 Ladies and gentlemen, good morning, good afternoon, and good evening, depending on where you're watching from. Welcome to today's interactive web chat, Youth Setting the Global Agenda, featuring the current and former U.S. youth observers to the United Nations, Donia Nasser and Jackson Dugan. My name's Andy Rabins, and I'm the Special Advisor for Global Youth Issues at the U.S. Department of State and the Office of the Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, where I focus on helping the U.S. government better engage young people internationally to help solve the pressing challenges of today, while also building greater global connectivity to shape the world of tomorrow. Now, today's program is titled Youth Setting the Global Agenda, because we believe that young leaders from around the world have a unique opportunity to shape the global conversation and landscape, both on account of immense youth numbers and also on account of the new technological tools at our fingertips. Your passionate and informed voices are already being heard in profound ways, and we want to help ensure those powerful voices help set the global agenda going forward. Now, I just returned from the U.N. General Assembly in New York last night, where the Sustainable Development Goals were passed last Friday, and youth were at the center of a global agenda. And today, we're incredibly lucky to have two leading U.S. youth voices with us, Donia Nasser and Jackson Dugan. Now, Donia is the recent appointee to the position of U.S. Youth Observer to the United Nations. Donia graduated with honors from St. John's University this spring. She is a Truman Albright Fellow and currently serves in the Office of Rural Health Policy at the Department of Health and Human Services. I should also note that Glamour Magazine named Donia one of the top 10 college women of 2014. So we'll start with Donia and see if she can tell us a little bit about the role of youth observer and what you hope to focus on over the next year. Thank you, Andy, for that very generous introduction. He fails to tell you all how amazing he is. So essentially, the youth observer role is two-sided. I'm observing what I'm taking in at these different meetings that I'm going to, like the General Assembly, and taking it back to American youth and essentially the world. And I'm also taking the issues that are important to our youth, to the U.N. and representing them. And so the issues that I've identified as very important to me and close to what my advocacy kind of centers on are gender equality and civic engagement and encouraging youth to run for office, and humanizing the work of the U.N. for our youth and explaining how it impacts them directly. And I think that's really important. So I'll be traveling to different conferences and summits, like the General Assembly and the UNESCO Forum coming up, and I'll be taking on different initiatives that I feel like are really important to our youth and are important to the issues that I care about. But also, I want to connect with you all, you know, the youth in this country and what issues are passionate that you're passionate about, and, you know, I'm very active on social media. I think you got a taste of that this weekend if you're following me on Twitter. And so tweet me, email me, I'm incredibly accessible. Great. Thanks, Donia. We're also really lucky to have with us today Jackson Dugan, the previous youth observer whom Donia succeeded. Jackson recently concluded his year-long term and had quite a ranging experience from meeting with policymakers in Washington, D.C. to representing the United States and connecting with global youth leaders overseas. So, Jackson, over to you. If you wouldn't mind just sharing some of the highlights and insights from your time as youth observer. Yeah, of course. Thank you, Andy. I think that one of the biggest highlights for me as the youth observer was traveling to Azerbaijan for a global youth policy conference and interacting with such impassioned youth that came from almost every country on earth. That was very inspiring, and it showed that there's a lot of potential out there to move these now sustainable development goals forward. And if we can continue that momentum, I think we can really have the possibility to achieve those goals. Great. Thanks, Jackson. So before we move ahead with today's discussion, I'd just like to extend a special welcome to all of those joining us from around the world, including those gathered at the viewing parties in Belgrade, Serbia and Tbilisi, Georgia. I'd also like to mention that if you have a question or comment for our two guests, please join the conversation in the chat space below the video player. Additionally, you can also submit questions on Twitter using the hashtag gen-unchat. We're looking forward to hearing from you, and it's a particularly timely moment at this particular time to have this web chat as the United Nations 70th General Assembly commenced on September 15th. Dounia, you were in New York last week for meetings and some of the sessions. Would you tell us a little bit about that experience? I mean, it was both exciting and exhilarating, but also overwhelming because I didn't know where to start. There is so much going on. I wish I could clone myself and go to everything, and I think most people have those sentiments about General Assembly. It is just so amazing. If you're interested about something that, you know, only five people in the world are interested about, I'm sure that there's an event on that at General Assembly. I think probably one of my fondest memories was the panel that I spoke on at the Social Good Summit Masterclass on empowering women. And I was actually, the moderator was Connie Britton. She's this amazing actress who does a lot of great work. And we were talking about gender equality, and I was able to make the point that I think people really loved and were tweeting at me that, you know, gender equality isn't only about women. It's about, you