The story continues

After the couple of days following my return from Montréal, things are generally more quiet work-wise. The highlight of that weekend was visiting the Blue Note Jazz Club, located downtown, for the late session on Friday night. It was a great gig, with a fusion-style band fronted by piano genius Brian Haas, and there was an awesome atmosphere in the packed venue. This was actually my second time seeing live music in NY, after visiting a bar which had some rock groups before leaving for Canada. On Saturday I saw an improvised theatre show: the four actresses receive only a short paragraph before going out on stage and make up everything as they go along!

During the week there were a few more meetings, including one with the Millennium Campaign's Youth Co-ordinator. I'm impressed they have created such a post - young people are vital to the MDGs and implementation will be impossible without our involvement. I believe they are really YDGs - Youth Development Goals - and this has to be more widely acknowledged. At the moment I'm working with a small group of young people at home to plan a campaign which will hopefully raise lots of money for fighting poverty and increase awareness of the MDGs amongst youth at the same time. This coming week I'll be trying to find ways this idea can be linked with my work at the UN and productively utilise the contacts I've made recently.

I also visited the Downtown Community TV Centre to sort a few things out for the documentary and started making investigations into the services provided for young people in New York. I'm really interested to find out what's on offer, how any structures work and who runs things. The Global Youth Action Network, which is based here in NYC, has given me info so I can get in touch with their contacts at the Department of Youth and Community Development of the Mayor's Office and Global Kids, a major organisation working for youth in the city. This week I'll be making enquiries and trying to set up meetings so I can learn about the work these people do.

The website idea for youth delegates is coming on well too. We've now finalised a co-ordination group, which will be organising the new site - working on design, content, features and any other ideas which come out. The importance of follow-up work happening after the youth segment of the UNGA60 is huge: we can't just all go back to our home countries and think the experience is finished!

On one free day I decided to cross the Brooklyn Bridge by foot and explore this up-and-coming area. The weather was perfect for such an excursion and I got some great photos of the Manhattan skyline from the bridge. As for Brooklyn itself, I found a great contrast. Wandering around for the best part of three hours, I noticed one side was quite busy and full of small, slightly dodgy shops, while the other was a lot more peaceful and less rundown. I think this part is called Brooklyn Heights and it must be quite a nice place to live.

Halloween fever is gripping New York. I visited one shop near Union Square entirely devoted to the occasion, with all varieties of costumes, toys and accessories to a near-ridiculous extent. In London it's not anything like such a big deal, this must be a North American thing: Montréal was going through similar preparations, with people specially decorating for the night a week in advance. I'm looking forward to the parade though, it's supposed to be a pretty spectacular event!

The clocks have just gone back and this is the time of year when I start to sense that winter is really setting in. Strangely enough though, tonight was a clear, warm evening and I took a walk along the riverside. Reflections from buildings on the shores glimmered in the water and it was almost like this was going to be a ceremonial final goodbye to pleasant weather, before the cold and windy stuff comes back.

This week is almost definitely going to be my last here, after extending the time away from home three times. New York has really started to feel like a second home during the past month and it will be sad to leave. But it's very important for me to get back, with work and responsibilities having been put off long enough! It's been the longest period of time I've ever had away - my travels over the past few months were broken up by intervals in London - and I've enjoyed every moment of it.

Back to NYC, back to work!

The train returning me to New York from Montréal arrived perfectly on time, coming into Penn Station at exactly 7.40pm - an unexpected luxury considering the excessive length of my outbound journey! It's great to be back after the charming relative peacefulness of my stay in Canada; I was feeling the vibrant buzz of the city again and the weather seems to have improved.

Thursday was pretty busy. First up was a meeting with the UN Programme on Youth to evaluate the whole experience of being a youth delegate. The few of us remaining were able to have a good, constructive discussion about what we think could be improved and we'll also be submitting written comments. These will be compiled into a document of recommendations the Youth Programme will use in a big meeting with staff from member states' Permanent Missions taking place in mid-November.

