A Call to Action: Forest Whitaker encourages youth to speak out

http://www.planwithyouth.org

Forest Whitaker, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Peace and Reconciliation and a co-founder of the International Institute for Peace, sends an inspirational message to youth everywhere, encouraging their participation in the online discussions for the upcoming Policy Forum on 'Engaging Youth in Planning Education for Social Transformation'. This virtual, pre-forum dialogue is important becauseit will shape the discussions at the event in Paris, ensuring that voices of youth are included in the Policy Forum's Agenda for Action.

Conversations With America: Bridging Divides: Youth, Peace and Reconciliation

UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Forest Whitaker and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for International Organizations Esther Brimmer recently sat down for a State Department interview to discuss youth, peacebuilding and UNESCO.

Click image below to see the full interview. 

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UNESCO Youth Forum Spotlights a Generation Dedicated to Positive Change

Paul Kruchoski, the UNESCO Education and Youth Officer in the State Department has posted a report on the recently completed UNESCO Youth Forum on the State Department blog. I quote from the opening of that posting:

“This is not a conference about the U.S., Europe, Africa, or any one country or region. It's a conference for all young people, and we need to fight for solutions that will result in progress for youth in every corner of the world.” -- Blair Brettschneider 

“There is hope as long as we are willing to spend enough time with one another to realize that beyond any difference, we are all human beings seeking the same things.” -- Andrew Leon Hanna 

Blair and Andrew were the two U.S. Representatives to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Youth Forum, which convened in Paris, October 17-20. Over four days, they met and worked with 245 youth from over 100 countries to offer UNESCO new recommendations on empowering youth and improving its work in education, science, culture, and communication. 

Read more......

Forest Whitaker and UNESCO want to give youth a voice

UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Peace and Reconciliation and Academy Award winner, Forest Whitaker, supports youth driving change in their communities and wants to hear from youth worldwide. For more information on the UNESCO Youth Forum and how youth can be a voice for change, visit www.unesco.org/youth.

In honor of the UNESCO Youth Forum 2011

Unique film footage of the early days of A Ray of Hope, UNESCO Youth Ambassador for the Culture of Peace. Excerpts show the choir singing in UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, Songs of Praise Broadcast and a delightful evening with John Major the then prime minister of the United Kingdom. Over 12 years the choir of 60 children and 10 teachers developed into a global organisation of over 400,000 members - caring and being cared for.

The UNESCO Courier: How Youth Drives Change

The International Year of Youth (August 2010 – August 2011) turned out to be more revolutionary than expected. At the beginning of 2011, young people rose up in Tunisia and then in Egypt, and the movement spread to other countries in the region, also rousing countries in Europe such as Spain.  Elsewhere in the world, youth are mobilizing for a range of causes, as varied as the means they use. Much more involved than we tend to think, young people have decided to take things in hand. And in this issue of the Courier, it is they who are speaking out, expressing their concerns and explaining their actions.

To read this issue please click here (PDF-56 pages)

• Young people in the world: So different and so alike, Monique Coleman
• Mobile revolution, Gigi Ibrahim
• Spring of outrage, Alfredo Trujillo Fernandez
• Miracle Weapons, Serge Amisi
• When poetry is louder than a bomb,Nate Marshall
• Moonlight stars, Carol Natukunda
• A young sughar, Nosheen Abbas
• Rebels with a cause, Jens Lubbadeh
• Prescriptions for a sick planet, Zhao Ying
• Green architecture, Carlos Bartesaghi Koc

OUR GUEST

• Revolution: one of the great feats of civilization, Khaled Youssef

MILESTONES

• UNESCO welcomes, Hillary Clinton, Ban Ki-moon, Forest Whitaker, Shashi Tharoor...

Students' Voices on University Rankings

The UNESCO Courier: How youth drive change

The International Year of Youth (August 2010 – August 2011) turned out to be more revolutionary than expected. At the beginning of 2011, young people rose up in Tunisia and then in Egypt, and the movement spread to other countries in the region, also rousing countries in Europe such as Spain.  Elsewhere in the world, youth are mobilizing for a range of causes, as varied as the means they use. Much more involved than we tend to think, young people have decided to take things in hand. And in this issue of the Courier, it is they who are speaking out, expressing their concerns and explaining their actions.

To read this issue please click here (PDF-56 pages)

Cover "How youth drive change" of the UNESCO Courier (July - September, 2011) - © UNESCO 

• Young people in the world: So different and so alike, Monique Coleman
• Mobile revolution, Gigi Ibrahim
• Spring of outrage, Alfredo Trujillo Fernandez
• Miracle Weapons, Serge Amisi
• When poetry is louder than a bomb,Nate Marshall
• Moonlight stars, Carol Natukunda
• A young sughar, Noshan Abbas
• Rebels with a cause, Jens Lubbadeh
• Prescriptions for a sick planet, Zhao Ying
• Green architecture, Carlos Bartesaghi Koc

OUR GUEST

• Revolution: one of the great feats of civilization, Khaled Youssef

MILESTONES

• UNESCO welcomes, Hillary Clinton, Ban Ki-moon, Forest Whitaker, Shashi Tharoor...

