Very Important (Urgent): Join the United Nations International Federation of Youth (UN1FY) Now!

Hello friends, as you might have noted, UN1FY or United International Federation of Youth is the ‘new kid on the block‘ in the world of climate activism and environment leadership. And it is very important that you join the federation right now if you haven’t done so yet! When registering your account, make it a point to use the referral code FQo76SBZEO. I am, I mean, Miklah Life is referring you!

But wait! What is UN1FY and why should you join urgently?

What is UN1FY? Why should You urgently join?

UN1FY or United Nations International Federation of Youth for Water and Climate is the official youth constituency of Water and Climate Coalition. It is the youth’s gateway to the decision-making table of Water and Climate Coalition (WCC). But then, what is WCC? Don’t worry at all; in this article, I have uncovered everything you need to know and, as you know, the easy way!

Back to UN1FY, do you know YOUNGO, the official youth (well, and children) constituency of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change? Well, UN1FY is exactly like YOUNGO, but for WCC! Even the format of leadership at UN1FY has a lot in common with that of YOUNGO; led by regional and local focal persons! But what if you even don’t know about YOUNGO and UNFCCC? Well, I have tried to explain these the easiest way possible here.

In other words, if one wanted to have a voice in WCC, and probably access and attend all related events and opportunities, the entry point is UN1FY. I hope you now see why it is very important and urgent for you as youth to join UN1FY. You are actually joining WCC, and thus bringing all your work, ideas, and proposals for SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation) onto the high table.

How did UN1FY come into existence? Explore the brief history!

You already know about United Nations Sustainable Development Goals or Global Goals or #SDGs, right? Well, while the history and call to pursue sustainable development has been there for decades, it is important to note that, by the end of 2015, the 17 SDGs were developed and enacted by United Nations’ Members States as the guiding pillar to inclusive sustainable development until 2030. Good.

Around August, in 2020, UN member states came together again, reviewed progress on SDGs, and noticed that if the then pace to achieving the global agenda 2030 was maintained, most of the goals would not be met. Remember, COVID-19 already disrupted efforts that were pushing for SDGs agenda, and slowed us even more. To keep up with the dream, world leaders declared what they called The Decade of Action, an intentionally accelerated plan to close all the gaps in the implementation of SDGs agenda and hit the 179 targets within the next 10 years, by 2030 as had been scheduled. Are we still together? Good.

Of course, to realize this new commitment, The Decade of Action comprised of various strategies, commitments, and approaches. Of the new approaches (or accelerated plans of action) was SDG 6 Global Acceleration Framework, a specific accelerated plan to deliver on the targets of SDG number 6, which is Clean Water and Sanitation. This framework emphasizes five areas of investment and development if SDG 6 is to be achieved by 2030. The 5 specific areas are:

1. Financing
2. Data and information
3. Capacity development or human resource for water and sanitation
4. Innovation
5. Governance.

To achieve progress on the above 5 areas of the framework, the founding leaders or United Nations’ entities, including WMO, UNDP, UNICEF, WHO, UNESCO, IFAD, FAO, and others (a total of about 10 UN organizations) formed Water and Climate Coalition (WCC), and mandated it to focus on issues number 2 (data and information) and 3 (capacity development).

Basically, Water and Climate Coalition (WCC) explores the nexus between water and climate change and brings out high quality data to help decision-making towards achieving SDG 6. It is said that about 90% of climate-related hazards and disasters have something to do with water. Therefore, water and climate change should or is basically a one-talk! See more on the official WCC website. Or summarize what WCC is all about in this short video:

WCC is already giving us results. For example, according to the official WCC reports, a system, Global Water Information Services, to monitor and avail global hydrological conditions has already been built.

Tell me, are we still together? Good! Now, you know what WCC and where it came from! Maybe you also need to note that WCC Secretariat or leadership is hosted by World Meteorological Organization (WMO), which is basically the United Nations Agency in charge of atmospheric science, hydrology, climate, and geophysics. In other word, WCC Head offices are at WMO Head offices in Geneva, Switzerland.

Back to the point, how did WCC bring about UN1FY?

In 2021, during one of the meetings of WCC, an idea (UN1FY) to intentionally involve youth was fueled by a Philippines climate activist, Jan Kairel Guillermo, and tabled by WCC Secretariat, leading to the formation of UN1FY. According to various sources, for example, this one and this one, Jan Kairel is a Philippines climate activist who survived ‘Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) – the world’s strongest typhoon that ravaged the Philippines back in 2013.’

