UNESCO MIL Alliance

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Youth Committee

The UNESCO MIL Alliance Youth Committee was formed during the Global MIL Week 2016 Youth Agenda Forum in Sao Paulo, Brazil, as an integral part of the MIL Alliance. Adopting UNESCO’s “youth as leaders” strategy, the UNESCO MIL Alliance Youth Committee involves young professionals and youth leaders in fields related to MIL who participate in shaping the global MIL agenda. They do this in partnership with multiple stakeholder groups, including governments, international organizations, youth organizations, youth networks, academic institutions, local associations and communities, NGOs, and private sector organizations.

Mission

The UNESCO MIL Alliance Youth Committee aims to enable meaningful and structured youth participation in societies at global, regional, national and local levels. In close collaboration with UNESCO and the UNESCO MIL Alliance International Steering Committee (ISC), the MIL Alliance Youth Committee:

Formulates youth programmes and activities, and monitors their implementation;
Builds capacities of youth on engagement in national, regional and global decision-making processes and their understanding of policy and advocacy mechanisms in the field of MIL;
Provides expertise to youth in their planning and implementation of MIL-related projects;
Enhances the leadership of youth and strengthen their participation in MIL-related activities, events and projects;
Articulates strategic partnerships in eight key development areas identified in the MIL Alliance’s Plan of Action, including facilitating collaboration with youth divisions of other relevant international bodies.

All actions of the UNESCO MIL Alliance Youth Committee that involve UNESCO’s name and logo require consultation with and approval of UNESCO.

Functions

The UNESCO MIL Alliance Youth Committee consists of the following:

Global coordinators, overseeing all actions by the UNESCO MIL Alliance Youth Committee in consultation with UNESCO and the UNESCO MIL Alliance ISC, serving as the Committee’s focal points with UNESCO, the MIL Alliance ISC, the other members of the Youth Committee, including the MIL Alliance Youth Ambassadors;
Regional coordinators, MIL Alliance Youth Committee’s liaisons and coordinators of its actions in different regions, in cooperation with the MIL Alliance’s Regional Chapters;
Youth Ambassadors, global champions for MIL and representatives of the MIL Alliance Youth Committee;
Informal networks of operational partners in each country or region, which include a variety of organizations and entities implementing projects at local level.

Coordinators

Global Coordinator:

Daniel Nwaeze (Nigeria), Media and Communications, Afrika Youth Movement

Regional Coordinators:

Africa

Victoria Ibiwoye (Nigeria), One African Child
Robert Chiwamba (Malawi), Sapitwa Poetry

Arab States

Milouda Biouchou (Morocco), Agency of Digital Development, Government of Morocco
Shereen Nanish (Jordan), Independent Journalist

Asia and the Pacific

Cherry Agarwal (India), London School of Economics and Political Science
Dun Oliver C. Abiera (Philippines), Youth Advocates Building Opportunities and Network in Governance

Europe and North America

Polen Turkmen (UK), All European Academies
Rachel Lister (USA), Los Angeles Times

Latin America and the Caribbean

Abrahim Simmonds (Jamaica), Jamaican Youth Empowerment through Culture, Arts and Nationalism
Alexandre Amaral (Brazil), Independent Journalist and Filmmaker
Giannina Raffo (Venezuela), Center for Dissemination of Economic Knowledge for Freedom (CEDICE Libertad)

UNESCO Contact:

Alton Grizzle, Programme Specialist
Xu Jing, Associate Project Officer

MIL Alliance Youth Ambassadors

MIL Alliance Youth Ambassadors are part of the strategies to operationalize the Youth Committee globally. The Youth Ambassadors are representatives of the UNESCO MIL Alliance Youth Committee; they are champions of MIL from all regions of the world with a mandate to be global leaders of youth empowerment through MIL.

MIL Alliance Youth Ambassadors act in the interest of the Youth Committee. They are established according to UNESCO’s regional structure. They contribute to advancing MIL at the global, regional, national, and local levels through capacity-building, advocacy, strategic partnerships, and education. They pursue this goal by collaborating with operational partners and stakeholders in each region.

In 2019, 13 MIL Alliance Youth Ambassadors were appointed by the MIL Alliance Youth Committee.

MIL Alliance Youth Ambassadors: