The Volunteer Youth Ambassador Program for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Speaker By:
Venue: CCC
Date: 07 Jun-07 Jun 2019
Time: 8:00 AM-5:00 PM
Call for Application for
The Volunteer Youth Ambassador Program for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
- The Volunteer Youth Ambassador Program
The United Nations Volunteer (UNV) partners with the Cooperation Committee for Cambodia (CCC) calls for volunteer youths to be the ambassadors for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) under the Volunteer Youth Ambassador Program (the “Program”). The Ambassadors are a dynamic team of 20 volunteers to work together to represent the voices of youth in volunteerism.
The Ambassadors were offered opportunity through volunteerism to engagement in peace, and sustainable development. The Program is designed to provide an avenue for local youth through volunteerism to act directly as agent of positive change on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) within their communities. The Program will enable our ambassadors to engage with educational program in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport. In addition, we also engage youth with educational program with the support from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports.
Youth volunteerism is the key to promote public awareness of SDGs and CSDGs. Volunteering is a pivotal element of community development, and volunteerism needs to be encouraged, especially in rural areas.
The Program create mechanism for youth to influence on policy-makers, participate decision-making process, and to support monitoring of progress towards SDGs and CSDGs effectively.
We prioritize youth empowerment with mobilizing support skill and knowledge sharing platform. It helps to build a peer-to-peer connection, especially Facebook and Twitter. Through our Program, Cambodian youth can engage in global peace and sustainable development, and to help the youth to realize their full potential to make positive changes in their community and society as the whole.
- Background
Cambodia is home to the largest youth and adolescent population in the South East Asia region. According to UNV (2017), 52.2% of total population age below 25 years, and 20.6% represents age between 15 and 24. So, Cambodia is an ideal breeding ground for youth volunteering for social works, peace and sustainable development.
At the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit on September 25th, 2015, world leaders adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity. SDGs is a collection of 17 new universal agenda by integrating three dimensions of sustainable development: the economic, social and environment. The Government of Cambodia has finalized localization process of Cambodia Sustainable Development Goals (CSDGs) in late 2018. CSDGs has 18 Goals; including land mine clearance, 88 targets, and 148 indicators. Since 2013, civil society organization (CSO) has been playing a significant role in contributing the formulation and in supporting civil society organizations, development partners, as well as government for creation and localization of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Cambodia.
The knowledge on the SDGs in general, and CSDGs in particular is extremely low amongst the general public, and a vast majority have not even heard about it. In addition, knowledge on the SDGs and CSDGs amongst CSOs remains low and limited to Phnom Penh and populated areas. The Government of Cambodia will deliver a Voluntary National Review (VNR) report at the 2019 session of the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development. VNR report shall represent the concept of “Leaving No One Behind,” especially the youth, through an open, transparent and inclusive participatory approach.
- Objectives
The objectives of the Volunteer Youth Ambassador Program are:
- To establish youth engagement mechanism to influence policy-makers and decision-making on SDGs and include youth voices in the Voluntary National Review.
- To promote volunteerism among youth, especially those from rural area, on contributions of volunteerism to peace and sustainable development in their communities;
- To empower youth to be agent of positive changes with advocacy skill and capacity development for community development, and to build peer-to-peer connection of youth, especially through social media such as Facebook and Twitter, etc., in social works, peace and sustainable development; and
- Roles and Responsibilities of the Volunteer Youth Ambassadors
Investment in youth volunteers with ability to reach the objective is critical to make a difference in their communities. The youth volunteer ambassadors will implement four strategic plans accelerating implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Cambodia. The strategic plans are the following:
1). Raising awareness via public sensitization programs, especially among youth of differet socioeconomic backgrounds;
2). Building capacity development for integrating SDGs and CSDGs among work prorgrammes of youth groups;
3). Promoting inclusive partnership with stakeholders (government, private sector and civil society) on financing for development and SDGs related policies prioritization and coherence; And
4). Reflecting the progress and achievements as well as challenges of SDGs and CSDGs implementation through public feedback and voluntary national review.
The volunteer youth ambassadors will implement these strategic plans with CCC’s members and provincial NGOs networks. The Cooperation Committee for Cambodia (CCC) has signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) with 15 provincial NGOs networks in Cambodia. We have provincial NGOs networks in Siem Reap, Kampong Thom, Prey Veng, Svay Rieng, Takeo, Ratanakiri, Mondolkiri, Pusat, Kratie, Banteay Meanchey, Kampot, Battambang, Stung Treng, Kampong Chhnang, and Kampong Speu province. We expected that the volunteer youth ambassadors will support implementation of SDGs at the sub-national level together with NGOs and through sharing their expertise.
