Youth

Heidi Saarinen from UNYA Finland was announced as WFUNA’s Young Leader of the Year in December 2019 after a competitive selection process involving a panel of judges including several WFUNA staff and WFUNA Youth Advisory Council members. As the President of the United Nations Youth Association of Finland, she was chosen for her outstanding contribution to her UNYA and towards achieving SDG 4 on Quality Education through the promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence.

WFUNA and the United Nations Association of Italy hosted the WFUNA European UNA and Youth Meeting in Rome, Italy from 19-21 of May 2019. This meeting took place at the Italian Society for International Organization Headquarters (SIOI-UNA Italy) jointly with the European UNA Meeting. 

MONDAY, JULY 31, 2017

WFUNA had the chance to unite its youth network concluding the ESCOSOC Youth Forum in a Meet-and-Greet. This meeting took place on April 10th and consisted of representatives from UNA Canada, UNA USA, UNA Germany, UNYA Hungary, and UNYA Tanzania. The meeting served as a space for young people to learn about WFUNA’s programs, share their current projects and initiatives, and meet other young leaders working on similar youth topics.

The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Youth Forum took place on April 8th and 9th, 2019 at the UN Headquarters. Over 1,000 youth participated in this year’s forum, which makes the ECOSOC Youth Forum the largest gathering of young people at the United Nations. The forum serves as a unique space for young people to share their ideas at the global level, allowing representatives of youth-led and youth-focused organizations to participate in dialogue with Member States.

Students from high schools and universities throughout mainland China visited New York between the 11th to the 15th of February to learn about the work of the United Nations, study the Sustainable Development Goals, and learn 21st century skills, during our latest edition of YTP: China.

From 18th – 22nd February a group of twenty-five students chosen jointly by Zhejiang University and UNA China, visited New York for WFUNA’s first Chinese Youth Global Competency Training Program at the United Nations (CYGCTP).

On Tuesday February 19th, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affair’s Division for Inclusive Social Development and the World Federation of United Nations Associations joined at the United Nations Headquarters for a panel discussion on “Achieving Inclusion and Showcasing the Work of Youth Delegates”. The event focused on how youth could and should be included into policy-making and especially how the mandate of Youth Delegates opens possibilities for youth act as agents of inclusion on the national and international level themselves.

The Master’s Degree in the United Nations and the Art of Peace focuses on the study of 70 years of UN action in the fields of peace-making, peacekeeping and peace-building. It aims to allow students to become more knowledgeable on the matter as well as profit directly from the hindsight of the United Nations and academic experts in order to better assess and apprehend peace initiatives and understand the processes of preserving, defending and promoting peace in all their complexity.

The World Federation of United Nations Associations (WFUNA) was proud to host a delegation from the Association of Universities of Asia and the Pacific (AUAP) from 26-30 November 2018. Sixteen deans, chancellors, and other officials from higher-education institutions visited New York for WFUNA’s Leadership Training Program (LTP). The delegation met with representatives from United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI), UNESCO, the United Nations Alliance of Civilisations (UNAOC), and the UN Global Compact.