Youth Advisory Council

Sakhile currently serves in the United Nations Association (UNA) of Zimbabwe’s Human Rights Department, she has been serving in the United Nations Association of Zimbabwe since 2014 in various capacities including as a youth member in the youth wing as well as in the Sustainable Development and Communications department within the Secretariat. She is interested in projects that educate people about the law that protects them and their human rights, especially those of women and girls, she believes in working with the grassroots to achieve empowered communities. Sakhile has spearheaded a number of projects that include but are not limited to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Public Lectures in 9 Zimbabwean Universities in 2016 to 2017 in partnership with various UN agencies in Zimbabwe with the aim of spreading the knowledge of the Agenda 2030 and how young people can localise the achievement of these global goals; in that very year she also led the team that organised the first ever Zimbabwe- UN 36thanniversary. She has also helped to organise the High Schools’ Model United Nations in the past years. Sakhile was also afforded the opportunity to participate in the 2018 Human Rights in Action (HRA) training in Geneva, Switzerland where she gained a plethora of human rights knowledge and how to run human rights projects from their conception to the end. Sakhile is currently working on a project she coined, “Bridging the Knowledge Gap” (BKG) which she launched on the commemoration of the International Day of the Girl Child (11thof October 2018). The project aims at cutting by 50% by the end of 2019 the number of High school drop outs caused by all forms of violence perpetrated against women and girls in 6 Harare High Schools. She is also an advocate of the Orange Days aimed at ending violence against women and girls, she helps organise and implement projects centred on SDG 5. Sakhile also works for local social research organisations as a field supervisor in the collection of high quality and relevant data. 

Academically, Sakhile is currently studying for a Master’s Degree in Women’s Socio- Legal Studies with the University of Zimbabwe. She completed her undergraduate studies in Peace and Governance (Honours) with Bindura University of Science Education.  She has a deep interest in reading, social research and following current global affairs. Overall, Sakhile hopes to see a world with productive and informed young people working together to develop their communities. She believes serving in the Youth Advisory Council (YAC) in the next three (3) years will afford her the chance to harness youth talents in the African continent and the world over to participate in changing their societies for the better and help in the establishment of more UNAs in the African Continent.

Fahmida is a law graduate mostly known for her work on the area of youth policy advocacy, peace building and empowerment. She has served the 2016-2018 term of the WFUNA Youth Advisory Council as the first ever Bangladeshi being elected for the Asia Region. As part of the YAC, she has contributed to initiate meaningful youth engagement across the UN Associations around the world with platforms such as "WFUNA Young Leader of the Year". She was the focal point of UN Women Working Group on Youth and Gender Equality. With support of UN Association of Bangladesh, she has also contributed to facilitate meaningful youth engagement and collaboration. She represented WFUNA at 1st UN Forum on democracy, human rights and rule of law, Geneva and at 1st Asia Regional consultation on Youth Peace and Security progress study. She was a facilitator at WFUNA Youth Seminar, Kuala Lumpur and also served twice as trainer at WFUNA Youth Camp Korea. Fahmida is a known face in Model UN community and also been a part of WFUNA International MUN secretariat since it is an inaugural session. As a social activist she has been one of the front liners in her country running own non-profit youth led organization. She also has led successful projects with government collaboration and been the voice of Bangladeshi youth at many international platforms for high level representation. Apart from her work with UN youth and OIC youth, she has also been involved with Commonwealth youth agenda putting her vision forward for an inclusive Asia regional youth integration mechanism. Her expertise is sure to bring some engaging opportunities for the youths and her past experience as a YAC member will ensure greater efficiency with unique offerings.

BBC Bangla featured her as one of the "100 Women" of the year 2015 and also recognized her work with youth. She received recognitions from several platforms for her exemplary contribution and she wants to serve, connect and engage with more youths. She was "Voice of the Youth" of International Youth Day of 2018 organized by the Ministry of Youth and Sports in Bangladesh hosting the UN Secretary General's Envoy on Youth for the first time. Fahmida aims to improve the YAC involvements with the youth chapters across UNAs and envisions to take the peace and security agenda forward while focusing on SDGs parallel to WFUNA's mission. 

Adil Skalli is a Program Manager at the United Nations Association in Canada (UNA-Canada) where he oversees the International UN Internship program as well as a variety of youth-oriented educational programming in diplomacy, entrepreneurship, negotiation, climate change action, and other professional skills. Adil, born and raised in Casablanca, Morocco, is a graduate of Carleton University in Communications and Political Science and is passionate about the work of the United Nations, notably in terms of youth engagement and capacity building. As a cautious optimistic on the future of the world, the majority of Adil's work at the UNA-Canada is in youth civic engagement and professional development. He has led and managed a number of Model UN Conference and continues to facilitate youth-led workshops, trainings and roundtables on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and youth civic engagement.

I believe in strong youth leadership and representation. Over the the past two years, I have been deeply involved in working to advance Youth, Peace, and Security both locally and regionally. I had the pleasure of sharing some of our best practices during the 42nd Plenary Assembly.

My educational background includes the completion of both a Bachelor and Master's degree in oriental studies. I have a variety of professional experiences, including an Arabic lecturer and a part-time project assistant at UNA Armenia. Above all, I am a deeply committed youth advocate working to advance youth issues reflecting UN values - human rights, sustainable development, peace, and security. I also work to engage young people with disabilities in this important mission and work. 

As a Youth Advisory Council Member, I hope to expand training opportunities for young people around the world and providing a platform to unify UNAs internationally with the intention of building our overall ability and capacity achieve the global goals and leave the world in a better place than we found it.