Another edition of a yoUNg view (see pic), the youth reps' newsletter, has also been produced after lots of work to get it all sorted. It features reports of events during the WPAY+10 review and information about youth delegates, among other things. The first issue was produced before the review and is online here, on the page which also has a list of national youth delegates this year. Soon issue two will be there as well so please check them out!

At 3pm the youth delegates met up again for a meeting with Turhan Saleh, an official from the UN Development Project (UNDP) responsible for day-to-day organisation of the MDGs (no small task!). It was the second time we had the chance to speak with UNDP staff - last week we met Jeffrey Avina from the Regional Bureau for Africa. Both sessions were good chances to learn more about the processes behind the MDGs, find out how these people think youth can be involved and ask any other questions we could think of.

After this meeting I returned briefly to the Youth Programme offices to pick up some paper copies of the newsletter and discuss ideas for a new website, which will be designed as a key resource for youth delegates. A major point from discussions we had both today and previously was the lack of co-ordination in our group. It's very hard to centrally organise over 50 young people, all with differing roles and responsibilities, to meet at certain times or make specific campaign plans.

One potential way to combat this in future would be to create a well-maintained website where current youth reps can learn about the role and ask ex-youth reps any questions they may have. It could also serve as a useful resource for updates on progress, both during the General Assembly and, more importantly in my view, afterwards. Tomorrow I'll be visiting the office again to investigate the possibilities of this website and hopefully starting to get it organised.

Montréal

This trip was spontaneously arranged on Tuesday night and it began on Thursday with a very long train ride from Penn Station, after struggling to find a cab there at 7.30am. It was supposed to take around 10 hours, but various annoying delays meant I was cooped up in the coach for over half a day! Quite strangely and even more annoyingly, trains only run during the day - it would be so much easier to have a nighttime service, which would mean the day doesn't go to waste as badly.

After the journey everything got progressively better though. It's a great city and my only regret is that I haven't had time to see it all properly. The weather has been pretty decent, for the season, and a lot less rainy and windy than New York was.

Montréal is actually located on an island and there are spectacular views available from different points near where I was staying, especially at night (see picture). Lots of people say it's like a smaller version of NYC and in some respects I agree. There's definitely a near-equal diversity of population here, although the buildings aren't quite as statuesque or imposing.

There's also a good deal of natural green, quite different to the grey cement masses of Manhattan. The neighborhood in which I stayed was very pleasant, with a great variety of architectural styles in the housing. In autumn time the trees usually change to a vibrant array of reds, yellows and oranges - but certain environmental tendencies are required and unfortunately they haven't happened this year.

The downtown area of shops, restaurants, malls and entertainment possibilities is very similar to New York and, indeed, London. There are lots of different cuisines available and a good selection of stores to choose from. Even on a grim day the streets were busy and alive with activity.

Everything is in French though, from the roadsigns to the shop names, since this is part of the Quebec region. Many people grow up bilingual and that's something I really envy - even though the dialect spoken here is apparently quite different in many ways to the one used in France.

It was good to have a break from all the work in New York in any case and this has been a great excursion. Tomorrow I get the 9.50 train and the prospect of another marathon journey isn't exactly mouthwatering. Currently I'm scheduled to return home on Sunday night, after a couple of days in meetings at the UN to evaluate the WPAY+10 experience as youth delegate. This segment of my recent travels may be about to end, but it's definitely been one of the best yet.

UN week two

Compared to last week this has been like a walk in the park! No hectic agenda, no rushing around from meeting to meeting and no planning for side events. It's a relief in one sense but also slightly anticlimactic after everything that happened last week and the resultant chaotic lifestyle. My activities haven't really merited daily updates either, so I've just summed them up with this entry...

I've been filming for a documentary I will produce on the WPAY+10 review process and the role youth delegates played in it. This has involved interviewing those of us still left in NY and getting footage of the city and the UN as well. Hopefully I'll be able to get everything together within a few weeks of returning home.