know, their brothers, their fathers, their sons, and all of the men that affect them. And when you're empowering a woman, you're not only empowering her. You're empowering her family, her village, her community. And so I think people really took on to that, and that was really great. Good advice. Good insights. Jackson, sustainable development, specifically climate sustainability, is a central theme of this year's assembly, with the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals and the March the COP 21 in Paris in December. This is also a topic that you've been heavily involved in. So the question for you is, how can young people play an active role in advancing these goals? Yeah, that's a good question and one that I think comes up a lot. Young people have a lot of potential to address climate change, and specifically in the realm of the SDGs. One thing that I think we can do is simply political organization and motivation. So COP, the Conference of Parties in Paris, is coming up, end of November, December. It's a time when the United Nations is looking to set some standards for governments to follow in terms of carbon emissions and greenhouse gas emissions, and really trying to curb climate change while we still can, while we still have this moment in our present to do something about it. And one thing that young people can do is make sure that their governments listen, listen actively to the discussions being heard and discussed in this forum. Another thing we can do is simple lifestyle changes. If we have the means to do so. One thing is taking reusable shopping bags to the shopping market, combining trips to the grocery store, doing simple things like that, taking shorter showers. I currently live in San Francisco, California is in the middle of a drought. We hear about water saving use all the time, and not just water saving use but energy efficiency. California has great carbon emission standards, and these are things that youth can get involved in and learn about and actively seek to facilitate discussion of with their governmental leaders. Fantastic. That's great actionable advice. So it looks like we already have a few questions coming in from our online audience, so let's field a few of them. Emanuel asks, hi. What is the plan for youth participation in the new sustainable development goals? Donya and Jackson, do you guys have some advice? Do you want to go first? That's a great question. Well, the sustainable development goals were crafted to incorporate youth into their current framework. And so there is some latitude for youth to get involved with the current process. And Donya, what did you hear from youth that were just at UNGA and the unveiling of the SDGs? Were they excited about it? Were they? Incredibly excited about it. There's something that was just released called the Youth Gateway. And so I would encourage looking into that because that's a way to really bring in the youth into the work of the SDGs. And something important to note is that the youth were directly involved in crafting the SDGs. So it not only impacts them and incorporates them, but they were created in part by youth. And so I would say, and I've gotten this advice, I would pick a few SDGs that you're particularly passionate about and focus on them. Because if you try to use all your time on 17, I don't think you could be as effective as you'd like to be. Great advice. Youth Gateway is youthgateway.org. It was just launched yesterday by a big partnership led in part by the UN Youth Envoy's office back in New York. So it's a place to look and find ways to mobilize in regards to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. So our next question, the viewer asks Donya and Jackson, what advice do you have for young leaders watching in regards to identifying challenges and taking action on your campus or in your community or country? I'll go for it. I think one thing when you're identifying a challenge is you need to make sure that you have a connection with that challenge. If you're going to speak to someone in an elected position, if you're going to speak to your peers about this challenge, and you don't have an emotional connection to it, not necessarily too strong an emotional connection. But if you don't have a visceral response to this challenge, you're not going to create a visceral response and catalyze change. So as you're picking your challenges, I think it's important to pick those that are nearest to you personally and professionally. So being gay, I pick LGBTIQ equality. That's huge. And also I work for an environmental nonprofit. I'm passionate about climate change and what we can do for sustainability. Yeah, and just to add to that, be persistent. I can't tell you the amount of times that people told me, Donya, wait your turn or you're too young to be in this space. Give it some time. Your youth doesn't have anything to do with your credibility. And so if there's anything I can tell you is be persistent. If you're passionate about the issue, it'll show. And people will trust you and be knowledgeable research and really understand the issue in and out. And so people can't blame anything on being young. You're just as entitled to having a seat at the table as anyone else. Just a quick follow-up question. I'd heard once a good piece of advice that says, being angry is a good thing and finding ways to channel, first identify what your anger stems from around you and how to channel that anger towards positive results. What you guys, is that accurate from your experiences? I think so. There's a great book in Dignevue by Stefano Hesso who talks about that, having that anger about social injustices and having the visceral response that we were discussing. But being able to channel that into a constructive end result is key. I think the anger itself, the indignation, indignavue, get yourself enraged over something is not enough. You have to have a way to channel that energy and passion and drive into a cause and into a final result. I