In addition, the Volunteer Youth Ambassadors implement the four strategic plans by engaging in activities and timeline as the following.
The Volunteer Youth Ambassadors can engage with other stakeholders (i.e. public, private section, and CSOs), including the United Nations agencies, for fundraising project and spiritual support.
5.Grant Opportunities
To help volunteer youth ambassadors to implement their roles and responsibilities of the Volunteer Youth Ambassadors Program, UNV and CCC have small grants approximately US 1,000$ (One Thousand United States Dollar) to support projects (individual and team) related to information communication technology (ICT), media, social works, civic engagement, entrepreneurship to promote peace and sustainable development. Some ideas are: article publication, rally, face paint and walks, photo stunt, candle light, sport competitions, collection of photos, video, social media mobilization, and public campaigns active community and youth participation. Overall, these activities are expected to support expedited implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Cambodia. However, the Program does not necessarily restrict on other interesting proposals.
6.Benefits for the Volunteer Youth Ambassadors
- The Program will cover all expenses including accommodation, transportation (domestic and international, if applicable), orientation, site visits and seminars, meals, some cultural activities, educational materials, etc.;
- Eligible to apply for small grants to run projects (individually and team) related to information communication technology (ICT), media, social works, civic engagement, entrepreneurship to promote peace and sustainable development;
- Have true professional experience on wide range of transferable skills such as social media campaigns, fundraising, events management, public speaking, communication and advocacy, critical thinking, and leadership;
- Gain opportunities to speak up for youth, build friendships, and develop professional partnership with government body, civil society organizations, the United Nations agents, and others regional partners, to make positive changes in your community, and society as a whole; and
- After one year services as the Volunteer Youth Ambassador, UNV and CCC will provide appreciation certificate and recommendation letters base on services achieved by outstanding young participants.
- Mandate of the Volunteer Youth Ambassadors Program
The Volunteer Youth Ambassadors will start their one-year mandate from June 1st, 2019 to June 1st, 2020. However, this mandate might be extended over the period of one year as both UNV and CCC deep necessary with the informed consent of the volunteer youth ambassadors.
- Hosting Institutions
The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) contributes to peace and development through volunteerism through its youth empowerment programmes worldwide. It works with different stakeholders to integrate qualified, highly motivated youth and to promote the value and global recognition of volunteerism. Volunteering is very active, especially among the youth, for positive changes of society as a whole. Young volunteers play important roles in achieving the goals of the National Policy on Youth Development as well as the Sustainable Development Goals in Cambodia.
The Cooperation Committee for Cambodia (CCC) is the leading membership based organization with nearly 200 local and international non-governmental organizations (NGO) as members working in different sectors for sustainable development. CCC has also established formal collaboration with 15 provincial NGOs networks out of 24 provinces in Cambodia. Historically, CCC plays a significant role to support civil society organizations, not limited to its members, to engage in SDGs and CSDGs, especially the thematic goals and SDG 16, and the ongoing Voluntary National Review (VNR) for Cambodia.
- Eligibility Criteria
To be eligible for the ambassador, applicants:
- Must be aged between 18 and 30 year-olds;
- Have demonstrated commitment to social works, peace and sustainable development through academic, social media, extra-curricular, and volunteer activities; previous volunteering experience is a desirable asset
- Enable to participate in capacity development program domestically as well as internationally, and to run project(s) individually or as a team to implement the SDGs and CSDGs program;
- Have good interpersonal and communication skills to works as a team, independent and strong personality;
- Demonstrate leadership aptitude and an interest in community activities, open-mindedness, integrity and flexibility; and
- Good English in writing, speaking, reading and listening (Optional); and
- Female candidates, youth with disabilities and youth from minority groups are highly encourage to apply.
- Application
The deadline to accept application is 21 June, 2019. Interested candidates should submit their C.V and Letter of Interest to be the Volunteer Youth Ambassador by the deadline to: recruitment@ccc-cambodia.org/markara.nuon@unv.org.
Only shortlisted applicants are invited to interview with committee members from the United Nations Volunteer (UNV) and the Cooperation Committee for Cambodia (CCC).
In addition, we will circulate the Volunteer Youth Ambassador Program to provincial NGOs Networks in Siem Reap, Kampong Thom, Prey Veng, Svay Rieng, Takeo, Ratanakiri, Mondolkiri, Pusat, Kratie, Banteay Meanchey, Kampot, Battambang, Stung Treng, Kampong Chhnang, and Kampong Speu province.
Any further information, please contact: Mr. Ry Sovanna, Legal and Policy Specialist, email: sovanna.ry@ccc-cambodia.org or phone number: 096 369 4800.
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