Our new Youth Forum: WFC goes Youth:Present
The WFC Commission on the Rights of Children and Youth is excited to announce the establishment of a global youth forum, called Youth:Present.
Youth:Present seeks to connect youth worldwide to discuss and present innovative solutions to our many global problems together, throughout the year. The forum is open for participation by anyone who is between 8 to 25 years and seeks to be as diverse, representative and inclusive as possible, reflecting voices of young people from different parts of the world. This is important because we strongly believe that their varied experiences will enrich the discussions about solutions for a common future for all of us. Forum members will elect two representatives, who will participate at our Annual General Meeting with our councillors. Future activities can be decided upon by the young people of which the forum is comprised, and can involve webinars, podcasts, publications, and also their own global symposium. The opportunities are endless!
We are now looking for young people to join the forum, who are active within their community (regionally or nationally, and, if possible, internationally), in alignment with the values of the World Future Council. “Active” can mean activism to the benefit of society and nature, according to their means, which inspires others to join, such as by debating regionally, nationally, or internationally on key themes of the WFC and/or the UN; working towards a healthy and sustainable planet with just and peaceful societies; and fundraising for regional, national or international humanitarian causes.
The forum will kick off with a (soft) launch event, which will involve a discussion between high-level panelists and youth representatives from around the world on solutions for genuine global youth participation and empowerment.
We are very privileged to have a wonderful panel of speakers, among which
- Ananya Orpe, Green Hope Foundation, United Arab Emirates
- Dr David Boyd, Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment
- Jichen Liu, Youth Envoy Young Leader, Founder and CEO of Clear Plate®, China (tbc)
- Jayathma Wickramanayake, the Secretary General’s Special Envoy on Youth
- Kehkashan Basu, Founder of Green Hope, World Future Council Youth Ambassador
- Majenka Dominie, Youth Parliamentarian, Suriname
- Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces, President of the 73rd General Assembly, Councillor of the World Future Council
- Marie-Claire Graf, Youth Advocate with the International Youth Climate Movement
- Marija Vasileva-Blazev, Special Adviser to the Secretary General’s Envoy on Youth
- Patricia Kombo, PaTree Initiative, Kenya
The event will take place virtually for about 2 hours, on 21st October at 10 am New York time.