2007 Australian Youth Representative to the United Nations General Assembly: Closes 30th November, 2006
19 October, 2006
It’s time again for the incredible application process to select Australia’s Youth Representative to the United Nations General Assembly.
At the end, after a five-month journey that requires an online expression of interest, full written application and video-ed interviews conducted by the United Nations Youth Association and assessed by UNYA and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, one young Australian aged 15 – 24 will get to spend two months in New York with the Australian Mission to the 62nd UN General Assembly (not the 61st, as indicated on the UNYA website).
UNYA and DFAT are looking for young people who are able to “articulate the concerns and opinions of young people” and work “with other youth representatives to advance the youth agenda and formulate new projects for young people around the world.” Additionally, the “successful applicant will possess a strong knowledge of the United Nations and of international affairs, as well as displaying a strong involvement in youth affairs.”
Applications close 30th November, 2006.
For more information and to apply online, see http://www.unya.asn.au/youthrep/.
As an additional note: traditionally, UNYA have seemed to prefer young people who have worked in and with local communities over those with a strong background in policy development and reform, or with prior experience working in the UN system.
Despite playing a large role in selecting the Youth Representative, it also seems that UNYA do not take a large role in supporting the position: there is seeming little long-term development, with each Representative adopting new methods of consultation and management each year with little guidance from UNYA. This year, for example, Elise Klein’s consultations and UN activity have received little attention on UNYA’s website. Additionally, and quite shamefully, reports of previous Representatives are no longer publicly available online.
Update (23 Oct): I received an email from UNYA National Webmaster Alexander Toop this afternoon informing me that the errors I pointed out earlier have now been fixed (on reflection, the comment about the 61st / 62nd session mixup was a cheap shot, anyway – it was pretty obviously an error in changing over the information from last year. I apologise.) More importantly, they now link to Elise’s blog at http://eliseklein.blogspot.com/ and provide the reports of previous youth representatives, all the way back from the beginning of the position in 1999. Huzzah!