Weather-wise, things have become absolutely terrible over the last few days! It's changed so quickly from the charming sunshine of last week to vicious wind and pounding rain. Reminds me of being back at home in London! There have been a few days of non-stop downpour and it can get quite depressing at times - especially when I think about being inside all of last week and now having time to actually be out but the weather meaning I don't want to go! Right now, as I write this, I can hear rain outside at levels close to a tropical storm.

We (the youth delegates still here) have been trying to meet on a daily basis for lunch and that's a good thing. It's important to stay organised and in many ways, since there's now a smaller group, that has been easier. Unfortunately, for reasons we don't understand, the chances of meeting Kofi Annan next week have now evaporated. Pretty disappointing since we were hopeful of getting the chance to actually meet the Secretary General properly - rather than for a swift photo engagement.

There will be another issue of 'a yoUNg view', the official youth reps' newsletter which I have been organising and editing. We had a meeting this evening in the Affina 50 hotel and decided who's going to do what. Hopefully it will all be sorted out in time to be released for distribution early next week.

I've also taken the spontaneous step to extend my time away from home once again, after already staying in New York after the other two UK youth delegates departed. On Friday or Saturday I will leave for Montréal, Canada to visit a friend I met in Germany last summer. It's a great chance to see another country and one I couldn't resist!

UN day seven

The final day of a weird and wonderful wonderful week. What can I say? To be perfectly honest, it was a bit anti-climactic after the hectic previous days. I didn't even spend very long at the UN - had to pack everything up in the hotel and check out first.

Once that was all done I went to one of the final side events with Keeley, which was surprisingly well-attended considering the timing. It was hosted by the European Youth Forum and TakingITGlobal, an interesting combination, and went pretty well. Presentations about both organisations were followed by a short discussion in which people reflected on the week. A Secretariat employee from the Youth Programme summed everything up.

It really has been unbelievable. I never thought it would be so busy, but that was part of the experience. I've hardly had any time to myself at all. People did warn me, but it's impossible to predict anyway because you never really know until it happens.

All the people I've met are absolutely fantastic. I still struggle to comprehend that within the UN there are 191 countries and representatives from each. Hearing global perspectives from other youth delegates was one of the best things about the week.


I've learnt a great deal about how the institution functions and it's a lot more complicated than I ever thought. For example, when I'd read resolutions or other documents before I never realised how much negotiation and deliberation it takes to get things agreed. You just see it on the page and it's impossible to tell, but people have worked for hours and hours to make it happen.

The youth resolution was looking decent last time I saw. Most others I've discussed it with have said positive things and that's a good sign. Unfortunately I didn't manage to organise things for the paragraph I wanted on youth-led development, it just went too fast and a few major circumstances were beyond my control. But there's still some strong text in there on that subject, so I'm not too worried really.

I think the youth delegates achieved good things as a group. Managing to get photo opportunities with Kofi Annan and Jan Eliasson shows we were on the radar and people knew what we were doing. Statements made by youth reps were all of a very high standard as well; although I didn't see them all I'm reliably informed everyone was great!

It's sad that many of us have left now. Keeley and Kristofer went tonight but I'm sticking around for another week to try and get the film organised. I didn't manage to sort out my NGO pass today so will have to do so on Monday. There's always something interesting happening at the UN so it will be good to stay and witness some of the 'normal' non-youth business.

UN day six

October 6 was always going to be a big day. The General Assembly Plenary took place and there was a massive list of speakers! It was good to see many youth reps take the podium. Structurally speaking, the meeting consisted of two three-hour sections with two hours' break in between.


During this break we had another good photo opportunity - with Jan Eliasson, President of the GA. He was a very friendly, energetic man and spoke with many of the us after the pictures were taken.


Since there are three youth delegates from the UK, we decided to split the time between us. I had the first hour of both parts and saw some good speeches. Unfortunately I also missed quite a few, but I had to go downtown on the subway to collect a video camera for filming next week.

Although many youth delegates have now gone home, a few will still be here and I want to try and do some interviews about their experiences this week. It's a shame I couldn't get the equipment before but there's just been no time!

Apart from these things, nothing much really happened. The Plenary took up a lot of time, but this wasn't as busy as the previous days. Some youth delegates were on their way out and it was sad to say goodbye. In the evening there was another gathering with people from NGOs and that was good fun.

