We often talk about young people being the future leaders of the Commonwealth. We are told to listen to them, to nurture their talents and creativity and to give them the space to participate in the decisions that affect their lives and their future. We tell them to ’’think out of the box’’ because we value their input and fresh ideas.

Yet so often, we do the opposite-we put them in a box called ’Youth’’. And so follows an ’us’’ and ’them’’ situation. What we don’t realise is that so many of the Commonwealth’s young people are already today’s leaders and they are already part of ’us’’.

This was brought home to me so clearly during the two days I spent at the seventh Commonwealth Youth Forum which began on the beautiful island of Tobago this week. I was privileged to address the articulate and capable young people gathered there from all over the world. I was equally privileged to meet some of them and hear their stories. From what I saw and heard, I can report that the Commonwealth is in good hands.

On Sunday morning, participants were addressed by Hon Huey N Cadette, Assistant Secretary Health and Social Services, Tobago House of Assembly. A Certificate and Diploma graduate of the Commonwealth Youth Programme, Mr Cadette spoke passionately about the role of young people and their need for inclusion in policy making and government. He knows the value of what the Commonwealth gave him and when he said: ’Youth should be mentored, not monitored,’ he reiterated a core principle of the Commonwealth’s approach to youth work. We believe in partnership and our vision should rightly be shaped by the needs of young people with whom we partner. After all, 60 per cent of Commonwealth people are under 30 years of age.

The theme for this year’s youth summit is: ’Invest in Youth, Sustain the World’’. Within this theme, young people will be tackling issues of youth involvement in decision-making; economic growth; building sustainable livelihoods; peace building and climate change. It’s a formidable task and echoes many of the tough issues which is dominating the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Trinidad.

In my opening address to the Youth Forum, I told delegates: ’the present and future prospects of the Commonwealth rest with its young people. You have the opportunity to begin to shape that future during the next few days. Use this opportunity wisely. It’s a big opportunity.’

And their mission is all the more significant, because young people will get a place at the top table, too. On Friday at the start of CHOGM, representatives from the Youth Forum held a dialogue with Commonwealth leaders. It was an extraordinary chance for them to be advocates for the roughly one billion young people they represent across the five regions of the Commonwealth.

There is a crying need for intergenerational collaboration. The issues the world is facing are critical-the past year has seen the old economic and financial order collapse. Climate change is happening now.

We need our young people to help shape the future for all of us. Within the Commonwealth, we are in a unique position to work together with young people from different regions, religions and cultures. The young people I have met this week carry many burdens for the generation they represent: unemployment, crime, drugs, HIV/AIDS and social exclusion.

These are shared problems which impact on all of us. This is why the Commonwealth chose its 60th anniversary theme: ’Serving a new generation’’. This year’s CHOGM is a special opportunity to reinvigorate our commitments to young people.

- Mmasekgoa Masire-Mwamba is Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General. She holds an MBA and is a well-known personality in African business and finance.