Global Youth Changers

Inspired by the 2014 UN Youth Assembly, this is a forum for youth worldwide to connect on issues that matter to them and develop global skills.

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What to Do If You're Abroad During an Attack

Check out this article for advice on what to do if you’re abroad during an attack.    

http://www.cntraveler.com/stories/2016-03-22/what-to-do-if-youre-abroad-during-an-attack

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International Women’s Day – March 8  

On March 8, International Women’s Day is celebrated around the world. The 2016 theme is Pledge for Parity.  International Women’s Day is a great day to celebrate the many achievements of women some of which are social, economic, cultural and political. Last week I attended an International Women’s Day event at my school. Several women of all ages shared their inspirational stories of how they have pursued their passions in the fields of journalism, education, philanthropy, and performing arts and their approach to pursuing their dreams, overcoming obstacles and navigating their way through life.  

According to www.internationalwomensday.com, everyone can pledge to take steps to accelerate gender parity such as helping women and girls achieve their ambitions, call for gender-balanced leadership, respect and value difference, develop more inclusive and flexible cultures or root out workplace bias.  

Click on this link to make a pledge: http://www.internationalwomensday.com/Pledge

International Women’s Day Activities and Events:

To find out what International Women’s Day activities and events are happening around the world or to promote yours, please click on the link below.  

http://www.internationalwomensday.com/Explore

Watch the live webcast of the United Nations Observance of International Women’s Day 2016: 10 a.m.-12.45 p.m. EST on 8 March at:

http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/international-womens-day

Sources and Resources:

http://www.internationalwomensday.com/

http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/international-womens-day

http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/women-and-the-sdgs

http://beijing20.unwomen.org/en/step-it-up

http://www.unwomen.org/news/stories/2015/9/press-release-global-leaders-meeting

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Calling All Girls Who Want To Travel The World!

There are many wonderful opportunities to travel this summer with Girl Scouts to India, United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, South Korea, Mexico, and Switzerland. 

You do not have to be a current member of Girl Scouts to participate. 

Click on the link below for more information:

http://www.usagso.org/en/camp-and-outdoors/get-outdoors/programs.html

Resources:

http://www.usagso.org/

http://www.girlscouts.org/

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Zika Virus

The Zika virus is a mosquito-transmitted infection related to dengue fever, yellow fever and West Nile virus. Zika is most commonly spread when an Aedes mosquito bites a person with an active Zika infection and then spreads the virus by biting others. The Centers for Disease Control (“CDC”) reports Zika has been passed via sexual transmission, and there are documented cases of virus transmission during labor, blood transfusion, and laboratory exposure. Zika has also been found in breast milk but has not been proven that it can be passed to a baby via breast milk.  

The Zika virus was discovered in the Zika forest in Uganda in 1947 and is common in Africa and Asia where it has been known to cause mild, flu-like illness and rash. Ten years ago, Zika outbreaks occurred in the Pacific Islands. Last Spring Zika spread to South America, where it is known to have infected more than 1 million Brazilians and been linked to a significant increase in the number of babies born with a rare neurological condition called microcephaly. With microcephaly, babies are born with abnormally small heads, and often serious and sometimes deadly developmental delays.  

The CDC has confirmed active Zika virus transmission in over 30 countries and territories. According to the CDC website, “knowledge of the link between Zika and birth defects is evolving, but until more is known, the CDC recommends special precautions for pregnant women. Pregnant women in any trimester should consider postponing travel to any area where Zika virus is spreading.” If travel to countries affected by Zika is essential, the CDC suggests pregnant women speak with their healthcare provider first and strictly follow steps to prevent mosquito bites.

U. S. President Obama has requested $1.8 billion dollars in funding from congress to combat further spread of the Zika virus. Travel associated cases of the Zika virus have been reported in the United States. The resources would be used toward expanding programs to control the mosquito population and for research into vaccines and public education programs.  

