EDUCATION | Driving tomorrow’s achievements
20 August 2008
Youth Look for Creative Ways to Meet Millennium Development Goals
United Nations Youth Assembly empowers young leaders to take action
Abby Feldman, a senior at Syracuse University in New York, covered the fifth annual United Nations Youth Assembly for America.gov. Feldman, who recently served as an intern in the public affairs office of the U.S. Embassy in Madrid, Spain, talked to some of the speakers and assembly participants about their experience.
New York — The fifth annual Youth Assembly at the United Nations August 11-14 brought together hundreds of students and young professionals from more than 50 countries. The goal: to find innovative ways to achieve the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals, eight target objectives ranging from reducing extreme poverty and hunger to achieving gender equality and environmental sustainability to combating diseases like AIDS. The United Nations hopes to reach its targets by 2015.
The format of the three-day Youth Assembly — workshops, presentations by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), brainstorming meetings, roundtable discussions and cultural events — gave the participants a chance to exchange ideas and network with peers they would otherwise not have contact with.
“The goal really is to empower young people and let them know about opportunities, and to wake them up to see there are a lot of problems out there,” said Ten-Seng Guh of the Collegiate Association for the Research of Principles.
Guh participated in the Youth Assembly last year and said he was so inspired by the presentations from NGOs like Engineers without Borders that he decided to come back. “It’s an eye-opener, and a stage for NGOs to make their pitch,” Guh said. “We have to be the ones to make the change; we’re the future leaders.”
During the August 14 proceedings, the assembly focused on the first Millennium Development Goal: eradicating extreme poverty and hunger. (See the eJournal USA article “Hunger: Facing the Facts.”)
The Reverend Jesse Jackson, a minister and civil rights activist, arrived as a surprise guest speaker. He focused on what he said was the link between poverty and global insecurity.
Jackson said eradicating poverty and hunger not only helps the poor, but also makes the world safer for everyone. “Terrorists use hunger as a means to violence,” he said.
Urging action by the assembly participants, Jackson said they have the ability to “change the world, [and] move beyond limits of language and culture.”
As the conference drew to a close, speaker Arun Gandhi, a political activist and grandson of the late Indian political leader Mahatma Gandhi, was asked if reaching world peace is possible. “If 10 years ago you told people that in 10 years, everybody would have a cell phone, they would have laughed,” he said. “With peace, it’s the same way.”
“When people have the determination and willingness to do something, it will happen,” he said.
It is with this inspiration that the young people who attended the assembly will return to their countries and put into action what was discussed at the gathering.
“When I go back, I will continue the energy,” said Judy Lee of the Federation of World Peace and Love.
She said the Youth Assembly has shown her that she is not alone in her quest to effect positive change. “There are so many people also working to make the world a better place. Gathering everybody like this is motivating to keep you doing what you think is right,” she said.
“Here I’ve felt a backup of what I believe in. A lot of people have the same idea, and some are really fearless. Be open-minded, open-hearted. I think everyone here did that.”
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