Xchange Scotland at CIVICUS Youth Assembly

The CIVICUS Youth Assembly and World Assembly brought nearly 200 young delegates from around the world together for an amazing week in Glasgow in June. The aim of the Assembly is to provide a global forum encouraging young people to engage with critical challenges facing their communities, countries and the world. The Assembly featured young delegates from 74 different countries representing many different organisations - including Xchange Scotland.

The theme of the Assembly was 'People, power and participation'. The young delegates were split up into 4 panels to discuss the topics of Health, Poverty, Climate Change and Equalities. The recommendations from these panels were then put forward to the World Assembly.

On the evening of the second day, the BBC World Service radio show 'World Have Your Say' was recorded from the Youth Assembly. The topics for discussion during the show were decided by the Youth Assembly and the participants in the show were all members of the Assembly. The show broadcasts to about 60 million listeners worldwide.

During the World Assembly a group of young delegates - representing many different organisations including Xchange Scotland - got together to develop further an idea that had been proposed previously in the week. The idea was a project called First Steps. The aim of the project was to document the first steps taken by social activists from around the world - what inspired them to first act, what did they do and how did they get involved. A video was made by the group and a proposal was put together to present to the World Assembly plenary at the end of the week. To view the video, please click here. The project will be launched on International Youth Day at the World Youth Congress on 12th August. If you would be interested in being involved in the First Steps project do not hesitate to contact us.