http://events.takingitglobal.org/16045/blogs/# What's on the minds of young leaders from around the globe? en-us http://events.takingitglobal.org/16045/blogs/#271997 Handprint Adventures, Sarah Ansel and Cristina Gallegos of UNICEF, and Jessica Rimington of One World Youth Project, as well as TIG staff members Laura Kenyon, who moderated the panel, and Kimia Ghomeshi, who facilitated the text summaries provided in the transcript below!

If you didn't make it to today's event, we hope you can join us in the future - this will be a monthly feature! Our next live chat is scheduled for the end of November in coordination with World AIDS Day on December 1.


minime-kg: hi everyone!!
byefap: We are waiting it doesn't matter
minime-kg: This is Kimia with TakingITGlobal
minime-kg: thanks for joining us today - we'll get started in just a few minutes
byefap: Now I wrote this message from fort erie
nallison36: cool i'm from St. Catharines
byefap: Have you youth project in St Catharines
jelona: hi everyone
mcole: hello
mcole: this is my first day on tiged.
nallison36: i live in ottawa now, but i was invoved in the NCDSB Student Senate and a bunh of different thinks back in Niagara
mcole: am I in the right spot for "United Nations Day"?
jelona: quelqu'un parle français?
byefap: oui bièn sur
emilyjk: yes, you are - welcome, mcole!
copudo: hello mcole before i introduce myself welcome to TIG you will never regret joining
mcole: thank you!
geogias: Hello. Am George from Kenya, and happy to be here
copudo: am christabell from Kenya
jelona: ok ca va
mnopq: Hey everyone
mcole: I will have a 7th grade geography class coming in in a moment
mcole: I am from Pennsylvania, US
mfurdyk: welcome mcole :)
byefap: George how is kenya right now
minime-kg: yay! Dara - we can see you!
byefap: je me sens mieux en français et j'etudie l'anglais comme ma deuxieme langue
jelona: My name is Jaona. I'm 23. I'm from Madagascar
lsteine: i can see everyone but can't hear any thing?
copudo: wat the official language am kinda lost
mnopq: aura! if you are saying something to everyone can you also please write it (I dont have speakers)! Thanks!
copudo: am not connected on head phones but i can read tks pls write all down
minime-kg: Laura is currently introducing all the speakers
minime-kg: Dara ParkerFounder, Handprint Adventures
minime-kg: Jessica RimingtonExecutive Director, One World Youth Project
minime-kg: Sarah Ansel,Assistant Project Officer, Adolescent Development and Participation (ADAP) Unit, UNICEF-HQ
geogias: Kenya is great. I can here and see guys talk, how do I go about it
mnopq: minime-kg> Thanks!
copudo: yeah pls let us know
minime-kg: Sarah is talking about child participation - her colleague is the coordinator of voice for youth
minime-kg: at UNICEF
minime-kg: She is introducing a few projects
minime-kg: What is partticipation?
minime-kg: children have the right to be listened to
minime-kg: access to information
minime-kg: all measures should be put in place to facilitate their participation
minime-kg: and enhace their involvement
mcole: where is Sarah located right now?
minime-kg: participation is important so that youth are part of organizational decision making
minime-kg: children are beneficiaries and must be viewed this way
geogias: I believe that participation is important in any life of a child so that it build their confidence as they grow up
minime-kg: a means for childrena and youth to be actively involved in their communities and responsibile citizens
minime-kg: this is what UNICEF understands as child participation
minime-kg: now Christina from voices of youth will speak
mcole: how can I help from Pennsylvania as a 7th grader?
minime-kg: voices of youth website is in 4 languages
minime-kg: eng, french, spanish, and arabic
GODONOU: hi everybody
minime-kg: want to bring all voices from 180 countries into one discussion
minime-kg: 60% participation is girls
minime-kg: takingITGlobal is one of their biggest partners
minime-kg: for war and conflict progams
geogias: connection is poor this side. I cannot hear you speak
slansel: http://www.unicef.org/voy/
GODONOU: i'm from republic of Benin, West Africa
emilyjk: minime-kg is giving a summary of the audio for those who cannot hear
copudo: hi GODONOU
minime-kg: there is a questionnaire about the convention of the rights of the child
murpheus24: There is a lot of echo
minime-kg: to learn about your rigihts
GODONOU: hi copudo how a re you
copudo: great
copudo: am so unlucky nospeaker and the way i waited for this
minime-kg: voices for youth is a huge network
minime-kg: with many youth projects
minime-kg: and youth actively participate in most of them