For more information on the Zika Virus, check out the resources below:

http://www.cdc.gov/zika/

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/zika/en/

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/health/what-is-zika-virus.html?_r=0

http://directorsblog.nih.gov/2016/01/26/zika-virus-an-emerging-health-threat/

http://www.popsci.com/zika-virus-making-an-epidemic

http://www.everydayhealth.com/news/10-essential-facts-about-zika-virus/

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/09/us/politics/obama-congress-funding-combat-zika-virus.html

http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/26/health/zika-what-you-need-to-know/

http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/22/health/new-zika-warnings/

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Tomodachi United States - Japan Youth Exchange Program

Check out this U.S. - Japan youth exchange program for 10th or 11th grade students at Washington DC public or charter schools.  9th graders will be considered if space allows.  

Applications are due by midnight Friday, March 4, 2016.

The exchange will take place over a period of six weeks during summer 2016 (tentatively scheduled for July 5-August 16). The program will begin with an orientation program for DC students. Then the Japanese students will join the DC students for a two-week program in DC. All students will then fly together to Japan for a program in Tokyo and the Tohoku region. Students will reside with host families during part of their time in Japan.

Click on the link below for more information:

http://usjapanfuture.org/apply-2016/

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Thursday is International Day of Women and Girls in Science.

Only 28% of researchers are women. Yet, promoting the work of women in science and encouraging girls to enter sciences is crucial for achieving the Global Goals for Sustainable Development.

Can we narrow the gender gap in science and engineering? Find out more here: http://womeninscienceday.org/

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Global Engagement Profile - SchoolCycle Initiative

 Names: Lauren Bohn and Zoe Fox, SchoolCycle Initiative

 Home Country: USA

Global Engagement: Lauren Bohn and Zoe Fox partnered with the United Nations Foundation’s Girl Up organization to launch the SchoolCycle initiative. SchoolCycle provides bicycles to girls in Malawi Africa and Guatemala to enable them to travel extreme distances required get to and from school.

Inspiration and Impact: Lauren and Zoe, two journalists, visited the Republic of Malawi Africa on a United Nations Foundation reporting fellowship. Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world and is rarely covered in news stories.  More than half of the population lives below the international poverty line, less than 25% of girls finish primary school and among those who finish primary school, only 9% graduate from secondary school.  

When reporting in Malawi, it became clear to Lauren and Zoe that one of the biggest barriers to attending school, facing girls, was the exhausting and sometimes unsafe commute. Some girls were required to walk more than 20 miles to and from school (each way). To help facilitate a more manageable commute, a British charity had donated 30 bikes to girls in the extremely remote Mangochi district of Malawi that resulted in a remarkably improved commute for some girls and increased their chances of graduating from school. Lauren and Zoe wanted to help expand significantly the number of girls with access to bicycles for transportation to and from school.    

Lauren and Zoe returned home from Malawi and approached the United Nation Foundation’s Girl Up campaign to help them find a way to provide bicycles to more girls in Malawi and in other countries. The SchoolCycle global giving campaign was launched with a goal of providing bicycles to 550 adolescent girls in Malawi to increase their access to education and other services. In just one year, SchoolCycle raised more than 100 thousand dollars to provide bicycles to 550 adolescent girls in Malawi. The SchoolCycle program has recently been expanded to Guatemala.  

Resources/References:

Girl Up: https://girlup.org/

Malawi:

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2015/10/02/northwestern-graduate-teams-up-with-un-to-give-bicycles-to-needy-african-girls/

http://unfoundationblog.org/schoolcycle-helping-girls-get-to-school/

https://girlup.org/helping-girls-go-places-one-bike-time/

http://girltalkhq.com/these-bicycles-are-helping-girls-in-malawi-stay-in-school-change-their-futures/

Guatemala:

https://girlup.org/about/press-releases/girl-up-announces-expansion-schoolcycle-initative-guatemala/

http://campaignforeducationusa.org/global-action-week/impact-detail/schoolcycle-how-one-bike-can-change-the-life-of-a-girl

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American Music Abroad International Exchange Program

Applications Due January 24, 2016

American Music Abroad is a partnership between the U.S. Department of State and American Voices. The mission of the program is to facilitate cultural exchange via musical performance and educational outreach. Approximately 9 ensembles will be selected for a month-long multi-country tour where they perform for international audiences through public concerts, interactive performances with local musicians, lectures and demonstrations, workshops, jam sessions and media interviews.  

