SA: Youth Representative Consultation

Together, let’s create a youth responsive society.

As your Youth Representative to the United Nations, I get the honour of hearing from, learning beside, and leading with young people. This year, I want to understand and explore how do we, young people (in all our diversities), envision a youth-responsive Australia. Together, this year I want to explore the tables already created by young people, where ideas of many diverse identities and experiences are represented. I want to bring these youth centred tables together with tables absent with young people, in a collaborative and community-centred approach. This year’s Youth Representative Program will understand the ‘best of what is’ and ‘areas for systemic change’, in order to facilitate discussions and hope in ‘what could be’ for Australia’s youth. – Angelica Ojinnaka, your Australian Youth Representative to the United Nations for 2022.

Join me for an interactive, youth-only Consultation

On July 21st, Angelica will be coming to Adelaide to host a consultation open to any young person in years 7 to 12 in South Australia. Together, we will have interactive, collaborative discussions that explore the issues you are most concerned about. Not only will you get to voice your concerns, and even passions on areas for growth within our societies, but you’ll interact with other young people as they share their concerns and experiences. Not only is this consultation designed for Angelica to understand you, but for fellow young people to learn about the diversity of our collective youth experiences.

At this consultation, you’ll have the opportunity to complete our Youth Representative Survey and several worksheets which will all be collected and analysed to inform Angelica on your top issues and opinions on various topical and non-topical concerns occurring across Australia and our global society. This information will then be presented to key decision-makers at local, domestic, and international levels to inform and champion for a world that recognises and incorporates the needs and views of young people.

We call this consultation and process the ‘Listening Tour’  where our passionate Youth Representation Team, all run by young people, organise 100s of consults across all cities to listen to 1000s of young people within Australia. With no fees or charges, our primary aim is to engage, listen and elevate as many young voices as possible so Angelica can champion a representative understanding and voice of young people.

Angelica Ojinnaka is an advocate and researcher for youth affairs and gender equality. She has extensive experience in providing policy advice and research assistance on areas including youth mental health, public health, youth civic participation, girls and women’s economic and social development, employment and anti-discrimination, on both national and international forums. She is a current Master of Research candidate at the Centre for Transforming Early Education and Child Health (TeEACH) at Western Sydney University, and is a graduate of the Macquarie University Global Leadership Program.

Her present advocacy work has included being a founding member of the African-Australian Youth Suicide Prevention Group, Director of Youth Leadership/Projects Officer at African Women Australia Inc., and a Youth Activist for Plan International Australia supporting their work on street and online harassment. Angelica co-authored a global youth-led report involving over 1000 girls and young women (from 99 countries) mapping out their visions for a more just and equitable post-pandemic world. She has also been an active youth leader with several youth and multicultural community organisations including MYAN NSW, Orygen, FECCA, and the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. Angelica was a co-host on Orygen’s podcast series ‘Let’s Talk: Youth Mental Health, Culture, and Identity’, a resource aimed at increasing knowledge and capacity working the workforce to be youth and culturally responsive in mental health care.

In 2021, Angelica received the NSW Premier’s Multicultural Community Youth Medal (sponsored by the National Rugby League) in recognition of her youth wellbeing and gender advocacy, and was named as one of the United Nation’s 23 Young People Leading Resilient Recovery in the Decade of Action.