Here, Zosia describes her unique experience representing the European Union, as a delegate on the Youth Employment Track:

“The theme of this year’s Y20 was ‘From recovery to resilience. Rebuilding the Youth agenda beyond Covid-19’, a subject which speaks to many of the challenges we face in today’s world, including climate change, the Ukrainian war, and the ongoing humanitarian crisis.

Delegates from the each of the 20 countries were called upon to address four main Priority Areas (Youth Employment, Digital Transformation, Sustainable and Liveable Planet, Diversity and Inclusion) and suggest policy changes according to their experience.

I was chosen to represent Youth Employment, as it clearly links with my field of study, Social Policy. Writing policies is completely different to academic work, but, due to the extensive modules I have taken on policy making, I felt well prepared to advocate for my opinions.

In my area, we focused on empowering youth from different backgrounds. We talked a lot about equality of access for every socio-economic group, specifically focusing on unpaid internships, and how they affect individuals who cannot support themselves by working for free. Alongside all delegates, we worked hard to make sure our communique (policy document) is diverse and tackles inequalities, which sadly are faced by a large majority of youth: From supporting youth in the school to work transition, through more equal and paid internship, to supporting youth in times of crisis, such as climate change, pandemic or even war.

At the end of the summit all four Communiques (policy documents) drafted by the Youth G20, and relating to each of the priority areas were delivered the G20 heads of state in attendance.

Although the summit has now ended, the work has not - I will be continuing to meet with European policy makers, heads of governments, stakeholders and other groups to make sure the youth communique is well implemented in the G20 discussions and beyond. It is important that Youth from all backgrounds take part in such events, so that we are all equally represented and are given a voice in the political world. I hope that this is just the start of the youth agenda, and that we will continue sharing our ideas and voices beyond our communities.

This trip would not have been possible without the support of the School of Policy studies, who supported my flight costs extensively. I recommend that anyone needing financial support for student initiatives reaches out to their respective school, as they can be extremely helpful and supportive through the entire process.”