Ival's blog

Friday 16th December

Thursday 15th December

Wednesday 13th December

Wednesday was a bright and early rise as we had a two and half hour bus ride to our first Youth Ending Hunger social action project (SAP) which was taking place in Sarail, Brahmanbaria. This was a great first social action project to visit, and we were given an incredible welcome to the town as we stepped off the coach. We were given flowers and parade materials, including hats and flags. What happened next was a very honourable experience as we took part in a rally to celebrate social action and the work the community is doing to overcome their social issues.

Tuesday 13th December

9am meeting with four Climate Champions from the Climate Generation project run by the British Council. During this meeting we were presented with a very worrying situation in Bangladesh. Climate change through global warming is having an accelerating effect on the communities here. Bangladesh has the second lowest coast line in the world, and the country is already experiencing devastating floods throughout different regions and districts.

Saturday 10th December
An excited group of young active citizens from Tower Hamlets and Newham met at Heathrow airport to travel to Bangladesh to take part in an exchange trip with The Hunger Project. The 12 young delegates are made up of young leaders from across East London. We set off for Bangladesh and will get there via Dubai.
Sunday 11th December

The first day of the 11th Commonwealth Youth Forum in Perth kicked off with a number of high profile speakers including the Australian PM Julia Gillard and Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Shama. In closing Pan Commonwealth Youth Caucus chair Nolene, of the Solomon Islands, made a strong case putting for putting young people at the heart of much needed reform and renewal within the Commonwealth and for young people to pioneer new structures and frameworks to facilitate participation.

Sunday, 23 October 2011 - One more day to the start of the 8th Commonwealth
Youth Forum! Esplanade Hotel in Fremantle, Perth was a flurry of activity as
delegates from 54 countries across the Commonwealth arrived one after
another.

For the Planning Group, anticipation and excitement was high, with everyone
seizing time to its fullest to work out final details of the Forum. This was
the culmination of the months spent conceptualising and developing the
programme for it to be a meaningful and fulfilling one for all delegates.

The report by the British Council, Open Society Foundations, British Youth Council and the Commonwealth Youth Exchange Council, sets out the recommendations from the London
Symposium and includes calls for:

• A ‘Youth Participation Index’, to set minimum standards on issues such as accountability, access and diversity
• Ways for young people to track the promises made and outcomes from international decision-making forums
• A mapping of international youth participation, starting with the UN system

“Tell a friend, to tell another friend, to tell to their cousins, and their cousin’s friends and cousins. Spread the word on this basically” sputtered Yaarah Schools’ newest patron, actor Daniel Kaluuya (Skins, Johnny English Reborn). He and a host of others attended last week’s ‘Fusionite’ event in Shoreditch’s Avalon club to show their support for a charity which tries to breathe new life into Ghana’s most under resourced educational systems: Footage of Fusionite 2010