couldn't agree more. I would say that I am incredibly angry. Maybe I don't seem like it right now, but I am very angry and I was angry to think that I might not be paid as much as my male counterparts because I'm a woman. I mean, these issues impact me directly and they'll impact my kids if I don't take part in that issue. So that makes me incredibly angry. But I use that anger, like Jackson said, into doing something productive with it. And so I think that your anger is only useful if you're using it to really drive your passion for a cause. Great advice. Thanks. So Mahalia asks, what do the youth ambassadors think could be changed in the United Nations to make all countries have a more powerful voice? I can answer this. I think that one way to do that is if you don't have a youth delegate or a youth observer, encourage your country to create that position. I think that you can't have an effective voice if you're leaving out an entire population. And us as youth were a very sizable population. I think it was 1.8 billion youth in the world. And so we have to encourage the youth to have a seat at the table to have a voice. And if your country doesn't have a youth delegate or a youth observer or some kind of role like that, I would fight to make that happen. I think that would be one of the best ways to have a voice in the work of the UN. Yes, absolutely. And I've heard 1.8 billion. I've heard it discussed by the UN Youth Envoy or Envoy on Youth, excuse me, Ahmed Al-Handawi. It's the $1.8 billion question. What happens to governments when they leave out $1.8 billion in surplus? Youth represent an incredible economic potential, an incredible political potential, an incredible voting bloc. And in terms of incorporating youth more fully into the work of the UN or what's my experience interacting with the youth ambassadors was, is they wanted that greater inclusion. They wanted to facilitate the creation of new youth ambassador posts to the UN. And they wanted to get other people who didn't have that ambassador post involved in their country's political process. Great advice. So we have a question, an online question that asks, young people are known for bringing fresh ideas in a different perspective to the table. How can youth leaders harness these traits when working on tough issues? This is a good one. It's a very good one. Wisdom often comes with age, I think. But I think wisdom more poignantly comes with challenges. And young people across the world face a lot of challenges. And because of that, there's a lot of wisdom stimming from that. If you're facing discrimination as a woman, if you're facing discrimination as a sexual minority, if you're facing discrimination as a religious minority, any sort of minority, those are challenges that can be overcome. And there's a lot of wisdom that is gained through that process. And I think sometimes with political leaders who maybe haven't gone through some of the similar challenges, there's a degree of knowledge that's different. And that degree of knowledge is huge when you're talking about instituting laws or promulgating new laws into effect. And I can't emphasize passion enough. I'm incredibly passionate about the issues that I advocate for. And a lot of those issues are difficult. When you think about gender equality, I think for most people, at least in this space, we think, well, that's a given. Women should be equal to men. But in many spaces, a lot of people disagree with me. And they're like, well, if you have an entire room of women, all you want to talk about is gender equality. And it doesn't have anything to do with men. And in that moment, that's a very difficult situation, being only 22 years old and a room full of experts who are saying this to me. But because I'm so passionate about the issue, because it's so close to me, not only because I'm a woman, but because my mother's experiences and people that I know and women and girls that I've met all around the world, I'm able to explain and sit down that this isn't only an issue for women and kind of like what I explained before. And so that's a tough issue. But my passion shines through. And if there's anything I can encourage is be passionate about your issues. And people will see that. Great. Thank you. Thank you for the advice. Next question is someone asks, in some regions of the world, mobile devices have become primary means of communication. With young people being the largest group of users, how can this level of connectivity be leveraged into active civic engagement? How can the online be translated into the offline? That's also excellent. I think we saw a key example of that in the Arab Spring movement, when we're translating social connectivity and especially the Twitter sphere into collective action and a collective movement. Mona Eltahawi, a journalist, Egyptian-American journalist, often says that Twitter saved her life. She was assaulted in Egypt in Cairo during protests and arrested. And she tweeted out, help me. I need help. And the social connectivity of it. People saw this and they came to her aid. So that's a key example, I think. And I think we're going to see more of that moving forward. I think a very relevant example is this conversation that we're having now. I mean, we're engaging how many youth all around the world, because they're tweeting in questions that we're able to respond. I mean, that civic engagement, voting isn't the only thing when we think about civic engagement. We have all of you asking us questions and we're able to speak to you through this forum. And that right there is activism. And so what better example than this conversation that we're having now? Quick follow-up to that. The past week at the UN, someone actually came up to me and said that our generation of young people, 60% of the world, is actually a pretty apathetic generation. That's all about a term that I'd heard for one of the first times, a clicktivism generation that likes something on Facebook, but doesn't actually take the