MYD Participation at the Nordic Pavilion

The Malaysian Youth Delegation left its mark once again at the global stage as Thomas was invited to speak at the Nordic Pavilion on the first day of COP23. Organised by the Nordic Council of Ministers, the session hosted four panellist, two from global north and two from global south, on a single platform to discuss on youths role in tackling climate change.

Our very own Thomas was invited to be part of panel and speak on behalf of the Malaysian Youth Delegation. He swiftly took the stage with one of his many existing MYD presentation slides, and effortlessly delivered an impromptu introduction of MYD as an organisation.

After all four of the panellists gave their introduction and opening remarks, the session transitioned into breakout groups. Each panellists facilitated one breakout group. Thomas was facilitating a group on youth involvement in climate action, while I joined a discussion on youth involvement at national level in policy making.

The breakout group that I participated in consists of participants from the United States, Canada, China and Tunisia. It was really interesting to see things in a different perspective as my group mates shared their experience being in a youth organisation back in their country.

One of the interesting things that was being brought up is the difference of being just an NGO and being a youth delegation as part of a party. Some countries, such as Sweden, have a youth delegation as part of the national delegation. This means that they are allowed to take part in the negotiations along with their national negotiators. This is particularly interesting as it conveys that the country has imbedded interest to invest in youth as a form of recognition in terms of capacity building – which I feel that more countries should follow suit.

Another interesting matter that was discussed is whether the government have been engaging with the youth at all or not. One of my group mates said that her government does go through a stakeholder engagement as part of a procedural structure, and thoroughly engage with NGO, while another group mate of mine mentioned that some of the people in the government does not even know what ‘NDC’, let alone carry out engagements for policies.

As the discussion for the breakout session came to an end, the four groups were required to present on the outcome of the discussion. Thomas presented on behalf of his group, which came up with very interesting points and takeaways.

Some of the suggestions include:

• “Give opportunities to youth to work together with government on policy papers.”
• The role of out in organisation is to track leaders and policy makers and hold them accountable.”
• “Gender equality is important – when you educate man, you educate a person. When you educate woman, you educate the whole world.”
• “Maximise communication. Translate international documents in local language.”
• “Mix art and activism together. You’ll get artivism.”

Overall, I could happily say that the session went well. I was impressed at how the Nordic Council of Ministers are in full support of children. youth and gender equality. Proactive government leads to informative events, which leads to positive change. Let us all take the Nordic as an example to inspire the youth to contribute meaningfully in the area of climate change, thus aspiring for a more sustainable future.

Thomas and I met with Idah Klint, Senior Advisor of Children-youth and Gender equality from the Nordic Council of Minister.

Written by Jasmin
Edited by Adrian