UN Student Activism Talk

By Abbie Nott

In Week 4 of the Goals Project, we were joined again by representatives from the United Nations, this time for a talk on student activism. There was a fantastic turnout and the students who attended were all very involved: see the end of this post for the Youtube link to watch it if you missed it!

The first guest was Hawa Diallo, Chief of the Civil Society Unit at the Department of Global Communications. She has worked for the United Nations since 1986, with particular interests in youth and women’s organisations. From her introduction in Pidgin English to her recount of her many roles within the UN, I’m sure everyone will agree that she is an amazing speaker… I think I want to be Hawa when I grow up! 

The second was Juan Pablo Celis, a youth policy and climate advocate. He is currently Spokesperson of Education USA, a program of the United States Department of State, and is a founding member of the Youth Representatives Steering Committee. It was amazing to hear all of his achievements and he reminded everyone that ‘the UN is closer to you than you expect’, because they have important work in so many places. Juan also gave a great guide to activism…

1. Find your passion.
2. Why are you passionate about it?
3. How will it benefit your community/the people around you?
4. Look for people who think similarly to act with you.

After these great insights, Jen and Ayush shared some of the questions students had come up with. One of these was ‘How can young people make change in their community?’:

Hawa said one way to do this is to be proactive and expand your knowledge, because ‘the power of your voice gets louder based on the accuracy of your information’.

​Juan reminded us that one of the best things you can do is find other people to work with you as ‘when we are together, we are stronger’.
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Here is the link if you missed this event, and we hope to see you at the Day of Solutions on March 4th!