The Australian National Commission for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), is currently calling for expressions of interest from young Australians interested and active in UNESCO’s areas of work to join the National Commission’s Youth Network. Young people with strong interests, experience and networks across the Pacific region are especially encouraged to apply.
UNESCO is a specialised agency of the United Nations. Its major objective is to contribute to peace and security in the world by promoting collaboration among nations in the fields of education, the sciences, culture and communications. See http://www.unesco.org/ for further information.
The Australian National Commission for UNESCO advises the Australian Government on all matters relating to UNESCO, liaises with organisations, institutions and individuals on matters relating to UNESCO and supports programmes which contribute to achieving UNESCO objectives and ideals. Members are eminent Australians with experience and backgrounds in areas relevant to UNESCO and are appointed by the Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs. See http://www.dfat.gov.au/intorgs/unesco/ for more information.
The Youth Network is one of the National Commission’s six thematic networks (the others being education, culture, natural sciences, social sciences and communications and information technology). Each Network is a small group that reports to the Australian National Commission for UNESCO and is chaired by one of its members.
The network provides advice to the National Commission (for example, on endorsement or funding requests), develops its own strategies and project proposals (such as draft resolutions for the UNESCO General Conference), collects and disseminates information and conducts or assists with relevant National Commission projects (such as the 2004 UNESCO International Youth Leadership Event in Adelaide).
Members of the Network have opportunities to attend meetings of the National Commission and to participate in external events on behalf of the National Commission (such as the 2006 Pacific Youth Festival). Membership may also provide exposure to a variety of opportunities in other activities and organisations.
The Youth Network is currently focused on developing a capacity-building event for young community activists from across the Pacific, to be held in Melbourne in September 2007, and on preparing for the upcoming UNESCO General Conference, to be held in Paris in October 2007.
Expressions of Interest from young Australians aged 12 – 25 and active in the issues and areas in which UNESCO works (education, social science, natural science, culture and / or communication) can be forwarded by email to the Chair of the Youth Network, Alan Wu (alanwu-at-alanwu.org), by Monday, 30 April, 2007. Prior experience in UNESCO programmes or initiatives is not required.
Applicants may wish to include a short introductory note detailing their background and interests in UNESCO’s areas of work, and a CV. Members will be selected based on their activity, knowledge and interest in a UNESCO area of work and access to broad-based networks for communication and consultation (with a special focus on interests, experience and networks across the Pacific region).
Please feel free to leave any questions regarding the Network or its aims and activities in comments to this post.
April 4th, 2007 at 11:38 pm
Who are the current members?
April 5th, 2007 at 8:22 am
The current members are:
Many of these members will continue: we are on the lookout for others to join us in our planning for the Pacific event and the General Conference.
April 5th, 2007 at 10:55 am
This sounds really interesting.
What kinds of activities and commitments are involved (aside from what is briefly mentioned)?
April 5th, 2007 at 11:01 am
The two priority projects are the Pacific event and the preparation for the General Conference.
For the most part, the Network works via the internet. This is supplemented by one or two meetings per year (usually in Canberra). Though we haven’t done so previously, we also intend to hold regular teleconferences.
So far, the total time commitment has varied significantly based on our workload. With two projects in the pipeline I’d expect there to be continuous work to do, which might generally take a few hours (probably 3 or 4) each week, with the capability for much more work if you’re interested.
April 5th, 2007 at 11:57 am
Is this mainly for Australian PRs and citizens, or just any Australian resident?
Also, are there any similar initiatives in other countries?
April 5th, 2007 at 12:20 pm
There are no citizenship requirements, though of course you do need a good knowledge of the issues that young Australians face in the UNESCO areas. Generally you’ll have to reside in Australia, though in the past we’ve been able to accommodate members who have traveled overseas temporarily.
Most of UNESCO’s 192 members have National Commissions of varying size and composition. Not all of them have young people as members, though most of them do select young people to participate in the UNESCO Youth Forums, which are held immediately prior to the UNESCO General Conferences. For contact details of the National Commissions, see http://www.unesco.org/.
April 5th, 2007 at 12:30 pm
Is there any capacity for older members to apply as facilitators or mentors?
April 11th, 2007 at 10:28 am
We haven’t previously had facilitators or mentors, but it would be something we would look at, especially if the mentor brought in complementary knowledge or networks, or had extensive prior experience with UNESCO and its operations.
The fundamental goal is to represent young people in UNESCO’s decision-making process. Young people themselves do this the best, but we’re always open to assistance.
April 11th, 2007 at 10:30 am
Is there an application process? Would people be shortlisted for an interview?
Also, I understand that some members of the UNESCO Youth Network would be staying on board. Are you looking for people to fill in those positions or just people to assist in the organisation of the two forums?
April 11th, 2007 at 10:39 am
This is the application process. We may seek further information in certain cases, but it’s unlikely that we’ll interview people.
This process is to recruit new members of the UNESCO Youth Network. These will be fully-fledged members. We will all work together to prepare for the two upcoming events, so expertise that would be useful in this process would be especially valued.
The Network can have up to 12 members (though obviously in the past we have had less than this). At this stage current members are still deciding whether to finalise their involvement or to stay on board.
April 11th, 2007 at 10:53 am
Thank you very much for your response Alan! Much appreciated.
Just one more thing, who is in charge of choosing the candidates?
April 11th, 2007 at 11:54 am
Customarily, the chair of each network is responsible for the selection of their network’s membership (and I think the Youth Network is the only one that runs an open application process). In this case, I will also consult with the Chair and Secretary-General of the National Commission.
April 12th, 2007 at 10:03 am
Do applicants need to be already active in UNESCO’s work in order to be eligible to apply?
April 12th, 2007 at 10:06 am
You don’t need to to have had prior experience in projects and programmes run by UNESCO; but it would be useful to be be able to demonstrate some activity and interest in the areas and issues in which UNESCO works: education, social science, natural science, culture and / or communication.
I’ve edited the notice above to better reflect this.
May 31st, 2007 at 8:48 pm
Hi Allan,
Any news on this yet? When will the new members be announced?
Cheers
Owen
June 1st, 2007 at 11:06 am
The applications have been evaluated and are currently before the Chair of the Commission, who has to approve all nominations to networks. We expect an answer within a week or two. I’ll let all applicants know if there are any delays.