UN day five

Wednesday was another early starter. A couple of youth delegates had been rushing around all the previous day trying to arrange a meeting with Kofi Annan and the result was a hope that he might show up at a side event at nine. Unfortunately, this didn't happen and we were in the Vienna Café with little to do and quite disappointed.


However, the Secretary General did give us a very brief photo opportunity a bit later. We assembled in the delegates' lounge a good half hour before he actually showed up and we were standing around for a while after being ‘arranged’ for the photographer. Mr Annan came and went very quickly, but it was all we could really expect since he was apparently scheduled to depart for Switzerland later that day. And there's still hope that we could have a proper meeting when he gets back, although many youth delegates will have since left NYC.

I sat in the Third Committee for about an hour after this, before leaving to make my final preparations for another side event I’d been invited to speak at. Entitled ‘Youth-led Development: Linking the MDGs to the WPAY’, this event was organised by the Global Youth Action Network, Peace Child International and a few other NGOs. My role was to deliver a speech on youth employment and then sit on a panel to answer questions from the floor. This is a tricky job because quick thinking is required in response to people’s points and I haven’t got that much experience of this kind of situation.


It went well, with quite a few people showing up; we were happy because there was another side event taking place at the same time being organised by the Swedish Mission on the subject of its national youth policies. That event also had a special guest: Jan Eliasson, President of the General Assembly – so to be ‘competing’ against this and still have a full room was a good achievement.

Side events ended at 2.45 and next up was the interactive round-table session on ‘Making Commitments Matter’. Everyone was allowed to speak and the meeting was designed to produce recommendations for action and implementation of the WPAY. What I enjoyed most was the fact that NGO representatives had the chance to voice their opinions; a great number were present, all with different ideas and experiences. They’re not allowed to talk in formal meetings so this was a real opportunity.

The three-hour session was split up equally between the three WPAY clusters, with a different chair for each part. Participation was the dominant topic and took up most of the discussion, overlapping into other sections of what was supposed to be a structured discussion. That can be the disadvantage of open sessions: people often stray away from the prescribed subject. Another problem was the tendency of people to speak for longer than the four minutes they were supposed to have.

Keeley and I presented the recommendations from our side event the day before and I was pleased to be able to share those with everybody. The next step is for the three of us to produce a formal outcome document which can hopefully be sent around to all the relevant UN departments.


In the evening there was yet another side event. Two people from MTV came in to talk about and screen a film they’d produced, featuring world poverty expert Dr. Jeffrey Sachs and Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie on the road in Kenya. They travelled around villages, farms and a hospital with no running water where one doctor looked after 300 people every day. I could really feel emotions stirring in the Dag Hammarskjold Auditorium and the show has been very popular on MTV already. Using popular media is a great way to reach young people, raise awareness about global dilemmas and hopefully get them involved in making a difference.

After the film there was a rousing discussion and the producers answered questions from the audience. Following this, a few of the youth delegates went to a bar and discussed the day’s happenings. It was one of the busiest yet for me, but also very productive and enjoyable at the same time.

UN day four

This day began with a 'working breakfast' meeting at the Swiss Mission, on the subject of mental health. It was well attended, with many national youth reps coming along to discuss the situation on this issue in their countries and think about ways to improve things. Although this isn't exactly my specialist subject, I was able to contribute what I knew and it was very interesting to learn about the situation in other countries. And free food never goes down badly!


After that there was preparation work to be done with Kristofer and Keeley for our side event, scheduled to take place at 1.15. We had a runthrough of what we were all going to say just to make sure everything would go smoothly in the actual event. We rehearsed it all in the room where it would happen and felt ready once that was done.


I ran into one of the staff members of the UN Youth Programme and he invited me and lots of other youth delegates to a press conference on the launch of the 2005 World Youth Report. But this wasn't the only topic: the UN press officer went through all the day's news and we then had presentations about the report. It was dissappointing to see that most of the journalists' questions were related to other matters, not the youth report, but it was good that young people had a strong presence anyway.

