Two Western graduates are among 145 delegates gathering at the 2024 G20 Youth Summit this week in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.
Lauren Allison, BScN’19, and Eunice Oladejo, BA’ 21, are part of the Young Diplomats of Canada (YDC) delegation, alongside three other Canadians.
After months of preparation, Allison and Oladejo landed in Rio De Janeiro Aug. 10, eager to get to work.
“It’s very exciting and a big responsibility to make sure what we’re proposing is reflective of youth across Canada and globally,” Allison said. “Through the consultation process, it’s been enriching to work and network with different leaders from across the world and learn about their policy approaches.”
Oladejo agrees.
“I’m looking forward to meeting other representatives from all over the world whom we’ve only been seeing on Zoom,” she said. “We want to make sure we contribute to the development of public policies that will make a positive impact for the youth in our country and for other G20 countries as well.”
At the end of the summit, the delegates will present a communique to the G20 Presidency, summarizing the main conclusions, positions and priorities agreed upon by the participants.
What is the Youth 20 Summit?
The Youth 20 Summit (Y20) is the official youth counterpart to the annual G20 Leaders Summit, bringing youth delegates and observers (aged 18 to 30) from all G20 member countries to develop and negotiate policy positions ahead of the G20 proceedings in November. The goal is to ensure decisions and agreements made by ministers and leaders of the G20 reflect the needs and views of young people today.
Participating delegates are contributing to negotiations on the following assigned themes:
- Combating hunger, poverty and inequality
- Climate change, energy transition and sustainable development
- Reform of the global governance system
- Inclusion and diversity
- Innovation and the future of the work
Meet the Western University alumni representing Canada at the Y20 Summit
Lauren Allison (Submitted)
Lauren Allison, communications coordinator for the 2024 Y20 Canadian delegation and the Canadian delegate for the climate change, energy transition and sustainable development track
During her time at Western, Allison served as the president of the Nursing Students of Ontario Interest Group, representing over 7,000 nursing students across the province.
After graduating from the Arthur Labatt Family School of Nursing in 2019, she worked as a paediatric, emergency, and critical care nurse in London, Ont.
“Working as a nurse during COVID had a big influence on me,” Allison said. “I saw how both national and global policies were affected and how we need to strive for improved worldwide cooperation in these types of settings.”
The pandemic also influenced her decision to pursue a master of science in public health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) as a Rotary Global Grant Scholar. Her master’s research focused on vaccination in humanitarian crises settings.
Allison remained at LSHTM, where her current research focuses on strengthening health systems for newborns in low- and middle-income areas.
In preparing for her Y20 role on the climate change, energy transition and sustainable development track, Allison and her global counterparts collated more than 100 policy proposals.
“We’ll be trying to narrow those down to a couple salient points to make sure we can build consensus to inform policy approaches that will make an impact and represent the wider youth voice, globally,” she said.
Allison also underscored the Y20’s delegates’ goal to ensure the work they do has a lasting effect, beyond the communique.
“We hope to put forth a monitoring and evaluation process to track the progress of how countries are performing against the indicators we bring forward so that we can advance progress,” she said.
Eunice Oladejo, Canadian delegate for the innovation and the future of work track
Eunice Oladejo (Submitted)
Oladejo is no stranger to public service.
While earning her bachelor’s degree in political science, with a minor in transitional justice and post-conflict reconstruction at Western, she served as a Canadian delegate to the United Nations Youth Assembly and as vice-president of external affairs on the University Student Council. She was also president of the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance, representing more than 150,000 students across the province. Within these roles, she lobbied high-level political officials and drafted various youth-centered policies.
“Growing up, I moved around a lot and that opened my eyes to the world of international affairs,” Oladejo said. “Seeing how countries relate to one another and how international organizations work to facilitate cooperation became a passion, and I’ve always seen that as vital to how the world operates and addresses societal gaps.”
Oladejo, who recently earned her master’s degree in diplomacy and foreign policy at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University, has served in the Canadian public service as a junior trade policy analyst, studying technical barriers and regulations to trade. She is currently a Young Fellow with the Institute for Peace and Diplomacy and the 1834 Global Fellowship where she engages in dialogue on domestic and foreign policy.
Representing Canada in the innovation and the future of the world of work negotiation track has been “very interesting” for Oladejo, who’s found representing the youth voice “a major driving force” for most of the work throughout her early career.
“I’m definitely learning a lot about the state of work for youth across all the different countries through discussions on issues that include working from home and the impact of AI,” she said.
While preparing for and attending the summit has required a lot of long hours and work, Oladejo appreciates the opportunity and the significance of the role she and her counterparts have in negotiating and developing a youth communique for the G20 leaders.
“Reflecting on the state of our world, a lot of the topics we’re discussing are vital at this point in time and will be for the years to come,” Oladejo said. “These are important discussions we want to take seriously on behalf of Canadian youth and for all youth around the world.”
