2023 Youth Representative Program
Imogen Kane as the Australian Youth Representative to the United Nation will leading consultations with young people aged 12 to 25 across Australia to engage with and discover the issues that are most important to them. Following this journey across every State and Territory, Imogen will present to key UN stakeholders and government.
Standby! We are reworking our website to best support Imogen Kane and her team in 2023!
Check back in shortly to see our new, shiny new website! Continue reading to learn more about Imogen and access important links
Imogen Kane
Imogen Kane is the current Australian Youth Representative to the United Nations.
Imogen Kane (she/her) is a gender and youth advocate, working in spaces to promote quality holistic education as a critical lever towards addressing gender inequality, societal divisions, and youth issues. Imogen’s experience working within domestic and international teams, including at the Cotton On Foundation as their Impact Coordinator, has immersed Imogen in holistic education, mental health, and environment projects across Australia, Uganda, South Africa, and Thailand.
Imogen has been involved in multiple publications including ‘Six Months Later’, a Monash Gender Peace and Security Centre collection of research essays put together by young women from Australia and Afghanisation in the context of the eroding rights of women and girls under Taliban rule. Through the Australian Youth Affairs Coalition’s Young Leaders and Advocates Fellowship, Imogen advocated youth experiences and concerns to the government regarding domestic violence, financial literacy, housing and employment. Imogen has convened Model UN conferences, led overseas delegations and competed on behalf of Monash International Affairs Society, Monash University and Australia more broadly, receiving multiple international recognitions. Imogen is passionate about teaching Model UN skills and creating programs that support students to travel, provide policy solutions and youth perspectives on global issues, and connect with other young people from across the world.
Imogen is studying a Master of International Relations (specialising in Gender, Peace and Security) at Monash University, after recently completing a Bachelor of Global Studies (specialising in International Relations). She is passionate about the cross-cutting issues of gender in international relations, and the role and representation of youth perspectives in global forums.
Important Information
Please find the important information for the 2023 Program here while we reformat our website.
Form a consultation group: Imogen runs physical and virtual consultations with groups of young people (10+) across Australia to deeply understand what matters to you and why. If you have a group, submit an expression of interest for our Listening Tour team to organise a consultation between you and Imogen for 2023. Submit an EOI through this form (click here).
Engage us to consult with your group of young people: The Youth Representative Programs works with a range of organisations across Australia, particularly those who interact significantly with young people 25 and under, to provide a voice and platform for sharing what matters most to them. If you would like your group of young people to engage with Imogen and the Program by hosting a consultation, please fill out an Expression of Interest (EOI) through this form (click here).
For YOUNG PEOPLE!
Listening Tour Survey: if you are aged between 12 to 25 (inclusive), fill out our survey to tell us a bit about yourself, your opinions on several topical issues and life across Australia, your Top 3 issues and why, and your message to the United Nations. We take your anonymous responses and voice them to the United Nations and Australian community, including decision-makers in government. Fill out the survey on our website (click here).
Creative Works Submission: Don’t want to fill out a survey? Want to express yourself, your thoughts and your concerns in ways more than a survey or consultation? Through our new portal, you can now submit a creative work (multimedia item) ranging from artwork, to videos and audio, to poem and other writing styles. View the creative works portal here (click here).
What is the Australian Youth Representative Program?
The Australian Youth Representative to the United Nations is tasked with representing the views of young Australians both domestically and abroad. To represent these views, the Australian Youth Representative leads annual face-to-face consultation of young people in the country.
Theses consultations will occur throughout 2023, seeing the Australian Youth Representative travel to every State and Territory, engaging with young people in urban, regional and rural areas.
Over the course of this consultation, the Youth Representative will hear a wide variety of youth opinions on issues at the local, national and international level. Alongside the consultation, the Australian Youth Representative will meet with prominent members of the Australian community including MPs, NGO heads, business leaders, young leaders and key players in the youth and education sectors
Reporting to the UN
In September/October, the Australian Youth Representative travels to New York to represent Australia’s young people at the United Nations as a member of the Australian Permanent Mission to the UN. While in New York, the Australian Youth Representative will represent the views of both the Australian Mission and Australia’s young people to the international community.
Culminating in a speech to the 3rd Committee of the General Assembly of the United Nations, the Australian Youth Representative’s stay in New York will involve negotiating with Youth Representatives from other countries, and helping to inform the debate around topical issues from the youth perspective.
2019 Report
“I also saw an innate and powerful hope in young people…I saw them empowering each other. I saw young people looking at the world around them, determined to build a better one.”, Kareem El-Ansary reports.
2018 Report
“It is crucial that we consider young people as participating members of society…If young people had a greater say in decision-making and setting our policy agenda, our world would be kinder, safer, and healthier.”, Amos Washington reports.
2017 Report
“I know that young people have creative solutions to offer—which is helpful because our world is facing unprecedented challenges that will require young people to help solve.”, Paige Burton reports.
Report Back Tour
Following the report to the United Nations, Imogen will produce the 2023 Australian Youth Representative Report. This report will detail all the findings of the 2023 Listening Tour and consultations, and will be available to all.
Imogen will then begin her Report Back Tour, where she will travel around Australia interacting with the Australian public, government officials, policymakers, Members of Parliament, and other organisations and deliver the report and her findings.
The youth of Australia will have an opportunity to join Imogen at parliament at a federal and state level, and other events.
Stay in touch
Want to keep updated on the progress of the Program as well as how you can be involved in the Report Back and other Youth Representative opportunities?
Follow our socials and interact with us there and join our mailing list and receive updates!