From Stoke to Geneva and
the World.
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| Swiss flag flies with Jet d'Eau on Lake Geneva |
World YMCA is proud to
support four key areas of advocacy to support its goal of empowering young
people all over the globe (Health, Environment, Employment & Civic
Engagement). These areas involve a ‘World Resource Group’ where leaders and
young people share best practices and knowledge to succeed in spreading and
supporting YMCAs global youth empowerment impact.
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| YMCA North Staffordshire |
That’s the world, but
a little bit about me and maybe, why me? I started in humble beginnings
volunteering in my local YMCA (YMCA North Staffordshire) buttering up
sandwiches for young people. Eight magnificent years later here I was in Geneva,
sitting at a table at World YMCA, meeting with other YMCA leaders from
different areas of the world and also in attendance was World YMCA Secretary General,
Johan Vilhelm Eltvik. For more than a year, I have been privileged to call
myself a YMCA Youth Ambassador. It is a role that has taken me to noteworthy
events and places of global importance with an overarching goal of advocating
on behalf of all young people.
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| Back - (Daniel, Myself) Front (Carlos, Lisa, Johan, Nader Lloyd) Outside World YMCA |
The
next step of my YMCA journey was to join the World Resource Group for Civic Engagement
and through my years at YMCA, I have produced a strong passion about young
people; how young people engage civically in their local and regional community
in addition to their involvement with democratic processes. All the above has
been strengthened through my visit to the United Nations ECOSOC Youth Forum in
New York as well as attending a World YMCA Programme Innovation Camp (Youth
& Parliament).
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| Swiss National Day celebrations |
After a manic rush
that preceded my landing in Geneva, I was finally there. From the airport to
our meeting point, I was greeted in central Geneva with a carnival atmosphere –
literally. Fireworks, people in the streets singing and dancing, a park full of
people hovering around a large fire and a small concert. Clearly Geneva and
Switzerland put out all the stops as they knew I was arriving, all the fuss wasn’t
for the fact it was to celebrate Switzerland’s national day, it was just my
welcome party.
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| Why play one traditional Swiss horn, when you can play two |
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| Geneva to the World |
We all arrived at World
YMCA full of vibrant ideas and concepts that can help shape the way YMCA
impacts and supports young people to engage in ethical social action, such action
that develops and strengthens young people but also the communities and societies
those young people live. We are a small, but growing group, Nader (Middle
East), Lisa (USA), Daniel (Mexico), Carlos (World YMCA) & Lloyd (Africa)
and I (Europe). We all support and advocate Youth Empowerment: To give youth the platform and tools they
need (whatever that may be, depending on the young person’s starting point) to
feel needed, trusted, and able to believe in possibilities, to further trust
themselves to lead and believe they can make a difference, thereby becoming a
change maker in the world.
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| Stand and Deliver |
The
question may be simple but the answers are not, how do we get young people to
engage civically? We didn’t converse around a table to make young people see
civic engagement as a tokenistic opportunity. We deliberated on how young
people need to be better equipped to create positive change through ethical
action and how we (YMCA) one of the largest youth organisations in the world can
aid young people to achieve that feat.
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| A photo in the room, if ever we needed inspiring - 1894 YMCA Jubilee Celebrations at Windsor Castle, England |
It is early days for this
Resource Group, but the journey has started. YMCA has a proud and strong
history which has created the foundations for present. Now I look to the
future. The future is uncertain, the future always will be, however with young
people being active in creating positive change, I am optimistic that the future
will be a positive and inclusive one. My fellow colleagues and I will take an
active approach in making sure this is achieved – buckle up, I’m ready!! Are
you?
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| Sir George Williams |