Media at the UN seems to be very entrenched and centralised. Reporters have offices in the main building and there is a large area with all the latest press releases available in different languages. There's also a dedicated radio station which operates on site - several youth reps have been interviewed and hopefully this will be valuable publicity.

The official launch of the report took place shortly afterwards in one of the big meeting rooms and consisted of a series of presentations on the youth issues which haunt mankind today, given by leading experts who had contributed to the report.

Next it was time for the real side event, entitled "Youth Participation and Citizenship: Governments Must Do More!". It went incredibly well, with over 70 people squeezing in to conference room number five. They had a series of speeches and presentations, first from two guest speakers and then the three of us. We presented the outcome of the consultation conducted with young people in the UK and used these findings to stimulate discussion in the working groups that followed. Attendees were split into three separate sections, each dealing with one cluster of the WPAY, and discussed the issues; the points raised were then converted into recommendations for action.


We were all incredibly happy with the event and how everything went. In the evening we had appropriate celebrations, at a reception for youth delegates taking place at the luxurious residence of Michael O'Neill, the UK's ECOSOC Counsellor. This was also well attended, with many youth reps and national Third Committee members enjoying a pleasant evening of wine and canapes. The UK's Mission staff and the three of us youth reps stayed later and it was great to be able to ask Michael about different aspects of his job.

We went back to the hotel quite late but I had a speech to work on for the next day so was awake for a while more. On the whole this was another great and productive day, especially the side event - we really couldn't have wished for it to go any better.

UN day three

This day began somewhat earlier than I had anticipated, with an phone call at 5am from the Ghanaian youth delegate! He'd only just arrived and wanted some basic information, so I provided that and went back to sleep.

I had to wake up around 7.30 after that though but unfortunately overslept, resulting in a havoc scene as I rushed around the room and dashed out before having breakfast. The reason for this was that I'd agreed to meet other youth reps at the UN before business got underway in order to set up the display area we'd booked and put up the posters we'd made at the weekend.

Following this I hurried to the UK Mission to meet everyone else and then, slightly pointlessly, left for the UN again barely five minutes after. It was a bit of a chaotic morning until this point, with some calm being restored at the briefing session for national youth delegates hosted by staff of the UN Youth Programme. There were a few new faces at this session and it was good to meet more people.

Shortly after this we headed to the Third Committee opening session - nothing really happened in this but it seemed quite well attended although it was nothing much more than all the usual formalities.

After a quick lunch it was time for the youth reps' side event we had prepared for on Sunday and discussed again after the briefing session earlier. For a while the event actually ever happening was in the balance. Various reasons meant that the forecast for attendance wasn't that great - the event being on a Monday was one of the main things, since it led to a lack of publicity and knowledge its existence. But in the end we decided the best option was to go ahead, no matter how many people came.

This proved to be a good choice because it went pretty well. Keynote speakers on the five new priority areas of the World Programme of Action for Youth outlined their views on each section and this was followed by discussions in smaller groups on how to initiate implemenation. And at the end participants were rewarded with a slice of cake to celebrate the WPAY's tenth birthday!


In the evening there was another side event, taking place in the Dag Hammarskjold Auditorium and hosted by the UN Youth Programme. Although I arrived slightly late, it was still very interesting. A series of short film clips around the theme of youth participation were shown and this was followed by an informal chat between all present about the role of young people at the UN and other related issues.

At 8pm we had a conference room booked for a meeting of all national youth delegates - an important opportunity to gather together and discuss plans for the week. It went on for rather a long time, with a lengthy debate about the idea of giving awards to all member states sending youth reps. We all agreed this was a sensitive matter - we had to give praise without implying there was a lack of political will from nations which didn't include a young person.

It did end eventually and once the arrangements were done and dusted we took up the invitation of dinner with NGO representatives from the European Youth Forum, at their hotel situated nearby. It was again good have the chance to speak with youth delegates in an informal situation and free meals are never badly received.

Overall it was a bit of a mad day, starting early and ending late. But I had more interesting experiences and the whole process is about learning.

