Twenty-six-year-old Saeed Mohammad has a bright future ahead of him. Born into a family of seven children in Jordan’s Irbid camp, Saeed’s father owns a small cheese factory in the area. As a self-starter, Saeed has always been more interested in working in the realm of youth, volunteerism and education. In April, 2012, he started “Irbid Youth Volunteers” as a registered non-profit designed to stimulate the culture of volunteering in the city of Irbid. Saeed strongly believes, “if you want to change your community, you have to change yourself first”.
A self-titled, ‘social entrepreneur’, Saeed is brimming with excitement as he explains how he attracts young leaders, encourages them to come up with an issue they want to tackle and spends a year actively guiding these teams to find solutions to improve upon the identified areas of concern.
Saeed exudes a keen intelligence and a passion for volunteering. He admits there have been roadblocks along his journey with some friends and family urging him to get a...
Twenty-six-year-old Saeed Mohammad has a bright future ahead of him. Born into a family of seven children in Jordan’s Irbid camp, Saeed’s father owns a small cheese factory in the area. As a self-starter, Saeed has always been more interested in working in the realm of youth, volunteerism and education. In April, 2012, he started “Irbid Youth Volunteers” as a registered non-profit designed to stimulate the culture of volunteering in the city of Irbid. Saeed strongly believes, “if you want to change your community, you have to change yourself first”.
A self-titled, ‘social entrepreneur’, Saeed is brimming with excitement as he explains how he attracts young leaders, encourages them to come up with an issue they want to tackle and spends a year actively guiding these teams to find solutions to improve upon the identified areas of concern.
Saeed exudes a keen intelligence and a passion for volunteering. He admits there have been roadblocks along his journey with some friends and family urging him to get a ‘real’ job. Saeed insists, “working on yourself and your community is more important than making money” and he feels concerned about the vast number of talented people who choose to leave Irbid. This so-called ‘brain-drain’ encourages Saeed even more strongly to give back locally and inspire other young leaders to increase their civic engagement and expand their interests beyond their studies.
In 2000, eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were endorsed as a common framework of shared priorities of all UN Member states. The Post-2015 development agenda is the strategic development agenda that will guide the efforts of the international community after the (MDGs) come to an end. This time around, using a participatory approach, the UN is facilitating at the global level an inclusive dialogue on Post-2015 possible priority areas with its Member States, as well as all stakeholders, to shape the future development framework.
In 2013, Saeed actively participated in the Post-2015 national consultations. This year, after Jordan was selected as one of seven countries in the world to support the second phase of Post-2015 consultations under the theme “partnership with civil society and other actors”, Saeed was eager to engage again. In July 2014, Saeed assisted UNESCO Amman in carrying out focus groups consultations designed to gather insights and recommendations from local stakeholders. He will be pivotal in encouraging civil society and NGOs to connect and discuss the critical role of youth as key actors shaping resilient communities and a peaceful future.
UNESCO is committed to ensuring that young women and men are engaged in policies and programmes affecting them and leading action to promote peace and sustainable development in their countries and communities.
Supporting innovators like Saeed is in line with UNESCO’s Operational Strategy on Youth (2014-2021) with a key focus on youth civic engagement, democratic participation and social innovation. In early June, 2014, with generous funding from the European Union, a new Youth focused project began with the engagement of the UNESCO Amman office. The ‘Networks of Mediterranean Youth’ project is an innovative intersectoral response aimed at improving the access and effective participation of young men and women in developing and implementing national strategies and policies affecting them.
Last month, UNESCO Amman Office sponsored Saeed to participate in the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Youth Forum, held at the UN Secretariat in New York. The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon welcomed the more than 1,000 youth organizers, delegates and representatives, opening the session with words that spoke to Saeed: “There is a world of need out there, but also a world of opportunity. So I urge you to keep doing your part. Keep showing your leadership as global citizens”.
Aimed at including and encouraging youth voices in addressing the challenges of attaining the MDGs and shaping the post-2015 development agenda, Saeed declared he felt, “empowered by the time spent at the forum and inspired to continue to work for the youth in my community”.
Saeed’s remarkable journey is just beginning; he is a strong catalyst for youth engagement and a true community champion who is sure to inspire many more.
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