UN Civil Society Conference - UN Song!

Facebook post: I just met the singer of an awesome United Nations song at the youth after conference celebration! Evidently it was written here in Salt Lake City for this conference. Sorry this video is a bit shaky, I was part of the circle. They took a video of us singing and dancing with him - I’ll let you know if I see it online! :)

UN Song video on YouTube

UN Civil Society Conference - August 28, 2019

Facebook post: UN conference day three - the conference is over! I learned so much and I’m so grateful for this experience. I look forward to sharing everything with my community when I get home. During the Closing Plenary, they reviewed the Youth Outcome Declaration on Climate Change and the Conference Outcome Document. Over 4,000 people from 138 countries gathered together for this conference, and quite a lot of them were youth. I am inspired and I have hope in my heart for the future of our world! :)

UN Civil Society Conference - August 28, 2019

Facebook post: Another topic I have learned a lot about at the UN conference is caring for immigrants and refugees. At this session the speakers were talking about how to heal refugee trauma. They emphasized creating a sense of safety and trust. One speaker, a former refugee, said that you never feel truly safe until your new community welcomes you (something that is occurring less and less these days unfortunately). One lady does yoga and breathing exercises to help them reset their brains and help them get in touch with themselves and their bodies. Even during dark times in our lives, beauty can be found...
(Note: the men in the bottom right corner of the bottom image stood up for refugee women who were being harassed and 2 were killed)

UN Civil Society Conference - August 27, 2019

Facebook post: UN conference day two - today most of the sessions I attended focused on how to enhance the role of civil society in implementing and monitoring Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11 - https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/cities/ - the focus of this conference. I also attended a session about increasing awareness about the importance of multilateralism - nation states working together, and fighting the tendency of some to be unilateral (solitary) - as that can lead to a lack of communication, which can eventually lead to more global conflict. We also need to incorporate local and regional governments, as well as other actors like civil society, public and private organizations, companies and institutions, NGOs, academia, etc. - and get them involved in dialogues and cooperative partnerships with each other and the UN to improve the SDG 11 indicators. All of this has been part of the discussion at this conference.

UN Civil Society Conference - August 27, 2019

 

Facebook post: Two new friends from the UN conference: the one on the right is a doctor from the Mayo Clinic who I had a wonderful conversation with at the opening reception and the one on the left is associated with a neat organization called Servas (https://servas.org/), which promotes international friendships and peacebuilding through traveling and hosting people from different countries for short term visits. You can be a traveler with no obligation to host, and pay only a low yearly fee.

UN Civil Society Conference - August 27, 2019

 

Facebook post: I just attended this session. It’s a program that uses breathing and meditation techniques to build trust, compassion, inner peace, and improve communication between community members and police. The participants said it was life changing and developed a bond between them. I think something like this could potentially benefit relations between police and people of color in State College. Since the Osaze Osagie shooting, and even before, there has been a lack of trust. This is something that needs to be addressed and improved, and our leaders have been looking for various ways to address this issue. (This program was designed by the Program Director of Cities4Peace.org - Mandar Apte)

UN Civil Society Conference - August 26, 2019

Facebook post: Day one of the UN Civil Society Conference on Building Inclusive and Sustainable Cities and Communities. The opening plenary had a wonderful performance by a local Native American group.

UN Civil Society Conference - August 26, 2019

Facebook post: Day one of the UN Civil Society Conference on Building Inclusive and Sustainable Cities and Communities. One of the best sessions today was Building Inclusive Communities Through Education with the four speakers in the picture.

UN Civil Society Conference - August 26, 2019

 

Facebook post: A lovely woman from Brazil just gave me this bracelet. :) She told me it’s to make 3 wishes: 1 for me, 1 for my family, and 1 for my community. For me I wish to be a peacebuilder and changemaker, for my family I wish health and happiness, and for my community I wish unity amidst diversity and well-being for everyone.

UN Civil Society Conference - August 25, 2019

 

Facebook post: There was entertainment at the opening reception - hip hop dancing, Native American dancers, etc. I’ve already met some very nice people. And I found out that there are people here from 138 countries!!

 

UN Civil Society Conference - August 25, 2019

The theme of this Civil Society conference was Building Inclusive and Sustainable Cities and Communities. It was held in Salt Lake City, Utah from August 26-28, 2019. This was the first time it was held outside of the UN headquarters in NYC. Salt Lake City was chosen because they are a leader in sustainability and being an inclusive city. There was a very large youth representation at this conference. This conference had two outcome documents: an Outcome Statement and a Youth Climate Compact. They can be found here: https://outreach.un.org/ngorelations/slc-conference.

UN Civil Society Conference - August 25, 2019

Facebook post: A nice lady greeted me at the airport with this sign and directions to the conference. She was kind enough to take my picture as well. While I’m here I’m representing the State College Borough as a volunteer, the United Nations Association Centre County Chapter, and Campus & Community in Unity. I will be reporting what I learn to each of these when I get back. :)

Great quotes :)