United Nations Education First Initiative: Youth Advocacy Group in a nutshell
A thousand days. What can you do in a thousand days? A thousand days ago it was 2010. What can each of the 7 billion people in the world have accomplished a thousand days from now, when the 2015 deadline for the Millennium Development Goals is up? By joining our heads, hands and hearts together, we can use the upcoming thousand days to be the first generation in history where every child will be able to attend a school and get the education they prefer.
This is why in September 2012 Ban Ki-moon, the Secretary General of the United Nations, launched a global initiative called “Education First” with the aim to use the synergy of all the actors in the field of education to make sure that by 2015 every person in the world has the possibility and right to start an educational path. In particular, Global Education First has three main aims:
- Rally together a broad spectrum of actors for the final push to 2015 and make sure we deliver universal access to education for all;
- Spur a global movement to put quality, relevant and transformative education right at the heart of the political, social and development agendas;
- Generate additional and sufficient funding for education trough sustained global advocacy efforts.
The needs and wants of young people in the processes of the campaign are being voiced trough the Youth Advocacy Group (YAG) – a group of 15 young experts in different spheres of education, formed with a purpose to provide expertise on youth education issues, encourage the mobilisation of young people and facilitate the dissemination of information to networks and organisations around the World.
Out of over 650 applications, 15 people were selected to be in the Youth Advocacy Group – the group which serves as an expert voice and representative body of youth globally to feed into the Global Education First Initiative. Members of the Youth Advocacy Group come from every continent of the world – from Canberra to Philadelphia, from Santiago to Lungsod ng Dumaguete, from Freetown to London. Moreover, members of the Youth Advocacy Group cover various fields of education such as girls’ education; education for youth in rural areas; for indigenous youth and for people with disabilities; quality standards in education; non-formal education; etc. Furthermore, the Youth Advocacy Group is represented in the High-Level Steering Committee of the Global Education First Initiative.
OBESSU Board member Dejan Bojanic represents the political stances and demands of school students in Europe in the Youth Advocacy Group. Following is the list of all members:
| Chernor Bah, from Sierra Leone is the youth representative in the High-Level Steering Committee and a founded a child-advocacy organization. Following an 11-year civil war in his home country, he founded a child-advocacy organization and presented a report on the plight of Sierra Leonean children to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. | Dejan Bojanic is a 22 year old from Serbia, a Board member of OBESSU – Organising Bureau of European School Student Unions. His expertise lies in the field of educational and youth policies in Europe, in particularly trough lobbying towards the European policy makers and engaging young people for high quality education and youth welfare. |
| Jamira Burley, a 23 year old advocate of violence prevention and engaging youth in political processes from Philadelphia, USA, an Executive Director for the City of Philadelphia Youth Commission. | Charles Young, is a 16 year old from Jamaica, with expertise in child protection and engaging youth in politics and government. When not in high-school he works with the Child Development Agency. |
| Joseph Munyambanza, a 22 year old from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was a refugee at the age of 5 in Uganda. He founded COBURWAS, an education non-profit for refugee children | Amelia Dominguez, an 18 year old from Chile, has expertise in student movements, education policy and education quality. She works with Coordinating Assembly of Secondary Students in Chile |
| Hayley McQuire, a 21 year old from Australia, has expertise in indigenous education and indigenous leadership training. She currently works with the Australian Indigenous Leadership Centre (AILC). | Salathiel Ntakirutimana, a 22 year old from Burundi who, at 15, co-founded the Association of Burundian Orphans, and is currently studying at Harvard University. His areas of expertise are education in refugee settings, orphans and vulnerable children and citizenship. |
| Sumaya Saluja, a 23 year old from India with expertise in educating children in urban slums, interfaith dialogues, and reaching out of school children. She currently works with the YP Foundation | Abigail Kaindu, a 24 year old from Zambia, has expertise in reaching out-of-school children and in women’s empowerment and education. She works with Camfed Zambia. |
| Rolando Villamero Jr, is a 24 year old from the Philippines with expertise in inclusive education and children with disabilities. He currently works with The Great Physician Rehabilitation Foundation. | Anna Susarenco, a 23 year old from Moldova has expertise on Sexual Reproductive Health and peer education. She is currently working with Y-Peer |
| Genwa Samhat, a 26 year old from Lebanon has experience working on drug prevention and increasing access to education for migrant workers in her country. She currently works with Amel International. | David Crone, a 17 year old from the United Kingdom has expertise in youth engagement in politics and inspiring youth to be advisors on youth issues. When not in high-school he works with Plan UK. |
| Bertheline Nina Tchangoue, is a 20 year old from Cameroon, with expertise in climate change and sustainable development. She currently works with the Youth Outreach Programme, Cameroon. |
The group has great support from, and a mutually respectful cooperation with, the UN’s Special Envoy for Global Education, Gordon Brown. He has given the group a seat at the table and involved the group members as equal partners in the education initiatives his office executes, mainly regarding sending every child to school, as well as the abolition of child slavery and child marriage. In particular, one of the group’s responsibilities were to take an active part in the global movement “I am Malala” which aims to pressure the Pakistani government to ensure access to education for every child, disregarding their gender.
During the first meeting of the YAG, in December 2012, the main guidelines for the groups work were set – internal structures, partnership strategies, social media strategies, political influences are some of them. Moreover, the group did get a chance to meet Gordon Brown to discuss issues related to education, identified by each member of the group in their area of expertise and especially to plan the upcoming activities that the group can do in cooperation with the Education Envoy’s office.
Since then, the Youth Advocacy Group works to make sure youth are present in all the processes that are aiming to meet the Millennium Development Goals. Soon, the group will start the UN Youth Takeover! For more about this, other plans and recent activities of the YAG read HERE.
Written by Dejan Bojanic, OBESSU Board Member
