I am deeply grateful to be a youth delegate for “UNGA (The United Nations General Assembly)” I got to meet so many amazing activists and world leaders. We were able to discuss different solutions on how to improve the SDG Agenda. It is great to share like minded ideas with my youth counterparts on how to improve development in our world today. As a women’s rights activist and a climate change activist, I was able to talk to youths from across the world and learn about their culture and their governments. We were able to develop new ideas on how to increase participation for youth in the field of diplomacy and advocacy. I was able to represent MGCY (Major Group for Children and Youth) and UNA-USA. I was able to showcase our strategies on how we do women’s rights in the US and how my international counterparts adapt to that strategy. Negotiating with people with different perspectives was also really interesting, I learned how to collaborate and talk to people with different ideologies. The combination of young leaders with different mindsets about the SDG Agenda, was really interesting because with opinions then innovative policies would be made. It is important to not be one sided with each agenda, but to have an open mind when creating policies for the improvement of our world. 

 

I was also able to take part in a meeting with other young leaders and foreign ministers about the importance of youth leadership and the involvement of youth in the policy making process. I was also able to take part in discussions about the importance of female representation in the field of diplomacy. It is important to diversify the field of foreign relations to make it accessible to everyone. Because with different perspectives on the table and with the increase of female leadership, each community would be properly represented. It is important to modernize the approach in politics and diplomacy, because the true essence of diplomacy is serving the public, not a specific group. The modernization of each policy has to be greatly prioritized in order to build a progressive world. The unification of every state is an essential aspect for peace to occur, not only does that come from diplomatic agreements with world leaders but also with each state's citizens. Increasing people to people ties with each nation would contribute to the development of peace and prosperity. That is why it is important to motivate the youth to take part in leadership programs. So that the future generation would be more productive and our future leaders would be more progressive. Inequality should be prevented so that conflict would not escalate, the importance of youth involvement has to be normalized in every forum. Because without youth participation in the policy making process then the future generation would not be properly represented. Meeting delegates with different ideologies when it comes to the definition of "human rights" was interesting. I did not agree with some people, but I was able to meet common ground during meetings. That is what I learned about diplomacy, is that we do not have to always agree with each other. There will be disagreements indeed, but that should not prevent us from forming relations. I would like to thank MGCY for this amazing opportunity. The future is bright with all of these amazing young leaders, let’s all continue the great work into making a more prosperous society.