 More than 30 youth drawn from South Korea, Kenya and Uganda converged in Nairobi this week for a meeting hosted by UN-HABITAT.
The event which was held at the United Nations Offices at Nairobi took place during the Global Peace Youth Corps (GPYC) Kenya exchange program, "Global Poomashi" – Poomashi being the Korean word for service. GPYC International is an International network of youth groups affiliated with the Global Peace Festival Foundation, an initiative which promotes world peace and aims to reduce global poverty through promotion of a global culture of service and the belief that all people are "one family". This 10 day trip marks the third visit of Korean youth to GPYC Kenya. Youth of both countries used their time together to serve in projects for local schools .
The youth delegation gave a series of presentations on their program and trip to a group of UN-HABITAT staff working with Habitat Agenda Partners, including the Youth Unit. It included a dance performance – choreographed as a treat for the children in one of the Kenyan primary schools they visited. Mr. Markandey Rai of UN-HABITAT emphasized the centrality of youth to global change – particularly at the level of human settlements The Youth Unit shared the work that they do and promoted engagement with the Urban Youth Fund. UN-HABITAT staff also took the opportunity to make them aware of several ways for youth to work for the UN, from internships to the Young Professionals Programme and Junior Professional Officer.
The group expressed interest in working with the UN-HABITAT team in the future, and the UN-HABITAT team extended an invitation for them participate in the upcoming World Urban Forum. |
