Post by Daan Leker, the Netherlands.

The second day of the UN meeting is starting. Today we’ll get a summary of the panels yesterday and the outcome document of the High Level Youth Meeting will be approved. Yesterday we listened to an inspiring speech of His Excellency Ban Ki-Moon. As he said: he loves the youth and especially our sense of style. One of the sentences he said that really stuck with me was: ‘Failing to invest in youth is a false economy.’

It was an impressive and educative day yesterday. I was touched by the fact that all the delegates extended their sympathies to Norway and the Norwegian minister spoke about the attacks this week. It was good to see that even during this meeting Norway is on everyone is minds and so many people are sympathizing and praying with and for Norway.

Yesterday I ended up at the wrong side event, and was really grateful for that. The event was about Adolescent boys and young men’s participation in Gender Equality. The panel spoke about different ways to approach boys and men and teach them about gender equality. One example was a project in India where both parents as young boys get sexual education, separate from each other so there’s a save space for both. The project is a big success and changed for many the way they perceive equality in relationships and their ideas about sexuality.

One of the organizations involved in this and advocating and creating projects addressing gender based violence is UNFPA. Amongst other things they created an online game about gender norms, violence and behaviour. This game is a huge success.

Today the side event I will be attending is about the Millennium Goals and implementation of these goals. 2015 is approaching and it seems that goals will not be achieved. I’m curious what the panel of my event thinks about these issues. Tonight there will be a press conference of ICMYO (International Coordination of Youth Organizations) an organ we have been working together with during this meeting. The conference will be about the evaluation of the United Nations High Level meeting on youth.

I am looking forward to today. It’s quite an experience. Greeting in to the UN building already takes a while, going trough all the security, getting the right passes. And seeing all these high placed people speaking is really inspiring. Tomorrow we will have a last side event and then it will be over. We’ll keep you updated!