Sunday 23 November 2014

The Young People's Legacy - by Mila



The Global Youth Ambassadors worked with another group called the Young Professionals to come up with a Young People’s Legacy that would be presented during the closing ceremonies.  The team in total consisted of around 100 Congress participants aged 20-35 from all around the world.  As a group of like-minded individuals all working towards the same goal, I was incredibly surprised by the challenges and conflicts that arose in the process.  Many strong voices with differing opinions were involved that batted heads over what was most important to include in the legacy piece and what should be articulated in its presentation.  Eventually, the Young People’s Pact emerged.  The pact is a document outlining the concerns and commitments of young people as well as actions that organizations and agencies around the world can take to ensure the participation of young people in their processes.  I fully supported the document, but couldn’t help not to see it just as another report full of fancy words to add to the mix of reports that already exist.  I didn’t quite see how it would result in on-the-ground action and change.   

A large contingent of the young people (including myself) wanted our presentation at the closing ceremony to be noticed, and we knew that in order to do this, we had to make it as different as possible from the typical politicians’ speeches discussed above.  One of the major things I learned from the Congress was that, in order for presenters to connect with an audience, they need two things- creativity and emotion.  Creativity sparks the initial interest and pulls people away from their iPhones and tablets, while emotion gets through to the audience and evokes a response.  Much of the conflict amongst the young people coming up with the legacy revolved around finding a balance between creativity and professionalism.  We wanted to grab attention but also be taken seriously.  I ended up focusing my efforts on the creative side because I really believed that without it, the pact and presentation would just be another document and speech of nice-sounding words to add to the rest.  In order to accomplish this, a song was written by George Woodhouse called "Unleash the Heart (Unlock the Mind)" that essentially turned the pact into music- we performed it at Congress sessions, the closing plenary, and on a radio show.  We also organized a flash mob following the closing ceremony that got many of the Congress participants (including high-level politicians) dancing and laughing. 

It is difficult to articulate through written words the impact that a simple song and some dance moves had upon the Congress, but it really was profound.  Energy was infused into all 6000 participants and the hopeful optimism yet practical realism of the “next generation” was showcased.  Our display differed so drastically from the other presentations during the Congress that it caused an overwhelming amount of positive, emotional feedback to roll in.    


Here's a link to our radio broadcast!  
http://www.2ser.com/component/k2/item/12139-world-park-congress 

  Practicing dance moves on the train 
 George Woodhouse opening for Baba Brinkman with "Unleash the Heart (Unlock the Mind)"
Flash mob action shot!

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