New York City, USA
2021 United Nations High Level Political Forum
The HLPF is the main United Nations platform on sustainable development. It has a central role in the follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the global level.
The 2024 HLPF will be held from July 8th, to July 17th, under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council in New York City. This year's theme will be “Building back better from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) while advancing the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”.
Winter Dawn Lipscombe , Head Delegate
Winter Dawn Lipscombe is a proud member of Wauzhusk Onigum Nation in Treaty #3 territory. She is a graduate of Mount Allison University with a BA (hons) in International Relations and Economics. Winter Dawn was traditionally selected in 2019 to serve as one of four youth on the Treaty #3 Oshkiniigiig Youth Executive Council. She holds the economic portfolio and advocates for support for youth in business and economics. As a result of this work, Winter Dawn was selected as a panelist for the Institute for International’s Women’s Rights – Manitoba’s panel during the 64th Commission on the Status of Women at the United Nations in New York.
Winter Dawn serves as Treaty #3’s representative to the Ontario First Nations Young Peoples Council (OFNYPC) and is the Ontario Female Alternate to the Assembly of First Nations National Youth Council (AFNNYC). As a member of the OFNYPC, she has actively participated in the development and design of the OFNYPC’s toolkit on governance. As an alternate to the AFNNYC, Winter Dawn participated in engagement on the implementation on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and on Heritage Canada’s State of Youth report.
In 2020, Winter Dawn was appointed to serve a three-year term on the Premier’s Council on Equality of Opportunity. The council provides advice on how young people can overcome social and economic barriers to achieve success – a priority has been advocating on long-term actions that can support youth during the COVID 19 pandemic.
Réanne Cooper, Communications Coordinator
Réanne Cooper holds a Bachelor's degree in Business administration international commerce from Université Sainte-Anne. Currently a Master's candidate at Université de Moncton in the MSc in Management, her research interests include entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial intentions and international students of Atlantic Canada.
During her undergraduate years, she was actively involved in student council endeavours, the university's Enactus team and representing the students at the university, municipal, provincial and national levels at various meetings and conferences. Further, Réanne held a research assistant position for three years of her undergraduate degree, focusing on the Acadian diaspora.
On her spare time, Réanne actively sits on various board of directors and has volunteered her time to youth organizations. She has participated in the Parlement des jeunes francophones des Amériques 2018, hosted by the Centre de la francophonie des Amériques in Québec, an event bringing together francophone youth from various countries. Through this, Réanne met with politicians at both the provincial and national level. Finally, Réanne has gone on various humanitarian, volunteer trips to Cameroon (twice), New York and Bolivia. These experiences have given her an openness on the world and an interest in international development.
Recently, Réanne held the Communications Officer position with the New Brunswick Arts Board. This allowed her to develop many communications skills and work with a small but mighty team to develop their communications plan and strategy.Réanne is looking forward to her experience as a youth delegate, and this experience will greatly contribute to her role as Communications Coordinator for the HLPF 2021.
Alicia Richins, Engagement Coordinator
Alicia Richins is a Sustainability and Social Impact Consultant based in Toronto, and a fierce advocate of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
With extensive experience in international development, nonprofits and community organizations, she works with forward-thinking organizations to assess, amplify and embed their desired social and environmental impact, using the UN SDGs as a guiding framework.
As the Partnerships and Standards Lead at the Common Approach to Impact Measurement, Alicia leads the development and adoption of the Common Approach’s four flexible standards for impact measurement. She also serves as Director of Programming for Leading Change Canada, an organization focused on activating youth sustainability leadership for the transition to a low carbon economy within a generation.
A dual citizen since birth of Canada and Trinidad and Tobago, Alicia holds a Master in Environmental Studies, Planning Concentration, and a BA in Economics and Social Science (Honours), both from York University.
Amal El-Jabali, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Coordinator
Amal El-Jabali holds a Master’s in Education from Athabasca University and is currently completing another Master’s in Diplomacy and International Relations at Lancaster University. She will be beginning her Doctoral Studies in Educational Leadership at Westrern Univesity, Ontario in September 2021, where she will be exploring how institutions can adopt a holistic child-centered approach in Inclusive Education by focusing on the most vulnerable and marginalized children, especially in developing countries. She believes that inclusion is a solution to many of the challenge’s society faces today, ultimately affecting presence, participation, and achievement. She is also interested in diplomatic relations and foreign policy decision-making processes in times of crisis and forced migration.
Amal currently serves as an Inclusive and Outreach Education Assistant at UNICEF Lebanon where she supports in the planning and implementation of formal and non-formal education programmes, mainly contributing to the achievement of sustainable results to improve learning outcomes and universal access to quality, equitable and inclusive education. She works in close partnerships with government counterparts and national and international partners; likewise, she is involved in the nationwide Inclusive Education Pilot and policy development. Prior to UNICEF, she was an intern at UNESCO working in Technical and Vocational Education and Training supporting in research related to youth empowerment, labour market analysis, and work and life skills.
Amal is also a fellow for the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) Programme which aims to challenge perceptions and deconstruct stereotypes by encouraging young civil society leaders to engage in intercultural dialogue and embrace cultural diversity. She strongly advocated for priorities in social cohesion, peacebuilding, and conflict prevention.