The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), serves as the focal point for the UN’s work on youth. Within the Department, the Division for Inclusive Social Development, Programme on Youth Unit, coordinates the UN Youth Delegate Programme at the global level. Participation in decision-making is one of the key priority areas of the United Nations agenda on youth. One form of youth participation at the United Nations is through the inclusion of youth delegates in a country’s official delegation to the United Nations General Assembly and various functional Commissions of the Economic and Social Council. It is the responsibility of Member States to establish a youth delegate programme at the national level, and to decide who will represent the young people of their country at the United Nations.

The roles of a youth delegate varies from country to country, but normally includes providing input to their delegation on issues related to youth and participation in their delegation’s work, such as through attending meetings and informal negotiations.

Youth delegates can participate in several intergovernmental meetings at the United Nations. Most official youth delegates participate in the General Assembly, but some also attend functional Commissions of the Economic and Social Council.

Some countries have existing programmes to select youth delegates. You can inquire about whether or not your country has an established programme by contacting your respective Member State government body that may run such a programme: your Ministry of Foreign Affairs, National Youth Council, or United Nations Associations wfuna.org/una-directory . If your country does not have a programme in place to select a youth delegate, your task will be two-fold:

• First, you have to persuade your country on the importance of having a youth representative in its delegation to the UN General Assembly. • And secondly, once they have established the position, the body overseeing the progamme will have to initiate a selection process.

Some steps you may consider include

• Determine whether or not your country currently has a youth delegate programme. If it does, inquire about how the application process works.
• If your country does not currently have a youth delegate programme, you will have to lobby to have one created. This can be done most effectively by working in cooperation with existing youth organizations in your country.
• Sometimes the process may work very quickly, and sometimes it may take a greater effort to have youth delegates become part of government policy.
• Review The United Nations Guide to the Youth Delegate Programme. It can also be used as a helpful tool to share with your Member State to establish a programme.
• Write to your Minister of Foreign Affairs (or equivalent), outline the merits of youth delegates, and offer to meet to discuss it further.
• Contact the Minister for Youth (or equivalent), senior public servants, the Ambassador to the UN, or even the Head of State.
• You might also try to get letters of endorsement from all of the above, plus key civil society leaders, national and international.

After the proposal has been accepted, and a nomination and selection procedure established, the next step would be to apply for the position.