Sunday in New York - a picnic in the park

Well, not a lot really happened today. In the morning I went over to the UN to access free internet and post blog entries, as well as designing some promotional literature for our side event on Tuesday. It was really dark and spooky in the basement of the building, since tourists are only allowed in the upper parts, and the Vienna Café seemed slightly eerie without its usual bustling activity.

So after visiting a copy shop, surprisingly getting the flyer printed for free (perfectly legally) and grabbing a quick bite to eat it was time to meet up with a few more youth delegates for an afternoon picnic in Central Park.

It was the perfect day for this and there was a decent turnout; the picnic was a good chance to get to know other reps and plan things for the coming week. We finalised the agenda for the side event we're hosting on Monday, an interactive discussion session on the World Programme of Action for Youth's five new priority areas.

The 'picnic' went on into the early evening, well after our supplies of food had been consumed, and after that I went for dinner with a few others at a small place near our hotels. It was an early night though - after wandering the streets for a while and picking up some essential groceries, I went to bed after working on some more posters for the youth reps' display area.

Saturday in New York

Most of today was spent working with the youth delegates from Germany, Sweden and Australia on some promotional materials to use in the display space we will have next week at the UN. We made posters with pictures of youth delegates, one with a list of countries sending them and some advertisments for our side event.


When I left my room to meet the others for lunch there was an interesting spectacle on 2nd Avenue. It was Nigerian independence day and NYC's Nigerian community was celebrating in style. A huge parade with drummers, dancers, trumpeters and general revelry was moving down the street and everyone was having a great time on this afternoon of unseasonal warmth.

We worked until around 6pm - first in the restaurant (although noise from the parade outside meant we had to eat in silence at first), then my hotel's club room and finally a big copying shop. I'm really satisfied with our productivity; we now have an assortment of multicoloured materials promoting youth reps at the UN.


I met up with a friend of mine who works from NYC in the evening and went to my first baseball game. It was hard to understand the rules at first and I needed quite a few detailed explanations, but when I managed to grasp the basics everything was alright. It's a game with endless statistics and there's loads of complicated stuff there, but it's still a fun sport to watch even if you don't understand everything. The stadium was quite full, apparently unusual for this time in the season and the fact that the New York Mets don't have a chance to win anything, but that gave a nice atmosphere and we had a good time.

After the game we moved on to a roof party, a traditional Manhattan experience - it was an excellent evening for it and I met some great people there.

So that was Saturday. There really seems to be no relief from my youth delegate work, but I think it's good to be busy. And it's always nice to have a good night out, there won't be much of that happening over the next week with all this work!

UN day two

Today started off quite cold so I instinctively grabbed my coat from the room before departing our hotel. This was a misguided presumption, however, as the weather brightened up considerably after the early morning and it became a really nice day.

We had a slightly later start, heading over to the UK Mission around nine to work on plans for the side event we’ll be holding at the UN on Tuesday. It’s on the theme of youth participation and citizenship and we’re hoping to have a set of recommendations on this at the end of the meeting, after splitting the attendees up into three groups to work on it. There will also be two guest speakers and the three of us will be making presentations on the key findings of our consultation in each WPAY cluster area.

Mine is ‘Youth in civil society: environment, leisure and participation’ and it’s pretty much my specialist area. Since we’re focussing on participation in the side event, here are some of the interesting results we had from respondents to our survey:
- 94% supported the idea of sending youth delegates to the UN
- 91% believed opportunities for youth participation in decision-making of government-supported organisations should be strengthened
- 74% thought youth participation helps strengthen commitment to and understanding of human rights and democracy
- 53% believed young people are apathetic


The issue of youth apathy is of particular interest to me and that’s what I’ve decided to focus on in my section of the side event on Tuesday. I believe that the problem has the form of a vicious circle (see the diagram above). The root of it lies in the unwillingness of politicians to engage with the youth population, mostly because many of us are under the age of 18 – our views don’t matter in the political arena because there’s nothing to gain from our support. This means we aren’t interested in voting and leads to low turnout figures of just over a third in the 18-24 age group (35% and 37% in the last two general elections). The whole circular process then starts again after elections because the politicians don’t see any point in making efforts with people who probably won’t vote in large enough numbers to make a difference the next time round.