United States UNESCO Youth Forum Representatives Announced

Blair Brettschneider of Chicago, Illinois and Andrew Hanna of Jacksonville, Florida will travel to UNESCO Headquarters in Paris this October to participate in the biennial conference.

Blair Brettschneider

The UNESCO Youth Forum brings together youth from over 80 countries and gives them a voice on how UNESCO addresses global problems within its mandate. At the Forum, youth delegates will discuss UNESCO’s work and provide recommendations on how UNESCO can better foster youth development and strengthen youth participation in civic life. The outcome from the Forum will be forwarded to the UNESCO General Conference for consideration.

Blair Brettschneider graduated from the University of Miami with a Bachelors degree in Communication and American Studies in 2009. Brettschneider currently serves as a Development Assistant for RefugeeOne, a program that helps refugee girls adjust to life in the United States. Andrew Hanna is a sophomore studying Public Policy at Duke University. Hanna serves as the Duke University Class of 2014 President and was a Global Youth Summit American Delegate in 2010.

Andrew Hanna

Congratulations to the UNESCO Youth Forum Finalists

Every other year, before UNESCO holds its General Conference, the organization also hosts a youth forum, where delegates from around the world identify common concerns and shared experiences. The delegates, all of whom are under 24 years old, then deliver their suggestions directly to the UNESCO General Conference. Two delegates from the United States will be designated from the following group of finalists:

• Sasha Anderson
• Blair Brettschneider
• Alexandria J. Croom
• Alex Fogleman
• Fernando Cutz
• Andrew Hanna
• Sejal Hathi
• Courtney Ivins
• Kim Karalekas
• Kelsey Leonard
• Noelle Little
• George Demetrios Papadopoulos
• Ryan Ruggiero
• Dale J. Stephens
• Tiffany Taylor

Read Assistant Secretary of State Esther Brimmer announcement of the finalists!

It's the International Year of Youth (IYY)!

UNESCO and 15 to 24 Year Olds

The question often comes up as to how UNESCO serves youths. There is a facet of the UNESCO website that describes the Organization's approach to youth, but there doesn't seem to be a separate Youth Portal specifically designed to be lively and directed to the interests of young adults.

I would guess that UNESCO's most important function with respect to youth is encouraging countries to develop youth-friendly policies and services. This is a prototypical function for an intergovernmental organization.

In this respect, the Infoyouth Network was created by UNESCO to provide an overview of youth policies and programs throughout the world.

The Infoyouth network operates in conjunction with the National Commissions for UNESCO, youth organisations, governmental and non governmental institutions and information and data research agencies and bodies. The Steering Committee, made up of representatives from UNESCO, the French National Commission for UNESCO, the Youth and Community Education Unit of the French Ministry for Youth and Sports and the National Institute for Youth and Community Education ensures a regular follow-up of all Infoyouth projects.

UNESCO also engages in partnerships with young people’s networks and organizations both to solicit information from them and to help them develop projects and programs in the areas of UNESCO’s competence.

Recall that UNESCO has a relatively small staff and budget as compared with the challenges it faces at the lead agency in the intergovernmental United Nations system in education, science, culture and communications and information. As such its direct services to youths must necessarily be limited. One important function however, is the Youth Forum UNESCO holds in conjunction with each of its General Conferences. The next Youth Forum will be this fall.

John Daly
(Opinions expressed above are mine and do not necessarily represent those of Americans for UNESCO.)

UNESCO Americas Youth Forum

"Young People and the

Dialog among Civilizations, Cultures and Peoples"

From 9 to 15 September 2007, young people from 36 countries from North, Central and South America will meet in Mexico City and Acapulco to share experiences, consolidate their enthusiasm and propose new initiatives to tackle the regional youth issues.

This Forum will bring together young delegates from each participating country (nominated by the country’s National Commission for UNESCO and National Youth Council), facilitators and experts on the issues to be discussed, and observers from a wide range of youth NGOs and networks.

It is being co-organixed by UNESCO and the Mexican National Commission for UNESCO, in cooperation with the Estate of Guerrero (Youth Secretary and Secretary for Rural Development), the Mexican Institute of Youth and two NGOs, on behalf of the government of Mexico.

Through workshops, plenary sessions and meetings, the young leaders are to have the opportunity to discuss new strategies to promote cooperation amongst youth networks in the Americas, to strengthen youth participation in the regional community by engaging UNESCO and its partners, to develop tangible projects for the empowerment of young people in society, and to prepare for the upcoming 2007 UNESCO Youth Forum.

The Americas Youth Forum is part of the series of Regional UNESCO Youth Forums, focused on the theme of "Young People and the Dialog among Civilizations, Cultures and Peoples", which is to form the basis of discussion for the UNESCO Youth Forum, to be held on 12 and 13 October 2007 in the Paris Headquarters.

Apparently it is not all work!

