Behind the scenes of Commonwealth Youth Forum
8am Monday morning. We’ve already been at the QEII for an hour. Delegates are beginning to arrive, and the buzz of excitement and anticipation is rife in the air. That energy fades and is replaced with a crowd of early 20-somethings holding their breath as His Royal Highness Prince Harry is escorted in. But, I’m
- Published in Blogs, UK Young Ambassadors
Throwback to the Commonwealth Day
Monday 12th March. That was the day we celebrated the annual Commonwealth Day, which recognises the unity of 2.3 billion people across the world, and their contribution to the Commonwealth of Nations. It remains a key date of the British calendar, with very high-profile people participating. I won’t lie, it wasn’t a nice day, not
- Published in Blogs, UK Young Ambassadors
Commonwealth Youth Forum in London!
8am Monday morning. We’ve already been at the QEII for an hour. Delegates are beginning to arrive, and the buzz of excitement and anticipation is rife in the air. That energy fades and is replaced with a crowd of early 20-somethings holding their breath as His Royal Highness Prince Harry is escorted in. But, I’m
- Published in Blogs, UK Young Ambassadors
European Union Youth Conference in Tallinn, Estonia!
Given that the Young Ambassadors are building research on the issues that young people find important for the future, we thought it would be a good idea to let people know what we got up to at our last conference in Tallinn, Estonia! We arrived in Estonia on a chilly Monday afternoon in Tallinn after
- Published in Blogs, UK Young Ambassadors
House of Lords chamber event
On the 1st of December, It was a great honour to be able to have an opportunity to take part in the House of Lords chamber event. I would like to sincerely thank the Royal Commonwealth Society for the invitation. The debate involved young people from around the UK as well as members of civic
- Published in Blogs, UK Young Ambassadors
The State of Vote at 16 in Europe
For decades the British Youth Council have been fighting for 16 and 17 year olds to be given the right to vote in all elections and referenda in the UK. This vital step, which has already been tried and tested in Scotland to fantastic success, would not only represent greater equality before the law, but
- Published in Blogs, UK Young Ambassadors
BIC Meeting Geneva, Switzerland
BBC+ is a cooperation of the European Youth Forum (YFJ), standing for Bodensee, Benelux Cooperation+. We meet twice a year officially, in a host country where young people from the member National Youth Councils (NYCs) discuss their country’s activities and write and form amendments to both their own and European Youth Forum documents. Upon arrival
- Published in Blogs, UK Young Ambassadors
Why don’t young people vote?
“Young people just don’t care about politics.” This cliché gets rehashed all the time, but is it actually true? Sure, we can’t always believe stats, but let’s have a look at them anyway. In 2010, 43% (Reality Check: Has there been a surge in youth turnout?) of young people turned out to vote. It was even
- Published in Blogs, UK Young Ambassadors
The EU Social Summit in Gothenburg, Sweden
On the 16th of November I flew to Gothenburg, Sweden to attend the EU Social Summit as part of the European Youth Forum Delegation. On the Thursday, the Youth Forum met to discuss our aims and the topics for the next day, and I attended a fringe event hosted by the Social Platform
- Published in Blogs, UK Young Ambassadors
What’s Next: UK Young Ambassadors launch research for Structured Dialogue Cycle VI
As an American student studying in London, I’ve greatly appreciated my experiences as an international participation volunteer with the British Youth Council. For most of October, I worked on organising the logistics for a residential that brought together organisations from across the UK to design a research plan for the upcoming Structured Dialogue consultations. Lucy,
- Published in Blogs, UK Young Ambassadors