Isabelle Tolhurst

I decided to become involved in the UN Student Journalist Program for the 63^rd DPI/NGO Conference after finding myself immersed and indeed fascinated by the calibre of these events at the Copenhagen Climate Conference of 2009.

I saw the UN’s ability to gather thousands of people into a small city, not only for governments to discuss and scrutinize the political agendas at stake, but also include inhabitants and visitors in a multitude of surrounding activities, making it a truly comprehensive and all encompassing event.

My interest in international affairs has since flourished and is further typified by a continuation of International Relations studies at university.

However turning to the upcoming conference, of the eight Millennium Development Goals proposed by the UN, I feel particularly passionate about number two, which seeks to ‘achieve universal primary education’ and ‘ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling.’  Though development reports show that progress is moving too slowly to meet the 2015 target, this is no reason to be dismayed. Strong education systems at both primary and more senior levels have the potential to effect great change for generations to come, and are vital to ensuring the message is spread through communities and the current knowledge about sanitization is held and maintained by all. So despite the focus on advancing global health, I look forward to witnessing the discussions surrounding the interactivity of all the goals, and what measures must be taken to achieve as much as possible by 2015.

I look forward to interacting with the youth delegates from around the world and believe that as those responsible for the decisions made today, this is a significant and enormously exciting event.