minime-kg: other projects at UNICEF - launched a youth report recently - Will you Listen
emilyjk: http://petitions.takingitglobal.org/machel
slansel: http://www.unicef.org/voy/takeaction/takeaction_3955.html
minime-kg: 10 year strategic review for UNICEF - chidren and youth in 92 countries
geogias: Hi Mcole, you can help together with other students in your school, highlight on the issues that affects the children around the world, especially those from developing countries
minime-kg: all participants involved in making recommendations
minime-kg: online surveys, focus groups
minime-kg: 125 focus groups, over 1000 participants
minime-kg: all currently affected by arms conflict
minime-kg: majority of them were from developing countries
minime-kg: Will You Listen - Young voices from Conflict - is the title of the report
minime-kg: she strongly encourages you to read it - available in english, french, spanish and arabic
murpheus24: Where can we get the hard copy of the reports
murpheus24: ?
koolsenator: Hello everyone...Francis from Nigeria...I just joined the chat.
minime-kg: first handn account of how young people experience violene, sexual violence, malnutriion, education
slansel: http://www.unicef.org/voy/takeaction/takeaction_3954.html
minime-kg: many solutions are outlines in the report - recommendations made by the partcipants
GODONOU: welcom Francis how are you doing?
minime-kg: many youth want more opportunities for training
minime-kg: they say that war is no reason to vilate our rights
minime-kg: 2 - they want justice
minime-kg: 3 - they want safe spaces in wars
GODONOU: this chat is very interesting and the spaekers are also good
stephenk: Hullo all,Good to be here
mcole: what are the most dengerous countries for children to live in?
minime-kg: 4 - they want to PARTICIPATE and help other children in their communities
koolsenator: I am fine Godonou
copudo: am now connected quite ok now
copudo: sorry
minime-kg: the last project that she will now speak about is... Juniour 8 Summit
minime-kg: during the G8 summit
minime-kg: offical part of the agenda
minime-kg: for G8 meet with Juniour 8
minime-kg: talking about the same topics as the G8
minime-kg: prior to the G8 last year they had a children's forum
minime-kg: where they come up for recommendations for the G8 leaders
minime-kg: last year in Germany 0 they had 74 children from the G8 invovled
geogias: sorry, my comp had a problem, now am back, though I canot hear you speak
byefap: I hear no sounds from the Staff video
slansel: http://www.unicef.org/voy/takeaction/takeaction_3675.html
byefap: now is ok
minime-kg: she encourages us to ACT NOW on issues that affect us
minime-kg: You can ask questions for Sara and Christina after the other speakers have a chance to talk
slansel: join Voices of Youth and make a difference
minime-kg: Now Dara Parker will speak about youth in una-canada
minime-kg: she spent the last 11/2 years working for UNA-cANADA
minime-kg: UNA-Canada is a NGO based in Ottawa - the capital of Canada
minime-kg: United Nations Association - Canada
minime-kg: most member states of UN have a UNA
slansel: http://www.unicef.org/voy/index.php
minime-kg: Canada's is very active
minime-kg: and engage youth very well
minime-kg: the UNAs are not funded by UN
minime-kg: mandate is to involved the public in their activities
minime-kg: main office for Canada is in Ottawa - there are 15-25 staffmembers
minime-kg: there are also 15 volunteer branches
minime-kg: across Canada
minime-kg: from east to west
minime-kg: there are different ways to get involved
minime-kg: overview of the projects are... first was Sport in a Box
minime-kg: engage children 9-12 in development issues using sport
minime-kg: active in 20 regions across cAnada
minime-kg: went thourhg series of games to learn about the Millienniun Development Goals
stephenk: Sorry some of us have slow connections.I am only following on with the text.
minime-kg: they created a box to embody images of sport in their society
copudo: hie Steve
minime-kg: ie. music to their favourite song
copudo: dont worry i will feel u in
stephenk: Hi Cristabell
minime-kg: all boxes were engaged with another particiant
minime-kg: sorry - exchanged boxes
minime-kg: Then for the older audience - an HIV/AIDS project
minime-kg: series of 9 action teams across cAndaa
minime-kg: workshops to develop a canadian youth declaration to be presented at the AIDS conference in Toronto 2006
minime-kg: from this they developed a HIV/AIDS guide
minime-kg: this is one their site
minime-kg: 3 - Youth of Today, City of tomorrow
minime-kg: learning about sustainable activities
minime-kg: looking at human settlement issues