concrete action to make something happen to see it through. Any advice for how to overcome this perception of an apathetic clicktivism type of generation? So I definitely agree with you. And I kind of say this when we're talking about the youth observer role and how social media is a huge part of it. I preface it by saying, I also believe that social media isn't the only way to be involved and it shouldn't be. So just because you like something, just because you tweet something, retweet something, it doesn't mean that you're actually actively getting involved in that issue, right? I could say that I'm taking a stand for climate change, but if I'm not really doing anything substantial for that, then that tweet doesn't mean anything. You have to follow up with action. You have to get involved with the organizations. You have to get involved with advocacy efforts because they go hand in hand. I think that one is stronger than when you have both of them together, if that makes sense. Great. Yeah, I completely agree. Those initial steps need to be followed through with action. There needs to be some follow through on what is being discussed. But I also have to play a little bit of the devil's advocate and say my experience as the youth observer, I interacted with thousands of young people who were passionate about getting involved and passionate about the follow through. I think there is enough passion out there and motivation to really affect change. And for the rest of us that maybe have other impotence to getting involved, working three jobs or supporting a young family, those impotence do exist. Showing your support and showing your concerns through the social media is equally valuable. As long as you're being heard and have the connectivity and someone is passionate and a large majority is passionate, I think we can affect change. Great advice, yeah? Yeah, and I think we also need to be cognizant of the number of people and especially young people out there that don't have access to social media and don't have access to internet. And so when we're talking about these efforts and reaching out to youth and civic engagement, we also have to remember a lot of our youth don't have access to those resources. And so how can we be creative and reaching out to those people because we don't wanna leave people out because they don't have access to these resources? Great insights, great insights. One of our viewers asks, Donia, taking a stand against terrorism and violent extremism is on the minds of millions. Do youth have a role to play in this space? I personally think yes, a very strong yes. So I'm a Muslim American, a Middle Eastern American and I take a very, I mean, this is a personal cause for me. I take a very strong stand against violent extremism. You are having a very small portion of the Muslim population creating this taint on our entire, you know, I don't know the number, but on our entire population. And that's something really terrible that I know not only me, but a lot of youth, Muslim and non-Muslim are passionate about. Andy and I were just at the Global Youth Summit for countering violent extremism and most of the people there were young people, which was such, it was so refreshing to see that because I can't tell you the amount of spaces I've been where we're talking about issues that directly affect young people and yet there are three, four or five of us in the room. Most of the people in that room, in that space were the youth and they were passionate about these issues because their communities are being destroyed by violent extremism and, you know, their religion is being interpreted very falsely, you know, and so if we have a role to play, it's to stand up and do what you can in your community. If, you know, all of the youth that we met are able to do this, especially, you know, in developing countries, then we can definitely do something. Great, Jeff, anything to add? Absolutely, I know that question wasn't addressed to me, but I do have something to add. You know, I think youth have a particularly important role to play because youth are vulnerable. You know, we're going through a transition stage in our life, we're vulnerable to foreign ideologies, we're vulnerable to extremist ideologies. We're searching for meaning. Young people are searching for meaning in the world. There's an economic slump still in many regions and without a job, we're looking for something to do. We need to have a purpose and I think this, above all else, contributes to the extremist cause. It certainly doesn't inhibit it and so that is something that young people can do. We can facilitate purpose among ourselves. We can create collectives that are positive and not negative. And just to add to that, we need to encourage education around the world. I think that's a very large issue in violent extremism, especially for young people getting involved because a lot of vulnerable youth around the world and especially in these regions, vulnerable to extremist violence is that they don't have access to education, they don't have access to health, they're incredibly poor and then you have this organization offering all of that and at that moment, we don't know what's running through these, the minds of these youths and so we need to encourage education, global education, especially for young girls. We need to make sure that young girls and women are being empowered in these communities so they can take a stand. That's great and just a quick reference. Donia mentioned that there was a global youth summit against violent extremism that took place in New York last week and at that summit, there was actually a youth action agenda that was adopted and created that then was presented by one of the youth delegates, young woman named Ilwad from Somalia to the world leaders at the leaders summit, the President Obama and about 100 world leaders on Tuesday morning. If you do have ideas that young people, roles young people can play that engage in this space, we would love