If you are interested in applying to the American Music Abroad program, please click on the link below. The application for 2016 tour participation is due on January 24, 2016.  

http://amvoices.org/ama/apply/

http://amvoices.org/ama/apply/application/

https://www.facebook.com/americanmusicabroad

http://amvoices.org/ama/about/

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Education Is The Most Powerful Weapon Which You Can Use To Change The World

Nelson Mandela 

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2016 is the kick off of the Sustainable Development Goals! It marks the start of the UN’s global effort to end poverty and build a better world.

The 17 #GlobalGoals with a target date of 2030 were adopted at UN Headquarters in #NYC in September, to fight poverty, reduce inequality and tackle climate change.

http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2015/12/sustainable-development-goals-kick-off-with-start-of-new-year/

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Diverse Languages are Spoken Around the World and Within Continents

There are at least 7,102 living languages in the world. Languages spoken within continents are broadly diverse ranging from 2,301 spoken in Asia to 286 languages spoken within Europe. While over 7000 languages are spoken across the globe, two-thirds of the 7.2 billion people on Earth speak only 12 languages as their native tongue.

English is the official language in at least 35 countries around the world. However, in certain countries where English is the official language, English is not the native tongue for many citizens and it is not necessarily the primary language used by them to communicate.  

Many of the over 7,000 languages around the world are spoken by a very small number of people,  and it is projected that half the world’s languages will disappear by the end of this century. About 3 percent of the world’s population accounts for 96 percent of all languages spoken today.  

While English does not have the largest number of native speakers (Chinese has 1.39 billion native speakers, Hindi-Urdu has 588 million, English 527million), English is the most commonly learned language with 1.5 billion learners  of English,  followed by 82 million learners of French, 30 million learners of Chinese, 14.5 million learners of Spanish and 14.5 learners of German. The number of United States colleges that teach Chinese has risen by 110 percent between 1990 and 2013.  

Check out this article linked below for more insights, charts and graphs about how diverse parts of the world are in terms of languages.  

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/04/23/the-worlds-languages-in-7-maps-and-charts/

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2016 Winter Youth Assembly at the United Nations

Transforming Our World: The Role of Youth in the Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)  

Save the Date: February 17-18, 2016

As the world embarks on a new set of development goals for the next 15 years, today's youth generation is placed in a crucial moment in history to help turn these goals into reality.

This coming February, attend the 2016 Winter Youth Assembly at the United Nations, where young leaders and professionals (age 16-28), UN high officials and staff, private sector, and civil society gather to discuss and examine the important role of youth in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.  

For more information on the 2016 Winter Youth Assembly at the United Nations or to register click on the link below:

 http://www.faf.org/main/youthassembly/registration/

For more information about the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) click on the links below:

http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/mdgoverview/post-2015-development-agenda.html

http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/

https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/topics

http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/librarypage/corporate/sustainable-development-goals-booklet.html

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The Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship Program

Funded by the U.S. Department of State and Administered by the Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars, the 2016 Thomas R. Pickering Fellowship program provides undergraduate students with financial support, mentoring and professional development to prepare them academically and professionally for a career in the U.S. Department of State Foreign Service. Women, members of minority groups historically underrepresented in Foreign Service, and students with financial need are encouraged to apply.  

Applications are due on January 15, 2016

Click on the link below for more information:

http://www.twc.edu/thomas-r-pickering-foreign-affairs-fellowship-program

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International Day of the Girl (IDG) was established by the United Nations to recognize girls’ rights, their potential and the unique challenges girls around the world face such as inequities in education, forced early marriage and gender-based violence. It is also a day to focus on addressing these challenges and to promote ways to empower girls and women.  IDG is celebrated annually on October 11.  