minime-kg: Model UNs are a great way to get involved as well
minime-kg: youth participate through their schools
minime-kg: as a delegation from their school - doing a mock united nations
minime-kg: over the course of 3 or 4 days
minime-kg: each school represents a different country
minime-kg: this takes place in Ottawa
minime-kg: they pass resolutions at the end
minime-kg: great way to learn how the united nations work
minime-kg: Sense of Belonging - diversity and ant-racism
minime-kg: in 9 countries i think
minime-kg: promote youth getting involved in civic engagement
minime-kg: priorities were defined by the youth whow ere invovled
minime-kg: involved
minime-kg: UNA-Canada is not officially a youth organization
minime-kg: but many of their projects are youth0focused
minime-kg: the average age of the staff are in their 20s
minime-kg: one of the progressive things is that they have a board with a permanent youth spot
minime-kg: the youth member does a great job of representing the youth voice
minime-kg: how can you get involved? in Canada, there are 15 volunteer branches
minime-kg: contact the one closest to you!
minime-kg: learn more about our projects through the site
minime-kg: if you have your own ideas, please contact us
minime-kg: for more on Millenniun Develpment Goals: http://www.takingitglobal.org/themes/mdg/
koolsenator: Hello I guess my connection has been reestablished
minime-kg: now jessicca from one world youth will be speaking
slansel: we can ear
minime-kg: In Columbia, there are provided with IT resources
minime-kg: and information on the millennium development goals in the context of their local community
minime-kg: but we know that Talking is not enough
minime-kg: so we pair schools together
minime-kg: fro around the world
minime-kg: to design and implement a collborative community project
OneWorldYouthProject: www.oneworldyouthproject.org
minime-kg: it is collaborate, but not charity based
minime-kg: 48 schools in 20 countries
minime-kg: including africa, asia, norther america, and expanding in south america
minime-kg: 26 young people, from 16 to 26 years
minime-kg: it is volunteer-based
minime-kg: how can you get inovlved?
minime-kg: if you are interseted in becoming a volunteer (project ambassador)
minime-kg: we accept applications on a rolling b ases
minime-kg: 3-5 new staff every year
minime-kg: schools can become involved as well
minime-kg: we accept applications up to May
minime-kg: we are excited because we see this movement growing of youth people involved in the millenniun development goals
minime-kg: no matter how isolated they feel - they want to be a prt of the movement
minime-kg: Now time for questions!!
minime-kg: do you have any questions for one of the speakers?
matthewsplace: We are getting a lot of echo feedback when you speak Laura -
matthewsplace: one of the others must have their mic to close to their speakers
koolsenator: Mine is not actually a question but...a commendation for Jessica on her work with One World Youth Project..I cordinate a sister pair here in Lagos, Nigeria
minime-kg: Mcole had asked a question -
minime-kg: what are the most dangerous coutnries sfor children to live in?
mnopq: I got a question for Dara Parker> Dara, is Handprint in any way collaborating with social entrepreunerial orgs such as Ashoka?
minime-kg: this question is for Sarah
geogias: Mimime-kg, how can schools in Kenya get involved in your activities
Dumletam: what are your thoughts on the current trend of affairs with youths in Africa? What can be done to help them overcome the issues of poverty, war and diseases?
OneWorldYouthProject: koolsenator--- happy to have you here in the chat and involved in One World Youth Project!
minime-kg: most dangerous countries - she wouldn't specifcy any country
nallison36: For Jessica: Are there currently any Canadian primary, middle or secondary schools participating in the One World Youth Project?
minime-kg: The question for Dara - dara says they are working with many development agencies
stephenk: I am also wondering if these projects are running in Africa...say Uganda specifically because young people here would benefit alot
minime-kg: How can schools in kenya get involved - they can go into the oneworldyouth website
minime-kg: and download the application
slansel: hi jess
minime-kg: they will contact you during teh summer of 2008
OneWorldYouthProject: http://www.oneworldyouthproject.org/psites.html
minime-kg: there are 3 schools involved in Canada - again you can view them on the site
matthewsplace: Is anyone using micro-finance with young people as a development tool, if so how young a person would you lend to?
koolsenator: Thanks Jessica....ours is Youth In Transit...
