Teams of young people are getting ready to head to Rome for the young people’s summit (J8) in Rome, to be held in parallel with the G8 meeting.

The focus of this year’s J8, or Junior 8, will be climate change, the financial crisis, and poverty in Africa as they impact on the lives of children and young people.

The J8 is a UN Children’s Fund program that gives young people aged 14 to 17 the chance to develop their own ideas about the most pressing global issues of our time. Ideas developed at the J8 will be presented to leaders of the G8, the unofficial forum of the leaders of eight major industrialised democracies.

More than 30 young people from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russian Federation, UK and the USA will be joined by teams of four young people each from Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Mexico and South Africa.

The J8 meeting will take place 5-12 July.

Learn more about the J8