It will be very interesting to see how people from different countries (hopefully) attending the side event will react to the findings and I’m also looking forward to hearing about apathy situations from other parts of the world. Judging by people I’ve discussed it with so far, the UK isn’t the only place facing this widespread disengagement and disillusionment of youth with democracy, political processes and society in general.

Anyway, after working on this for an hour or so, the three of us headed over to around 40th street to sit in on the EU co-ordination meeting. This was very interesting; as I explained previously, European Union countries usually withhold from speaking in the informal negotiations, waiting until these separate opportunities to voice their opinions on the youth resolution. So this was basically a continuation of the previous day, with the lady from Portugal’s Mission, which is in charge of the drafting process, inviting feedback on the latest version of the resolution and noting down potential changes. The other main issue which sufficed in this meeting was on human rights and whether or not provisions for underage young people engaging in sexual intercourse should be primarily targeted at females – the other option being to make it non-gender specific. A few states were strongly advocating one side or another and the debate lasted quite a while, with the Chair from the UK having to continuously suggest possible compromises.

After this we had lunch and returned to the Mission to finalise plans for the side event. Once this was done, I worked on some possible text I’d like to see in the youth resolution on the subject of youth-led development. Young people have such a crucial role to play in the Millennium Development Goals and it’s just not recognised to the extent it should be. People don’t realise that these eight ambitious targets simply cannot be reached without the full involvement of youth and that’s what I’ll be trying to get into the resolution.

At around 2.30 we went over to the UN building and met up with a couple of other youth delegates in the Vienna Café, before going outside to a pre-arranged gathering point at 3pm and meeting a few more. It was great to see the people I’d first met in Sweden again – they’re a really committed group and what’s even more exciting is that this year there will be many more! Numbers of youth delegates have smashed previous records, with around 50 listed on the UN youth programme website last time I checked.

Next week is going to be absolutely fantastic with all these young people around, although one thing I’ve been pleasantly surprised at in the UN is the low number of elderly people. Linking back to the apathy theme, I think one of the main reasons why young people are turned off politics is the impression they have of it being old men with grey hair sitting in meetings all day. This definitely isn’t the case at the UN and I’m very happy about that.

The group went and sat in a pleasant outdoor café near the UN and we discussed plans for another side event, which it was decided in Sweden that we would host. It’s taking place on Monday and the preparations are a little late to start, but I’m not too worried because I believe in these people and know we’ll be just fine. The event will be themed around the five new priority areas of the WPAY and we plan to hold discussion sessions on each of them.

When it got too cold outside we moved to the UK delegation hotel and the plush club room, where coffee and couches were on offer and provided a much nicer location in which to work. After we’d done about as much as we could do then, I had a brief stop-off in my room to change clothes and headed out to a local bar for an informal meeting of NGO youth reps.

This gathering was a very smart idea, but unfortunately the venue was a little loud and crowded (typical Friday night in NYC). It was still good though: a valuable opportunity to meet some of the other young people the national youth delegates will be working with next week. Last time I heard, the UN youth programme were estimating numbers of NGO youth reps to be around the 150 mark!

I left the bar at around eight and went back to the hotel to meet Keeley. From there we spent a frustratingly long time trying to get a cab over to Greenwich Village, where one of the UK Mission’s Third Committee members was hosting a party for international colleagues. It was good to see all the diplomats putting aside their differences and socialising with each other in what appeared to be a perfectly friendly way. Thankfully it was a pleasant evening as the party, arranged as part of the UK’s presidency of the EU, was happening in the garden of this nice basement apartment.

My second day at the UN wasn’t quite as action-packed or busy as the first, but it was very important to put in the time planning our side event. Making this successful is a big priority – it’s a great opportunity to present the findings of our questionnaire on the WPAY and everything going well in the interactive sessions will surely play a big part in encouraging the UK to send more youth delegates in future years.