minime-kg: Q: trend of affairs for youth in africa and how to get involved - oneworldyouth has a project in Uganda
koolsenator: thanks..
mnopq: My question for Dara is a part of a larger concern whether orgs such as Handprint or One World youth Project collaborate or think of collaborating with more solid and established players in the domain of development such as Ashoka, AINA, which can provide knwohow, logistical and other suport and share their experiences. And these orgs will benefit from influx of youth in their activities. What do you think/
minime-kg: but currently there is no youth group in uganda
slansel: yes
minime-kg: they are hoping to have one in the future though!
GODONOU: how can we ask questions to the speakers
Dumletam: Moderator, I'm having a lot of breaks in transmission.
minime-kg: DAra says: there is a ton of opportunities out there for young people
mnopq: Thanks Dara!
minime-kg: handprint adventures helps youth find travel information - where to visit, volunteer, work, etc
matthewsplace: Thanks all
OneWorldYouthProject: thank you Laura and to TIG!
minime-kg: thanks everyone
emilyjk: there is also an event page http://events.takingitglobal.org/16045
byefap: Thanks for this nice conference
BobN: thanks everyone
Dumletam: thank you to all speakers
GODONOU: bye bye and thank you very much
slansel: thank you and bye
emilyjk: where we can post all the links mentioned
minime-kg: live chat group:
minime-kg: http://groups.takingitglobal.org/chat_reminder
geogias: THANKS ALL
stephenk: Thank all for time too.
minime-kg: thanks!
mnopq: thanks all and bye!!
copudo: thnak you but i have are commendation
koolsenator: Question for Dara, could you be kind enough to mention a few of such tons of opportunities as related youths in a developing country like Nigeria
emilyjk: kimia thank you for transcribing!
copudo: try to expos esome of tehbest practise in Africa
BobN: yeah kimia
BobN: that was great
stephenk: I am requesting thoru that chat notes be emailed to us since some of us have had breaks yet the information is very useful
slansel: please visit Voices of Youth http://www.unicef.org/voy/index.php
BobN: i even ended up using that when my headphones would cut out
minime-kg: if you guys having any other questions for the presenters
emilyjk: we will post the transcript and links on the event page
minime-kg: feel free to ask!
laurakenyon: Thanks for participating everyone! It was great!
koolsenator: Anyway, the chat was great and thanks TIG, for the opportunity, to Jessica, greadt regards, Dara and Sarah..hope to share some of my projects I am working on in Nigeria
copudo: Dara thanks for the enlighting and hope w ecould have regional chats too
copudo: i havea question
OneWorldYouthProject: thanks --and good luck with Youth in Transit--- happy to have them involved in OWYP this year!
stephenk: I am member of VOY and it is Great!
koolsenator: Precisely a week(31st 0ctober) from today, I would be hosting a Youth Leadership Summit for young high school students across Nigeria
slansel: thanks! keep on spreading the word!
minime-kg: if any of you have recommendations for our live chats
minime-kg: please send to kimia[at]takingitglobal.org
geogias: This was a great interaction. Weshould have such kind of interaction more often
slansel: And please endorse the Youth Report "Will you listen?"
copudo: ok
slansel: http://www.unicef.org/voy/takeaction/takeaction_3954.html
minime-kg: we will be doing live chat almost every month from now on!
koolsenator: Alrite Dara....got your response
mnopq: Kimia> i would suggest to have more focused and mroe frequent online chats
mnopq: ocused in sense of having a specific topic, general enough to assure number of participants
stephenk: bye guys.Got to go now.Comming to 7Pm here.
koolsenator: Minime..great ! It won't be a bad idea.
minime-kg: okay thanks mnopq
mnopq: welcome
copudo: can i ask members in Canada
minime-kg: copudo - what would you like to ask?
copudo: who today nominated UNperson of the year
minime-kg: Dara - do you know?
copudo: was teh person focused in youthwork
minime-kg: i will find out for you
minime-kg: and TIG message you the answer
copudo: great
minime-kg: ok bye everyone!
koolsenator: Bye..Everyone....lets keep the youthful flame burning
minime-kg: awesome, oh yeah!]]> Wed, 24 Oct 2007 12:18:00 EDT http://events.takingitglobal.org/16045/blogs/#271997 http://events.takingitglobal.org/16045/blogs/#271479
To participate just follow this link at 10:30 AM EDT on Wednesday and you will be automatically added to the chat (you must be logged in to TakingITGlobal to participate):
http://www.takingitglobal.org/connections/chat/

