The first part of the United World Contest is over. 24 Youth for a United World have been selected: coming from all continents, they are ready to begin the training course that will transform them into ambassadors of the united world.

The first phase of the United World Contest is over. But who are these 24 young people who passed the selection? If you want to know their stories, please visit the Contest’s Facebook page. In short, we can say that they come from every single continent: Brazil, Australia, Kenya, Argentina, the Philippines, Italy, Mexico, Portugal, the U.S., and Burkina Faso. Most of them are university students, between 19 and 24 years old, 13 boys and 12 girls, and nearly all have already experienced a United World Week. Having passed this selection, the online training course is their next step.

The course will be structured in 3 modules and will be held between April and June, that is, during the months that precede the Genfest of Manila.

The first module includes: the presentation of the NGO New Humanity, its history, and an outline on the work it carries out in its branch offices (Geneva, Paris, and New York); the presentation of the United World Project; the presentation of the United World Week; and, finally, the presentation of the goals of the Contest.

The aim is to provide the future ambassadors with all the tools they need to create a context for their work. They will also have the task to closely monitor the course of the United World Week in their respective countries, reporting on the activities carried out and the effects on local communities. They are to follow such events as to their organization, take part in them, and make a description. This will be crucial in view of their future work and, in particular, in view of the training course that will take place in Manila, where will share their experiences and elaborate them formally.

The second module shall include a presentation of the United Nations system. More specifically, it will deal with the origins of the UN and its main agencies (with a special focus on UNESCO and the Human Rights Council). The youth will study the involvement of NGOs in international organizations, particularly the operating mechanisms concerning our objective, i.e. the recognition of the United World Week. They will also analyse the Sustainable Development Goals, programmed by the United Nations in the context of the Agenda 2030. You may wonder, “why?”: just take a look at their titles, and you will realize that they are closely connected to the United World Project.

Finally, the third module will make it clear how they can put into practice the skills they acquired, in order to work for the United World Week and, more generally, for the ideals of Youth for a United World, through an interaction with national and international institutions. Particular attention will be given to the study of the terminology used at the United Nations, and to learn how to share an experience in order to attract the attention of listeners. In addition, they will learn to draft reports, dossiers, and all the other documents necessary to present themselves to the institutions in a professional and competent manner, in order to capture their attention.

At the end of each module, candidates will be submitted to a test to verify the skills they acquired. Manila will be the final stage, which will include the live lectures. But we will tell you more about this later on.