Application is open for the 4th Afghan Youth Representative to the UN (United Nations). It is a one-year program, provides leadership opportunities to one young Afghan each year by enabling him/her to be the ambassador of peace and representative of the young generation who can influence policies on national and global levels. The representative will be responsible for advocating for youth’s rights and amplify their voices and issues on national and global platforms.

The program was initiated by Afghans for Progressive Thinking (APT) in 2018 and is supported by the UNAMA in Afghanistan and the ministry of foreign affairs.

Why is it important to participate?

It is a unique opportunity to advocate for the change you wish to see in reality in Afghanistan.

Benefits: 

The Afghan youth representative to the UN will travel outside of the country for 20 days attending several conferences and programs. And also travel in the provinces of Afghanistan.  The program will cover the following:

• Airfare travel costs inside and outside of the country.
• Accommodation
• Meals
• Transportation

Former reprsentatives: 

1. Ramiz Bakhtyar – 2018
2. Aisha Khurram – 2019
3. Shkula Zadran – 2020
4. ?

Apply also: 

Tällberg-SNF-Eliasson Global Leadership Prize 2021 for Outstanding Leaders ($150,000 prize in total)

Who can apply?

Active Afghan youth who are meet the following requirements can apply to be the representative of Afghan youth to the UN:

• be between the ages of 18-29
• Currently live in Afghanistan
• Have at least two and a maximum of three years of volunteer experience.
• Be currently involved in youth relevant/civic engagement activities or have a leadership position in one of the Afghan youth-led organizations.
• Have the ability to travel outside of the country in September/December 2021 for 3 weeks.
• Be able to travel to provinces of Afghanistan
• Proficiency in the English language
• Excellent spoken and written skills in national languages.
• Interested and able to do teamwork, passionate to collect the youths insight from all youth.
• possess the skills to run the official social media platforms of the program
• Priority will be given to those having less international exposure in the past.

Not eligible:

• living outside of the country
• applied for immigrant visas, lottery visas, or have pending emigrant cases.
• received many awards inside / outside of the country.
• Attended many conferences inside/outside of Afghanistan,
• applied to scholarships and will be starting their studies in 2021 or 2022.
• Full-time employees
• APT and the embassy of Norway employees, members.
• recipient of any program of Norway embassy

 Responsibilities:

The representative  will  be responsible to:

• gather local youth insights from across Afghanistan about their challenges and concerns through:
  • organizing roundtables,
  • hosting online campaigns on official social media pages of the program and
  • conducting surveys over six months,
• write policy papers that raise awareness across the levels of leadership about the essential role of youth in the peace and political processes and
• call on global leaders and organizations to partner with youth to create positive change in Afghanistan.

At the end of the assignment, the Afghan Youth Representative will address global leaders at the UN Security Council/General Assembly and share youth’s views regarding the challenges and opportunities that Afghanistan has in its pursuit of peace, security, and development. The Representative will also bring the knowledge back to the country on how the UN deals with youth issues at the international level.

How to apply?

Applicants can apply online.

Apply NOW

The shortlisted applicants will be required to attend an in-person interview and a written exam. the finalists will be selected to participate in a public speaking competition and present their speech. in the competition, the Afghan Youth Representative to the United Nations will be selected.

For any queries regarding this program, please contact APT via Afghanyouthrepresentative@apt.org.af or the website.