to hear from you and we know that we're also, if you're doing great work, we wanna showcase your stories. We have a question now from our viewing group at the US Embassy in Tbilisi, Georgia. They ask HIV is getting more and more serious in Eastern Europe where youth can't get any information about it in the school. How can we force our educational system to implement something that raises awareness about HIV? This is a tough subject. HIV is a contentious subject. Anytime we're talking about a sexually transmitted infection, anytime we're talking about anything in that realm, it becomes contentious culturally and then just politically as well. I think one thing that youth can do to make sure that it is discussed is to talk to someone who is affected and have that individual talk with the personnel in the school. And if you know multiple individuals, have multiples of that afflicted cause come to your locale and interact with the officials in the area. There needs to be a direct contact. And if you can interact with the person afflicted with HIV and introduce, facilitate that introduction, it's even a higher cause because I think a lot of times there's a stigma even about touch. Oh, I don't want to touch someone who has HIV. I might get HIV. And because we don't have the knowledge or the instruction isn't being taught on how HIV is transmitted. So show that you're not afraid to interact with this person, that you're not afraid to have contact with this person and to facilitate that introduction so that they can now talk to your school officials about the importance of having this education and why it's so detrimental when you don't. And just adding to what Jackson said, we need to de-stigmatize the issue. I think that there's a lot of stigma surrounding HIV and even today, there's not a lot of education on it and we need to, one, de-stigmatize but also encourage safe practices as well. Great. We have a question from Islamabad. A couple of viewers ask, we are a group watching from the Helen Keller Center in Islamabad. Everyone is eager to know how youth can contribute to the development of Pakistan. And does this relate to sustainable development goals? You want to take that? Yes. So in the development of Pakistan and in terms of sustainable development, anything that curbs our effect on climate certainly has to do with sustainable development and the sustainable development goals. In terms of development in Pakistan, I think a lot of it has to do with social inclusion and making sure everyone is socially included in the process. I think equal access to healthcare is something that needs to be on the table and is certainly part of the SDGs. When we're talking about renewable resources, Pakistan certainly does have renewable resources and making sure those resources are known and utilized effectively is something that needs to be incorporated into the process as well. And of course, the empowerment of Pakistani girls and we know that through Malala encouraging education for both young girls and boys, encouraging an equal workforce, I think not only youth are marginalized from the workforce but especially young women. And so we need to encourage that. I mean, there are so many SDGs that are relevant not only to Pakistan but a lot of other countries similar. And so again, I have to go back to the empowerment of young girls and women and I think Malala is the perfect example of that. And if you haven't seen the video from last Friday with the United Nations, Malala, one of Pakistan's own actually opened up an incredible session with the Pope in the UN General Assembly Hall with youth in the background holding up candles. It's worth a quick look. Our next question comes from Ann Marie on Twitter who asks, how can we make the youth more engaged in combating climate change? Sarva Jackson. Yes, love it. So one thing, you just mentioned the Pope. The Pope's encyclical came out, right? Talking about climate change or the environment, the importance of the environment was some pretty heavy language. And I think one thing when we're trying to get youth engaged to combat climate change is there needs to be some political momentum from higher ups to parallel our own passion about it. So I think one of the beauties of this encyclical was it came to over a billion Catholics worldwide and in some regions where it's quite conservative and talking about the environment can be kind of taboo or not necessarily on the table. And so facilitating that conversation higher up is great. Once it's facilitated as youth, you can take it and run with it, okay? That's one thing you can do. Also as youth, you can form those collectives around social media, gather the information and make sure that it's disseminated effectively to both your cohort and those in office. So one thing that I work with is climate change a lot of course and just some of the statistics and numbers are kind of staggering. And if you can put that in economic terms as well, if you can frame it in dollars and cents, you're gonna have the attention of a lot of policymakers a lot more effectively than if it were just numbers. So that's another thing, an easy thing to do in terms of information and political mobilization. Great advice. Donia, anything to add there? Just to add to that, I mean he said most of it. Civic engagement is incredibly important. Our elected representatives and senators are there for us. We elect them. And so you need to go out and vote for the candidate that is advocating for combating climate change. And if you're not going out to vote, then you're not doing your part, I think. And even something as simple as voting, you're doing your part in combating climate change, especially if you're voting for the candidate that is making a stance against it. So civic engagement is incredibly important in this issue, as Jackson noted. I will also remind folks that in December of this year, there's the COP 21, the large climate summit where global leaders will get together in December in Paris. So