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| Sam Johnson, Civil Engineering Co-op scholar Y20 Delegate |
This blog series
covers a whole load of topics associated with my Global Voices experience. It
has been written specifically with the purpose to be a comprehensive guide for
potential future applicants so that you know what is involved in the experience
and to be able to put forward the best possible application. This entry (Part
1) focuses on the application and interview process. I go through in detail
what the key criteria for assessment are
and the approach that I took. Part 2 moves into a recount of what is involved
in the time period from acceptance through to the actual overseas delegation
itself including discussion about the Research
Fellowship, pre-departure briefings in Canberra
and the preparation process for the
delegation. Part 3 is the most exciting – this will be about the delegation in China itself; all the
awesome experiences that we have there! Finally, Part 4 will wrap it all up
with a reflection on the entire Global Voices experience and some
learnings and tips to pass on to future delegates! In short, the Co-op Global
Voices experience is a once in a
lifetime opportunity – the best of its kind. You would be mad to not apply!
I hope you get something out of this blog series :D
Part 1: Y20 China - The Application
The Global Voices youth delegations were an opportunity that
I had had my eye on for a while. In 2014 I first came across their website and
saw the experiences that they offered and thought how great it would be to get
to do that! Students heading off to conferences like the World Bank annual
meetings, the Youth Summit of the Y20, UNESCO – unparalleled opportunities! I
was thrilled when the Coop Program came on board as a sponsor of Global Voices
in 2015 and sent its first delegate Laura Sacks to the Turkey 2015 Y20 in
Semester 1 and I followed her experience closely (see her blog here). When it
came round to 2016 and I was eligible to apply, I was super keen to put in my application.
Co-op was sending one delegate to join four others from universities around
Australia to attend the G20 Youth Summit (Y20) in Shanghai in July.
Me:
But before I get into the application process details, some important to clarify:
a) who is Global Voices,
b) what is the Y20 and
c) what does the Co-op
Global Voices experience actually involve?
Global Voices
Global Voices is a unique organisation that exists to make a
difference in the world by providing young Australians the opportunity to attend prestigious international events
and engage with foreign policy abroad. Global Voices is based in Melbourne and
consists of a part-time team of six young professionals and a Board of
Directors, chaired by The Honourable Chris Pearce, former Parliamentary
Secretary to the Treasurer and Shadow Minister for Financial Services,
Superannuation and Corporate Law. Global Voices selects, prepares and
coordinates delegations of Australia’s future leaders to a variety of major
international events. They also run a domestic events program designed to bring
Australia’s future leaders face-to-face with key international decision-makers.
To further build the global policy credentials of Co-op
scholars, the Co-op Program initiated a partnership with Global Voices in 2015.
The Co-op Program now offers 2 fully funded Global Policy Scholarships per year,
for final year Co-op scholars, to join Global Voices organised programs to some
a of the World’s most significant policy events.
What is Y20
The Youth 20 (Y20) is a youth summit that brings together
young people from the G20 countries to discuss issues closely related to the
topics of the G20 Leaders’ Summit. The G20 Summit is the premier economic
summit to connect the 20 leading industrial and developing economies to discuss
key issues affecting the global economy. It was originally formed in 2008 to
deal with the immediate issue of the Global Financial Crisis, and has since
morphed to serve broader purposes. The theme and focus of this year’s
conference is ‘Innovation and Partnership for an Inclusive World.’ Delegates
collaboratively decide the topics that will be addressed, selecting priority
policy recommendations and drafting the outcome document of the Summit. The
major result of the Summit will be adoption of the Final Communiqué, which will
be presented to the G20 leaders in September 2016.
What the opportunity involved
In a nutshell, the Global Voices experience involves three
parts; a) the Research Fellowship (very important – lots of work!), b) the
Canberra pre-departure briefings (3 jam packed days in May) and c) the
international summit itself (this one is about a week in winter uni break,
extremely jam packed!). It’s a 5 hours a week + commitment from April – August.
Submitting an application
The application had two components, a) a Statement of Intent
and b) a Research Proposal. The Global Voices (GV) team and Coop Program were
fantastic in organising a useful Google Hangout with GV CEO Amy Coetzee and
Coop GV alumni Laura Sacks who gave us tips and tricks and answered questions.
Interview
About a week after submitting the application I got a phone
interview from the Y20 Head Delegate from Global Voices Elizabeth Dymock.
Elizabeth is super friendly and we had a 20 minute chat, just going a bit
deeper into the responses given in the Statement of Intent and my plans for the
research proposal. About two weeks later, Global Voices got back to me and let
me know the good news! Kudos to Global Voices – can’t believe how quickly they
get stuff done! I was stoked with the great news!
Tune in for Part 2 of
the blog that details what the Global Voices experience had in store for me
from April to July – including a trip to Canberra, writing a professional
research report and more!
