Deadline to Apply: January 5th, 2020

Saskatchewan Council for International Cooperation (SCIC) in collaboration with the Provincial and Regional Councils for International Cooperation (ICN), is seeking a youth delegate to join a national youth delegation to attend the Sixty-fourth Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW64 / Beijing+25 (2020) at the United Nations Headquarters in New York taking place from March 9-20 2020.  

Eight youth delegates from across Canada will be selected and supported in attending select days of the CSW64 conference through the ICN.

The cost of transportation, food, and shared basic accommodation will be covered for youth participants

What is the Inter-Council Network

The Inter-Council Network (ICN) is a coalition of the eight Provincial and Regional Councils for International Cooperation. These independent member-based Councils are committed to global social justice and social change and represent more than 350 diverse civil society organizations (CSOs) from across Canada. The ICN provides a national forum in which the Councils collaborate for improved effectiveness and identify common priorities for collective action. Rooted in communities across Canada, we are leaders in public engagement at a local and regional level and are recognized for bringing regional knowledge and priorities to the national level.

The Councils work with diverse national, regional, and local organizations from the ground up. Each Council’s membership spans from cultural community civil society organizations to highly recognizable international organizations. The ICN itself partners with national networks and organizations to ensure public engagement activities reach communities from coast to coast to coast, and that our voice reflects the interests and values of our members.

What is CSW64/Beijing + 25

2020 will mark the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the most progressive agenda for the human rights of women and girls to date. Endorsed by 189 states at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China in 1995, the Platform for Action is recognized as “a defining framework for change” that catalyzed unprecedented political will and recognition of the rights of women and girls. However, in the twenty-five years since Beijing, no country in the world has achieved gender equality and “despite some progress, real change has been agonizingly slow for the majority of women and girls in the world ”(Generation Equality).

2020 also marks five years since the international community adopted the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Agenda, and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at its centre, is a comprehensive and ambitious blueprint of action for all countries recognizing that eradicating global poverty is our greatest challenge, and there can be no sustainable development as long as it persists. Indivisible and integrated, the 17 SDGs include environmental, social and economic matters of global importance. The importance of gender equality and women’s rights is at the core of the framework and achieving Goal 5, Gender Equality and the Rights of Women and Girls is essential to achieving the other 16 goals. The importance of realizing the rights of women and girls has also been established in Canada’s Feminist International Assitance Policy (FIAP) as the most effective way to end global poverty.

Eligibility 

Youth delegates will ideally:

• Have demonstrated experience and knowledge of women’s rights and gender equality;  
• Be between the ages of 21 and 30 at the time of the conference;
• Be bilingual in French and English (strongly encouraged); 
• Be a Canadian Citizen or Permanent Resident;
• Hold a valid passport or be able to secure one before January 31, 2020.

Expectations and Commitments

Selected youth delegates are expected to a) participate in pre-conference virtual orientation activities including 2-3, three-hour webinars in January and/or February 2020; b) participate fully during the conference, including Council organized parallel events and other activities; c) share their experience of the conference via social media, live streams, and blog updates; and d) take part in one or more post-conference public engagement initiatives in collaboration with Saskatchewan Council for International Cooperation.

Why Youth Engagement is Important

Youth play an integral role in the international community’s effort of achieving sustainable development and gender equality. 

With about 1.8 billion young people worldwide between the ages of 10 and 24, actively engaging youth in decision-making processes enables cross-generational collaboration to truly implement Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 17 - inclusive partnerships that collectively seek solutions that benefit our society, the planet, and its inhabitants.

Strengthening cross-generational collaboration entails providing mentorship and education of youth, as well as valuing young people’s opinions and creative solutions. More importantly, by further promoting youth participation and engagement, we are creating a momentum of fostering stewardship and sustainable development values amongst the future designers, politicians, engineers, and architects of the world. Investing in the next generation of young leaders will yield positive results - long term and short term - that contribute to the global integration of the SDGs and more robust climate and social justice actions.

To Apply

If you are motivated to participate, please submit to [email protected] by December 20, 2019.

Please use the subject line: ICN CSW64/Beijing + 25 [Participant Name]. Late and incomplete submissions will not be accepted.

Please submit your CV/résumé and/or a letter of motivation (max. 2 pages) containing answers to the following questions:

• What perspective or lived experience do you hope to offer to the group?
• What does gender equality mean to you?
• What do you hope to gain from attending the CSW64/Beijing + 25  and how will you bring back what you learn to your community? 
• List any past and/or current experiences relevant to women’s rights and gender equality.