there's a lot of opportunity to really mobilize and push around climate in the next few months. We have a question from our viewing group at the US Embassy in Tbilisi, Georgia, who asked a lot of young people go into business for their first jobs after university. What recommendations can you provide them so that they can influence the private sector to take a more active role in sustainable development in protecting the world's natural resources? How can we get the private sector more engaged in the SDG space? So I saw that a lot this weekend, and it was great. You need to show them, and it's not very hard, that getting involved in social entrepreneurship and the SDGs is beneficial for them in the long run. And show them that investing in these ideas and investing in these goals are better for them. And businesses that I've proven to be invested in these advocacy efforts, they start to have, they're more profitable because of that. Because young people are like, well, this business, this corporation is invested in this issue, like climate change, that is very important to me. I'm gonna go to them. And so I saw that a lot this weekend, and that was great because I didn't even know that much about these partnerships with private companies. And that's the future, really. Yes, absolutely. I think one thing that can be done in terms of the private space is ensuring that partnerships exist between the public and private spheres. Without that partnership, it's really hard to get a lot done in your private space. And I think one thing to do is to really use the market. Finding market-based solutions to environmental problems is something that the private sector can do very effectively if they're working with government officials, if they're working in parallel with that. So not simply framing something as this needs to get done, as this needs to happen, but framing it as this needs to get done because if we don't, we're gonna have a $2 billion deficit in our GDP. And here's the solution. Now let me partner with a government official, talk about that solution, and let's get it to action so we don't lose that $200 surplus. People often also say that self-interest drives action. And do you think there's more that can be done to show the private sector that they have that self-interest in some of these SDG-related issues? I think for sure. Again, going with the economic terms of it, because that's a motivation for a lot of people, you need a job, you need to be able to facilitate transactions, is kind of quantifying the economic benefit of some of these services, such as the environment, or what's the deficit of not having access to healthcare? Or what's the deficit of inequality? Once we learn that, it's much easier to talk about it. And also just from a personal standpoint, if you have the experience in it, to bring that emotional ethos into the conversation as well, to bring the emotional aspect into the logos, the logic of it, is something that also needs to be done. And two of the SDGs, so the sustainable workforce, and then also gender equality, I mean both of these in the long run are helping corporations and private businesses because we're not utilizing half of our population if we're not including women in the workforce. And in that way, we're also not creating revenue through them. We don't have half of the population having buying power, which no doubt helps private corporations. So I think most of the SDGs are related to private businesses and them having an interest in the SDGs directly. Great point. So we've got a question from Ephraim, joining us online from the Yali Young African Leaders Initiative Network. He notes corruption, trafficking of children, and bringing peace are serious issues in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the DRC. How can youth join together to work on these issues? I actually had the pleasure of working with Yali leaders at the Goldman School at UC Berkeley two summers ago in 2014. And I think one of the best ways that we can work on issues together is while we were working on issues together, we sat down and we were able to discuss how a lot of the issues we had were very similar and what they were doing in Nigeria and how we could do that here in DC or in Florida. And so we need to have communication because there are a lot of practices that we probably aren't aware of that are being utilized around the world. And so if we're not communicating and we're not creating those lines of communication, then we're not gonna know of those, and that helps both of us. Great. Anything else to add? Yeah, absolutely. I think when we're talking about corruption and a lot of these systematic effects that are inhibiting change or positive change, I think two of the things that often are lacking are monitoring and enforcement. So if young people together can form a cohort, form a group and try to affect that in your spare time, if you can monitor the positive laws that are in effect and enforce them by contacting uncorrupted officials, you can have greater change because a lot of times there's just not the funds in a developing economy or in other regions to monitor and enforce these laws that are in effect. Great, thanks. Quick note is that if you are watching from Sub-Saharan Africa, I would just ask you to take a look at the Young African Leaders Initiative Network. You're welcome to be a part of that. And also applications for the 2015, 2016, Yali Mandela Washington Fellowship has just opened. So take a look at the website and your applications are open. We'd love for you to be a part of that opportunity as well. Ankit from India asks, in developing countries like India, how do we turn demographic challenges into demographic dividends? Great question. I think we're talking about that $1.8 billion question again. How do we turn that into a dividend, a surplus? One thing is inclusion. One thing is mobilization and collusion or what's the word, what's the word, camaraderie. Thank you. Us forming a collective