Finalists nominated for 2007 Engineering Award

The finalists for the Mondialogo Engineering Award 2007 have been decided. An international jury yesterday nominated 30 teams to proceed to the final of the worldwide engineering contest by DaimlerChrysler and UNESCO. At the beginning of December 2007, the nominated teams will be attending the Mondialogo Symposium in Mumbai/India, where the best of them will in turn be honoured with the Engineering Award. The ten winning teams can look forward to cash prizes each worth €20,000. Another twenty teams will receive an honorary award, each carrying €5,000 in prize money.

A total of 3,200 students of engineering sciences from 89 countries had registered for the second edition of the Engineering Award:.

Among the 30 are many teams that include a U.S. Partner:

Project Title: Development of a sustainable fluoride filter for use in the Bongo District of Ghana, Africa

Area of Engineering: Water supply and sanitation

• Partner Institutions: Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana
• The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, New York,USA

Project Title: Inexpensive multi-functional medical equipment design

Area of Engineering: Medicine and health care
Partner Institutions:

• HuaZhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
• Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA
• University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy

Project Title: Sustainable Irrigation for Community Agriculture in rural South Africa

Area of Engineering: Multiple
Partner Institutions:

• John-Hopkins University (Engineers Without Borders), Baltimore, Maryland, USA
• Zakhe Agricultural College (Agriculturalists Without Borders), KwaZulu-Nata, South Africa

Project Title: The Adu Achi Water Development

Area of Engineering: Multiple
Partner Institutions:

• Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki, Nigeria
• University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (Engineers without borders), Illinois, USA

Project Title: Improvement of Health Conditions in Rural India using Renewable Energy Sources

Area of Engineering: Multiple
Partner Institutions:

• Fachhochschule Bingen, Bingen, Germany
• Malaviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur, India
• Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA

Project Title: Exploitation and Valorization of Certain Forest Products in Cameroon

Area of Engineering: Multiple
Partner Institutions:

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
• National Advanced School of Polytechnics, Yaoundé, Cameroon

Project Title: Exploitation and Valorization of Certain Forest Products in Cameroon

Area of Engineering: Multiple
Partner Institutions:

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
• National Advanced School of Polytechnics, Yaoundé, Cameroon

Project Title: Wastewater Treatment and Reuse Produced From Olive Oil Mills

Area of Engineering: Multiple
Partner Institutions:

• University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
• Birzeit University, Deir Qaddis, Palestinian Territories

Project Title: Casa Ecologica Andina

Area of Engineering: Multiple
Partner Institutions:

• Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, USA
• Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Lima, Peru

Project Title: Improving Diagnosis and Treatment of Tuberculosis and Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in Peru Using Medical Imaging Techniques

Area of Engineering: Multiple
Partner Institutions:

• University of Rochester, New York, USA
• Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Lima, Peru

Project Title: Design and Manufacture of Dynamic Response Foot Prostheses for Landmine Victims in Impoverished Areas

Area of Engineering: Multiple
Partner Institutions:

• Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia
• University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

Project Title: Global Basic Needs in an Integrated Sustainable Approach

Area of Engineering: Multiple
Partner Institutions:

• Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Lima, Peru
• University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA

Project Title: Sustainable Treatment of Wastewaters from Garages and Workshops Using Coconut Husk and Shell Wastes as Filter Materials

Area of Engineering: Multiple
Partner Institutions:

• PNG University of Technology, Lae, Papua New Guinea
• Michigan Technological University, Houghton, Michigan, USA

Congratulations to the finalists and good luck in the next round of the contest!

The Center for Peace

Guy P Djoken, Executive Director
The Center for Peace

The Center for Peace, promoting the ideals of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), is a non-governmental organization in Frederick County, Maryland. Founded in 2004, it seeks to foster a new generation of Peacemakers who will strive to make the culture of Peace a component of everyday life. Its major partners include the Frederick County Public Schools, Hood College, the Frederick Community College and the City of Frederick.

Its vision statement:

“We envision the center becoming a cultural anchor for the region, celebrating community diversity, contributing on current issues and events, engaging policy makers, and working with all stake holders in furthering understanding and tolerance among people.”

The Center for Peace has partnered with the St James School to offer a unique Summer Camp in the Washington Metro Area. The annual International Model United Nations Summer Camp is a traditional overnight children’s summer camp for national and international Middle & High School (and College freshmen) students from around the world. This year they are gathering in Maryland from July 15th through August 4th, 2007 to meet and interact with like minded students from the other part of the globe. They are also making field trips to learn about UNESCO.

World Heritage in Young Hands

World Heritage in Young Hands is an on-line learning community for students, teachers, museum-personnel and others involved in the preservation and promotion of cultural and natural heritage sites from local to global levels. It was created upon request from students and teachers worldwide participating in the UNESCO "World Heritage in young hands" Project.

Launched in 1994 at the grassroots level by the UNESCO Associated Schools Project Network (ASPnet) and the UNESCO World Heritage Center, this Project gives young people a chance to voice their concerns and to become involved in the protection of the world’s natural and cultural heritage.

Check out:

* The World Heritage Education Kit

* A Map of World Heritage Sites