A view from Jericho

I have been in Jericho now for three days, attending the World Executive Committee for the World Alliance of YMCA's. We have been so busy that I have not had the time to post to the blog, but lets's see if I can rectify that this morning.

Having had a nightmare of a journey here, supposed to have arrived at 17.40 on Thursday evening, actual arrival time, 04.00am Friday. Long story and more suitable for a Facebook status rather than here.

The first day kicked off at 8.30 so feeling just a little jaded but very soon rejuvenated by the impact of being part of a wonderfully diverse group of people. Let me see if I can give you a flavour of the day. There were about sixty people in the room and they came from Norway, New Zealand, USA, Netherlands,Scotland, Belarus, Uraguay, Canada, Germany, Togo, Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Senagal, Japan, South Korea, India, Singapore, Spain, Palestine, Switzerland and England. I know I will have missed someone out, apologies.

The day consisted of discussions around the strategic direction of the Global Movement, not just for the next couple of years but in fact through to 2018.

Some really exciting stuff happening, we recieved a paper on Young People and Health, due soon will be a piece of research on Young People and Employment, and the most exciting and ambitious of all is a Global Survery representing 1 million voices on the aspirations for the Future. Fantastic stuff!

We were then treated to an update from the Secretary General, Johan Vilhelm Eltvik.

He began by reminding us that as an organisation, we are 169 years old and we pondered on how we have managed to achieve such a great milestone.

He suggested that there are three main reasons for this, our Vision, or leadership and our ability to evolve and modernise.

Johan Vilhelm then led us through the four seasons of our existence which he suggested has brought us to a new WAY and a clatity of fucus for todays world.

From here we heard reports from working groups and updates on progress.

There was four key areas of focus agreed for our future work.
Employment
Healthy Living
Environment and
Civil Engagement

This then came together with agreement that advocacy on these issues shoul be a focus of how we do things globally.

More later