and making sure that we put our voices into the government to turn that $1.8 billion into $1.8 billion potential. Dunya, what do you have to say? I agree 100% with you. I couldn't agree more. I think we have an incredible voice and we have incredible power and so we have to utilize it, just like you said. It's a matter of finding ways that are best for your community and your country to do that and I think it differs and so maybe having more communication about that I think that would be a great conversation to have. I would love to learn more about that myself. Yeah, absolutely. And I mean, young people represent the largest voting block in history. If you're in a democratic nation like India, the largest democracy in the world, you have amazing potential as a young voters block to affect change. I think I heard a statistic even that there are 800 million young people right now in India. So that's a large as Jackson and Dunya mentioned. That's a large power base. Exactly. If you can mobilize for action. I'd love to continue that conversation. That'd be great. We're going to move on to Noon, who writes in, Dunya mentioned that one should fight to have a UN youth observer for their country. I was wondering if she could talk a little bit more about how we can take action on such an incredible initiative. So I have to be honest. I don't know, you know, the exact process of doing this. And again, this is something that I would love to learn and help anyone on. Again, tweet me at US Youth Observer because I'm very active on Twitter. But I'm, I think, and Andy, maybe you could help that you approach your UN, your official like UN delegation that your country has if you don't have one and you approach them. You can go, you know, with a set of reasons as to why it's incredibly important to have a youth voice. And even if you don't have, you know, a youth delegate position right away, start off with something like having a youth observer. You're observing what's happening at the UN and you're bringing it back to the youth and they can really see the value of that. And so, you know, go to them, approach them, and explain, listen, the youth in corp, we're a huge population. We deserve our voice to be heard, especially at an institution like the UN that's focused on the youth and weaves in the youth in almost everything that they do. You know, I think all countries should have a youth delegate. They're making decisions that affect the youth directly. And so, I would love to continue this conversation and help you so, you know, if you have any questions about them and don't know how to go about that, tweet me and direct message me and I would love to, you know, try and help you with Andy and other resources that I have. Great advice. Jackson, anything to add? Yeah, just a quick note. And in terms of creating a youth observer or a youth delegate to the United Nations within your country, it's also important to kind of establish connections and to interact with some already established bodies. So the UN has major working groups. So the major working group for children and youth is an excellent body to get involved with and that's simple, that's easy to do. So the major working group for children and youth. And they have a lot of avenues to get involved with the work of the UN. They have a lot of resources in terms of connectivity and in terms of knowledge base in how to establish a youth delegate program within your country. And there's contacts at the UN that also facilitate this and work with delegations to establish a youth delegate program. And just one more case for it. You know, Jackson and Donia don't just represent their own voices, they represent voices of young Americans around the country. And I think the case can be made for other countries having their young people representing a larger demographic of stakeholders that then can actually push policies important to young people at the negotiating table. So we wish you luck and we're happy to work with you in our regard. A question has come in for Donia. Someone asks, I heard that the global youth summit against violent extremism happened last week in New York. Why is it important for youth leaders to engage in this space? I think we talked about this a little bit. It's important because violent extremism is affecting youth directly and is directed towards youth. We're having a lot of these extremist groups and like ISIS that are targeting young people who are incredibly vulnerable. Why? Because they don't have access to food. They don't have access to shelter. They don't have access to education. They don't have access to health. I mean, we're talking about extreme poverty. That says, listen, we're going to give this all to you. Just come join us. We have to get involved because those are our brothers and sisters around the world. We're global citizens, right? Something that's affecting a youth in Iraq or Syria is affecting me too indirectly because we're creating a space in the world that isn't peaceful. And I don't care if we don't see that directly. It definitely affects us. And so you should get involved in this space because... for humanity. Because those are, like I said, those are our brothers and sisters being affected by it. But also, that's going to affect us once, you know, the violence creeps into our space. I mean, whatever country you're in, I promise you that they've had some case of violent extremism at one point or another. And young people were not only the future, we're the now. We need to start taking action. Great. Anything to add, Jackson? Yeah, with that, young people are the now and we need to promote cause among our own cohort. We need to promote inclusion. We need to promote social connectivity so that there's not this political disenfranchisement that makes youth so vulnerable to this extremist cause. And we need to educate one another about global extremism, right? We need to educate about how to counter these things. I think a lot of people don't understand what ISIS