This year’s theme “The Power of the Adolescent Girl: Vision for 2030” focuses on adolescent girls and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which include achieving gender equality by 2030 (http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/women-and-the-sdgs/sdg-5-gender-equality). According to Unicef, “there are nearly 600 million girls aged 10 to 19 in the world today, each with limitless individual potential”. International Day of the Girl is an opportunity to highlight this potential and find ways to address the challenges that may prevent girls and women around the world from living happy lives and reaching their potential.  

For more information on International Day of the Girl and how to get involved please click on the links below.  

The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) -Download the 10 Million Voices Activity Pack: Celebrate IDG, learn about the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and share your vision for a better future.

https://www.wagggs.org/en/what-we-do/international-days/international-day-of-the-girl/

https://www.wagggs.org/en/resources/international-day-girl-10-million-voices/

Girls Gone Global - MAKERS video series celebrates IDG 2015 by taking a virtual trip around the world with short stories in the theme of The Power of the Adolescent Girl Vision for 2030:

http://www.makers.com/blog/international-day-of-the-girl

UN International Day of the Girl: http://www.un.org/en/events/girlchild/

UN Women: http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/girl-child

Unicef Gender Equality: http://www.unicef.org/gender/gender_66021.html

Sustainable Development Goal 5 (SDG5): (http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/women-and-the-sdgs/sdg-5-gender-equality)

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In case you did not see Jon Stewart’s interview of Malala Yousafzai, on the Daily Show, click on the links below to see it. Malala is an advocate for girls’ education, author and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.

http://www.cc.com/video-clips/bdl9ix/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-malala-yousafzai-pt--1

http://www.cc.com/video-clips/p7dsdf/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-malala-yousafzai-pt--2

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National Security language Institute – NSLI for Youth (NSLI-Y)

Scholarships to Study Language Abroad for Less Commonly Taught Languages

Applications Due: October 29 at 4PM ET

National Security Language Institute is accepting applications for 2016-2017 language study abroad programs. The NSLI for Youth program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State provides merit-based scholarships for high school students and recent high school graduates to learn less commonly taught languages in summer and academic-year overseas immersion programs. Scholarships are available for students to learn the following languages: Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), Hindi, Korean, Persian (Tajiki), Russian, Turkish

For more information click on the link below:  

http://www.nsliforyouth.org/

Email address: [email protected]

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Pope Francis Addresses Climate Change with President Obama, Congress and the United Nations Assembly during his visit to the United States  

Pope Francis made an historic trip to the United States where he visited, Washington D.C., New York City and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was his first visit to the U.S.  As the first Pope to address congress, Pope Francis discussed the need to protect the earth from the effects of climate change.  The Pope also addressed the challenge of climate change in his meeting with President Obama and with the United Nations General Assembly. Pope Francis was the fifth Pope to visit the United Nations.  To deal with climate change, the Pope called for “courageous and responsible effort to ‘redirect our steps’ and to avert the most serious side effects of the environmental deterioration caused by human activity”.

For articles and pictures of Pope Francis’ visit to the United States and his and his perspective on climate change, please check out the articles linked below.

The 5 Most Important Points of Pope Francis’s Climate Change Encyclical: 

http://time.com/3925520/pope-francis-climate-change-encyclical/

In speech to Congress, Pope Francis urges action on immigration, climate

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2015/09/24/pope-congress-speech-historic-climate-change-republicans-democrats/72706718/

Pope Francis pushes world leaders at U.N. to protect environment

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/09/25/pope-francis-united-nations-address-migrants-climate/72746990/

Pope Departs, After Showing a Deft Touch

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/09/28/us/pope-departs-after-showing-a-deft-touch.html?emc=edit_th_20150928&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=67853984&_r=0&referer=

Pope Francis surprised by warmth of Americans and devoutness of the faithful

http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/28/us/pope-trip-wrap-vatican/