Protection from exploitation
Retour's commitment to youth was expressed through the ECPAT campaign, focused on the protection of youth from exploitation in tourism.
OUR WORK · YOUTH
Youth
Voices.
Young people should not simply inherit the future.
They should have a voice in shaping it.
Young voices.
New perspectives.
A future shaped together.
New perspectives.
A future shaped together.
YOUTH VOICES
From
responsible
tourism to
youth action.
Retour was started in the 1980s by a group of young people who were unhappy about how, in tourism development, older generations were ruining the very resources that we would need to have a future for ourselves and our kids.
In that era, the concept of sustainable tourism had not been conceived yet, but we called it responsible tourism, hence the name Retour.
OUR APPROACH
Serious
Participation.
Across these activities, our approach has remained consistent: young people should not be treated simply as beneficiaries of policies designed by others.
They should be able to take ownership of their future, having the opportunity to express their priorities, contribute knowledge about their communities and participate in shaping the decisions that affect their lives, through participation based on Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC).
!
Not just Token involvement
Young people should have a meaningful opportunity to influence the decisions that affect their lives.
!
Including all youth
No certain sectors of youth should be over represented. Participation should make space for different experiences, priorities and perspectives.
YOUTH AND SDGS
Why
now?
The 2030 Agenda and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide the current global framework for sustainable development, but this framework will reach the end of its formal period in 2030.
The United Nations has already begun considering what should follow, with the 2027 SDG Summit expected to be an important milestone in shaping the post-2030 approach. A successor framework has not yet been decided, which makes the years ahead a crucial opportunity to influence its priorities, principles and ways of working.
2030+
Sustainable development after 2030 should not simply be designed for young people, but also with them.
Young people therefore need to act now, rather than wait until the post-2030 framework is established. The decisions and priorities developed in the coming years will shape the communities in which today's young people will live and work for decades to come.
By identifying the issues that matter most in their own communities, developing proposals and engaging directly with decision-makers, young people can gain experience and a stronger voice in shaping future sustainable-development priorities.
Retour works with young people to move from being recipients of the SDGs to becoming active contributors to the next generation of sustainable-development policies, ensuring that the transition beyond 2030 reflects the needs, priorities and aspirations of the generations who will live with its consequences.
OUR ENGAGEMENT WITH YOUTH
A commitment that
keeps evolving.
Retour's engagement with young people has developed over time, while retaining a consistent belief in their right to participate in shaping the future.
A broader youth agenda
From 2017 onwards Retour took a more pro-active approach to young people, assisting youth in realizing the SDGs from their perspectives and interests, preferably but not exclusively through responsible tourism projects.
Youth as active contributors
After having had its focus on tourism as an instrument for Sustainable Development, at its 30th annual meeting in 2017, Retour set a new agenda to work on a broader range of issues, with the SDGs as an anchoring framework.
YOUTH VOICES