is, how ISIS came to be. We need to educate one another because once we're educated, how to tackle these root causes even from other countries. So even if we're not, you know, where ISIS is, if we understand how they work, then maybe we can create different initiatives in our own communities for, you know, targeting those groups and countering that violence. Great. And just to add to that, you know, extremism also for young people is not just focused. It is focused on terrorism and ISIL and Boko Haram and Al-Shabaab. It's also focused on other challenges in your own community. It's focused on all its forms, whether it's gang violence, whether it's challenges around kind of animosity towards certain religions or certain types of people. So there are opportunities to engage in this space at the local, national or international level. And we hope that more people will help us try to combat some of these challenges. And I think one of the ways, like, Andy, we were able to do that recently was, you know, Ahmed from Texas. The hashtag stand with Ahmed. I thought that was really great. I mean, that was clearly a case of Islamophobia all over the world. We're standing up for him. And I thought that was incredible. So I agree with you. So our next question is for Jackson. Someone asks, we're wondering if you might share your thoughts on what building your professional networks and personal meetings with other youth delegates has meant for you? Personal notes. Personally, it's been incredible. I have had the opportunity to work with some amazing people from around the world. Some of these countries are not... You know, they don't have 300-plus million people. And as young people, they're already in very high-level positions. You know, to have had the honor to work with them has been very humbling. It's been incredibly humbling. It's also been incredibly empowering to see these individuals as that, as individuals and not humongous figures that we need to live up to. So when we're thinking about that, everyone's a person. We all have our own strength. So remember that you have the similar strengths as someone in power. And that's something that I took from my years as a U.S. youth observer. Great insights. Anything to add from just getting going? Yeah, so I just started, but I mean, there are so many youth delegates that... It's just amazing. So I met Yilt from the Netherlands. I mean, he biked from Amsterdam to South Africa, you know, for a cause. And I mean, that's incredible, you know, to meet people like that. And, you know, even though I'm a youth of the U.S., I'd love to get to know, you know, people like that all over the world. And we're so interconnected, so it's just so exciting. Great. So we're, unfortunately, getting towards the end of our program, but we're going to take one more final question from our online chat space. Dov in Egypt writes, how is the U.N. relevant to me? And how can I volunteer to serve my country? That is a good question. We have to keep questions and answers a little brief here. Right, so the U.N. is relevant to you because it tackles so many multidisciplinary problems. When you get to the U.N., all of a sudden you realize that all of these problems are interconnected. You can't talk about one without talking about another, and another, and another, and another. So if you get involved at one of the United Nations, chances are you're likely going to ameliorate the effects of a lot of challenges worldwide simply by getting involved in one area. And how you can volunteer? I mean, you have a U.N. delegation like in your country, so I've reached out to them. I promise you they probably don't have many youth reaching out to them, asking them how they can get involved. Be that person to reach out. How can I get involved? Can I join this committee? Can I be your youth delegate? Can I intern for you? There's always ways to get involved, and they're looking for young people to try and get involved and, you know, offer their voice and perspectives. Fantastic. So, unfortunately, it looks like we're out of time. Thank you all so much for your fantastic questions and for joining us today. We've covered a lot of ground, and hopefully some of the young people who are watching have been inspired to take action on some of these issues. Whether they be on a local or a global context. Donya, do you have any final thoughts? Last words for our group. So I have big shoes to fill in, not only Jackson, but also you, Andy. And I think what I want to emphasize, and I've made this point, is that this position isn't about me and what I'm interested in only. It's about all of you and how I can help you. And I'm incredibly accessible, so please reach out to me if there's anything I can do. I promise I respond to every single tweet. I know that's very difficult. But again, this isn't about me and I think Jackson agrees. It wasn't about us, it was about who we represented. And so we're here for you and we're accountable to what you want. Any final thoughts for the audience? Yes. To add on Donya's final message, you can reach out to me as well through Twitter or other means and I'm very responsive. I'd love to facilitate conversation or facilitate movement and find that indignavu moments. Find that moment of this whole response and channel that energy. Channel that frustration into political change and catalyze action. Fantastic. Well, in closing, I'd like to thank Donya for both their efforts as U.S. youth observers to the United Nations and also for their insights this morning, this afternoon and also this evening depending on what you're watching. They're not just representing, as Donya mentioned, their own voices, but the collective voices of young Americans around the country. A big shout out as well to the viewing groups in our embassies in Tbilisi, Georgia, who asked some great questions and also the Belgrade Serbia and to all of you who watched the program and submitted such great questions today. Thanks again for tuning in and have a great day.