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Our speakers will be addressing youth participation and involvement in the various United Nations programs and initiatives they are involved in – and also taking questions from our members!

The Speakers:

Dara Parker
Founder, Handprint Adventures

-Dara Parker brings a wealth of knowledge on international development based on 10 years of working, volunteering and traveling in over 30 countries. Dara founded Handprint Adventures after working for the United Nations Association in Canada , recognizing the mutual benefits of strong relationships between the private sector and civil society. Previous to that she consulted on CIDA – funded programming and managed development projects in Southern Africa. Dara will be speaking about her experience working with UNA-Canada, and the space it provides for youth participation.


Jessica Rimington
Executive Director, One World Youth Project

-One World Youth Project is a global sister-school initiative for middle and high school age youth, linking together schools and youth groups from around the world in learning partnerships for cultural exchange and action on the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. Her involvement in youth activism began over eight years ago when she joined the Jane Goodall Institute's global environmental and humanitarian program for youth, Roots Shoots. Jessica was the recipient of the 2004 BRICK Award from Do Something, the Massachusetts Governor's Points of Light Award, as well as the 2005 Brower Youth Award. Jessica will be speaking about bringing the MDGs to the grassroots level and youth arena of civil society – and how One World Youth Project achieves this.

Sarah Ansel,
Assistant Project Officer, Adolescent Development and Participation (ADAP) Unit, UNICEF-HQ

-Sarah Ansel facilitates and implements projects in support of the forthcoming Special Session on Children / World Fit for Children +5 in New York, USA. She has also worked at the Junior 8 Summit 2006 in Wismar, Germany, St. Petersburg, Russia, and at the BioVision.Nxt Summit 2007 in Lyon, France, and has supported other youth participation projects, such as the Graca Machel Youth Report.

Each of our speakers will speak for ten minutes via webcam, then for the last half hour of the chat TakingITGlobal members will be able to ask questions through a moderated live chat discussion board. We will try to allow for as many questions as possible, but the questions will be moderated due to time constraints.

If you are unable to participate in the chat while it is going on you can e-mail questions to: laura[at]takingitglobal.org [the chat will be recorded and available for you to watch afterwards!]

The next TakingITGlobal Live Chat will correspond with World AIDS Day – so stay tuned for details on that upcoming event!]]> Mon, 22 Oct 2007 15:45:00 EDT http://events.takingitglobal.org/16045/blogs/#271479