and the impact you are having on your communities, your societies, and on, what is more than ever, the “global village.” And that is why the State Department, and the U.S. Mission in Mexico, are very proud to join with Facebook Hi5, Google, MySpace, GenNext, Howcast Media, MTV, Pepsi Cola, Mobile Behavior, Univision, Interactive Media, Causecast, WordPress, Edelman and Youtube in co-hosting all of you at this second Alliance for Youth Movement Conference.
For all those reasons, it is an honor to introduce this morning's keynote speaker, the Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs, Maria Otero.
Maria is a friend as well as a colleague. As President and CEO of ACCION International, she has been a pioneer and leader in microfinance, working in 25 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and in the United States. She has been a leading voice on sustainable microfinance, publishing extensively on the subject and speaking throughout the world on microfinance, women’s issues and poverty alleviation.
In June 2006, Maria was appointed by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to the UN Advisors Group on Inclusive Financial Sectors. In 2007, she was named to the Advisory Councils of the Inter-American Foundation. It is not surprising that President Obama chose her to head the State Department’s Bureau of Global Affairs, where her responsibilities include democracy, human rights, international migration, trafficking in persons, the environment; oceans, health and science; population; and avian and pandemic influenza. I can think of no one better in the State Department to welcome such an international group as yourselves, who have such a broad and global agenda.
So again, I thank all of you for joining us in Mexico City. And I'll turn the microphone to Maria.
