I am Mohammad Obeidallah, a medical officer at UNRWA. When I got a call that I was selected by UNRWA to be a youth representative for Palestine in a youth conference called ECOSOC in the United Nations headquarters in New York, to say I was excited is an understatement.

Unfortunately, my excitement did not last long upon being informed that due to financial crisis, my trip would be impossible to cover. So, I decided I won’t miss such an incredible opportunity, and applied to over fifteen institutions for financial support. It was an exhausting task and just when I began to lose hope I received an email that Altawan Institute and IMET2000PAL were willing to partially support my trip, and to whom I owe great thanks.

I was set on attending this event because as a young practitioner working in the Occupied Palestinian territories, I realize that we live in limited circumstances. We are an occupied, developing country with restricted resources and few opportunities. I believe that these circumstances will not change unless the generations to come are able to strategically select goals and carefully plan how to reach them.

We discussed the policy frameworks and promote innovative, institutionalized approaches and initiatives for advancing the youth development agenda at national, regional and global levels with a view to promoting solutions to the global challenge of strengthening resilience among youth.

More importantly, we shared knowledge on achieving youth development by promoting the implementation, monitoring, follow up of 2030 Goals, and the participation of young people in policy-making and implementation in this regard. We discussed the seventeen sustainable development goals proposed by the UN, and each country gave a few examples of what it has done to achieve these goals. Then we took time to consider the challenges and obstacles and how they may be overcome.

Attending this conference was exciting and eye opening, the exposure to so many new models and experiences from different countries has taught me a lot, most importantly that the youth of a country are the future since they are full of energy, motivation and power. Many new ideas were very useful, and I hope one day we can apply them in our own country.

Thank you to everyone who supported my attendance and empowered us youth to develop ourselves and our countries.