This year, our very own Helen Atkinson was a part of the One Young World Summit and her story of her time away is pretty amazing!
She attended the four-day event as part of the Future Generations Leadership Academy. The aim of the summit is to build peace globally, create a lasting impact, take action on the Global Sustainability Development Goals and raise young leaders’ voices across the globe.
We caught up with Helen to hear about her experience at this incredible global event.
“The week started out with a personal highlight for me, the opening ceremony. It was the first time that all delegates got to meet each other, and the conference officially opened. Part of this event was the flag bearing ceremony and I was fortunate enough to be selected to be the flag bearer for Wales! It was the first time the flags of the home nations were represented at the ceremony, so it was an honour to be able to carry the Welsh flag. Of course, I had my Welsh necker on for the ceremony and multiple people struck up a conversation with me about Scouting!
“On the Tuesday, the sessions of the summit began, and I had the opportunity to listen to inspirational speakers shed light on many topics. It was three days of intense, emotional and inspiring talks about topics such as modern-day slavery, the climate crisis, and mental health. One of the talks around mental health included examples of where organisations had signed the Time to Change pledge and how this had created a positive cultural shift around mental health in their workplace. ScoutsCymru has already signed the pledge and I’m excited to see where we will go with it. Of course, a lot of the speeches also tied into our community impact project A Million Hands especially around our work with Mind and WWF.
“One of the speakers I found most inspiring was Dr Jane Goodall and her message to young people “If you want something – take every opportunity, and never give up.” is a view which I believe Scouting instils in our members every day.
“As well as the speeches, there was also the opportunity to network and attend workshops. I spoke to many organisations about how Scouting provides Skills for Life to young people that ensures they are ready for the workplace as well as discussing the benefits of volunteering for adults. I attended workshops around how people engage youth in developing countries and the benefits of using social media to do this. It was particularly fascinating to hear how other cultures engage with volunteering and charities/not for profit organisations in comparison to how we engage in Wales.
“By attending the One Young World Summit, we raised the profile of ScoutsCymru on a global platform, especially as we were the only third sector organisation there as an official partner.
“The cohort from the Future Generations Leadership Academy also used this opportunity to tell other countries about the ground-breaking legislation we have in Wales around the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act. This Act is unique to Wales and it would be excellent to see it adopted in other countries.
“The thing that stood out for me the most about the One Young World Summit was the atmosphere. To be in a room of 2000 young leaders from across the globe who felt empowered to make change in their communities was both overwhelming and inspiring. We all left the event knowing that we could make a positive difference – which is something that Scouting does every day of the week across Wales. The leadership techniques and styles discussed made me look further out of the box and I personally left feeling more confident, more empowered and ready to get stuck into the rest of the Future Generations Leadership Academy.”
We are extremely proud to have had Helen representing us at such an important event and we can’t wait to see the amazing work she will be doing with the Future Generations Leadership Academy!
