UN First Lady Yoo (Ban) Soon-Taek visited UCLG-MEWA 6.06.2012

The spouse of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, Mrs. Yoo (Ban) Soon-Taek visited the International Youth Leadership Academy (IYLA) located in the UCLG-MEWA building in Istanbul, Turkey on 1st June 2012. 
 
The International Youth Leadership Academy is a partnership among UNICEF, Save the Children, Habitat Center for Development and Governance (an NGO from Turkey), Corio, United Cities and Local Governments Middle East and West Asia Section (UCLG-MEWA), and the World Academy for Local Government and Democracy (WALD). In the framework of a protocol signed by UCLG-MEWA, UNICEF and WALD, trainings are conducted in the UCLG-MEWA building. UNICEF and Save the Children contribute in the international curriculum of the academy.

UCLG-MEWA Secretary General Mehmet Duman, UNICEF Deputy Resident Representative Regina de Dominicis, CORIO Representative of Turkey Esra Yalçın and Honarary President of Habitat for Development and Local Governance Sezai Hazır delivered welcoming speeches. Following the presentation about IYLA, Mrs. Yoo (Ban) Soon-Taek took floor and answered the questions of young people.

86 young people from 43 different cities in Turkey have been volunteer trainers in IYLA since 2010. Presently, 1.572 young people between the age of 15-30 have been trained by volunteer trainers in the scope of IYLA. Furthermore high school students, under the age of 20, disadvantaged youth (young people who are vulnerable to crime, young women, and teenagers in orphanages) are also involved in trainings.

So far, trainings on different topics such as ICT Literacy, CISCO IT (Cisco Information Technologies) Networking, Communication, Project Management, Financial Literacy, Discrimination and Hate Speech on New Media, HIV/AIDS, Documentary Movie Making and Social Responsibility, Conflict Resolution, Negotiation and Mediation have been organized.