In March 2022, WCC leaders met at WMO Headquarters and designed an action plan to accelerate water and climate goals. In the action plan, they again re-emphasized the need for full youth participation through UN1FY. By June 2022, UN1FY was an official member of WCC with about 14 youth representatives part of WCC. I think that Jan Kairel is awesome. He is a survivor and an advocate for climate action. And he has advocated for our full participation as well. Wouldn’t you want to connect with the guy?

Well, here is his LinkedIn profile

UN1FY into the future: Works and Initiatives of UN1FY for Water and Sanitation via WCC!

As already highlighted, the first official participation of UN1FY in WCC high-level meetings was in June 2022 during one of ‘Dushanbe Water Process’ conferences or events. This was actually the second high-level conference under WCC and her water mandate in the SDG 6 framework. The first happened around June 2018, same place!

Wait! What is this? Dushanbe is simply the Capital City of Tajikistan, a land-locked country in Central Asia.

Apparently, the Government of Tajikistan has contributed immensely to the global efforts towards clean and sustainable water by providing platform and place of dialogue of international leaders. Due to these water-related efforts, ‘Dushanbe Water Process’ is a general term to describe all water-related high-level meetings and conferences and dialogues that took or take or will take place in Dushanbe, especially within this United Nations’ ‘Decade of Action’. That’s it!

Well, back to the meetings in the place, these high-level meet-ups are supposed to happen every after two years (biennial). However, probably due to COVID-19 related lockdowns, the 2020 meet-up couldn’t happen (or maybe it happened virtually!).

Anyway, during the second High-level International Conference on the International Decade for Action “Water for Sustainable Development”, 2018-2028 (June 6-9, 2022), UN1FY officially attended and contributed to the development of 2022 Dushanbe Final Declaration.

In the declaration, UN1FY was tasked to make a document, Water and Climate Youth Development Plan and Agenda (YDPA), that would house all thoughts and contributions of youth around the world, to be forwarded or presented in the General 2023 United Nations Water Conference in New York, USA (22-24th March 2023).

As I write this article, UN1FY has started on the document (YDPA), only waiting for your own input, and then present or submit all our ideas or views during the 2023 New York Water Conference. These ‘youth’ views, together with other commitments and suggestions from other bodies, will be incorporated into Water Action Agenda by the end of the conference. This will be the global document guiding our over-all accelerated actions on SDG 6.

NB: Please, add your thoughts to official youth document here (You must be a UN1FY member first)

And that is just one area of service of UN1FY.

However, given the fact that UN1FY is the official gateway of youth into WCC and global conversations on water, climate, and sanitation, I suppose there is more work, including securing travel and accommodation expenses for youth during some of these conferences, training and capacity building opportunities, networking, promotion of youth innovations, and lobbying for support of youth-led water initiatives, and much more. All these activities and opportunities flow to you better if you are a member! And we share everything in our Sacred Entrepreneurship program here at Miklah Life!

So, what are you waiting for?

Joining UN1FY like a pro!

For now, you already know what UN1FY is and, probably, why you need to join. The movement is still young; you could as well explore the possibility of being its leader or focal person somewhere if you are still young (18-35 years). Anyway, without wasting your time, here are the actions you should execute now:

1. Register yourself and become UN1FY member now. How? Just visit the official website here, and click on that button, JOIN UN1FY TODAY. Fill the form that comes next. IMPORTANT: Find the space for referral code on the form, copy and paste this code: FQo76SBZEO (I am or Miklah Life is referring you!). Are you done? Good!

After you become a member, you get your own referral code so you can refer your friends as well. What is the purpose of referring others to UN1FY? UN1FY will tell you! But I am sure you already know!

2. Quickly and immediately open their survey here (English) and submit your thoughts. If you need the survey in other languages, try them here. By filling the survey, you have practically and personally contributed to the official youth document (YDPA) that will be shared during the 2023 UN Water Conference, and get incorporated into the Water Action Agenda.

3. Make UN1FY known in all your circles, and call upon those who are passionate about water and sanitation to join, this time with your own referral code (you can as well keep asking your friends to join with my code; send it to them, lol; FQo76SBZEO).

3. Follow UN1FY on social media, including Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and more.

4. Lastly, JOIN US at MIKLAH LIFE for related developments for sustainable development. Or just join Miklah WhatsApp Group for exclusive sustainable development opportunities and discussions.

That is all. Any questions? I am at your service; WhatsApp: +256779342057