Posts

Scaling Up to reach Net Zero Conference

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Today, I had the pleasure and privilege of being a panel speaker at the Scaling Up to reach Net Zero conference, organised by the North West Net Zero Hub & Liverpool City Region Combined Authority. There were four panel sessions during the day: Climate Urgency; Scaling Up; Finance; and Leadership. I sat on the Scaling Up panel. I spoke about the lack of climate education in the UK curriculum, and the importance of teaching these topics to all ages. Many people don't know the reality and the dangers of climate change, and why it is essential that we do everything we can as individuals to contribute to the Net Zero targets. From my point of view, climate education is just as, if not more, important than the content on the PSHE curriculum. For many people, information around this topic is inaccessible due to the amount of jargon, and in many cases the formats of the information that are available. Policies are accessible online, but many don't know where to start when reading ...
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National YCA meet in-person for the first time!

Today, the National Youth Combined Assembly (NYCA) met in-person for the first time, in Friends' Meeting House, Manchester. The agenda included a redefinition of the purpose of the national organisation, which brings together Youth Combined Authority members from Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region, South Yorkshire, West Midlands and West Yorkshire, as well as representatives from Greater London Youth Council. We will adopt a new strapline,  Young Changemakers , which provides a basic definition of our work, and what we hope to achieve as an organisation. NYCA has previously worked on projects involving Transport, Net Zero Carbon, and Votes at 16. A number of topics were brought up today, and we've agreed on Employment and Opportunities as an umbrella term for our work, from which projects can be arranged.
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Celebrating results

Today I received my GCSE results that I’ve been working for two years to achieve. I’m incredibly proud to say that I’ve passed in all 9 subjects, including achieving a result in the top 5% of the country in Spanish.  I’d like to take a moment to thank my teachers, family and friends for all their support; it wouldn’t have been possible without it.  I’ve made the decision to remain at Liverpool College, where I will study A-Levels in Business, Economics, Politics & Spanish, as well as an EPQ. I’m eager to get started.  Congratulations to all those who received their GCSE or Level 2 results today, and those who received A-Level and BTEC results last week!
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Work Experience Update

 Today marks the end of my two-week work experience placement at Liverpool City Region Combined Authority. Working with the Employment and Skills Policy Team, I focussed on the green economy, looking at demographic data, diversity, and accessibility of green jobs and green skills. This saw me producing two pieces of work: a briefing for Councillor Ian Maher (Portfolio Holder for Education, Employment and Skills), and a deck of slides providing an overview of the green economy.  I have learnt a lot during my time at the Combined Authority, and it’s been a great insight into the work of a policy officer, which is a career path I’m thinking about more after this experience.  Thank you so much to my mentor, Paul, for your accommodation, support, and guidance over the past two weeks, and to the rest of the team for making me feel so welcomed within both the team and the organisation. I’m very grateful to have had the opportunity to work with you. 
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It’s been a while!

  Hello, and welcome to the first blog post of the year… in July! I decided to take time off work to focus on my GCSEs, which finished mid-June, and then some time for myself to relax after the intensive examination period! Slowly and slowly I’ve began to get myself back into things. I have a lot lined up, and am looking forward to sharing in due course! Stay tuned! Omar :)
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2022: A reflection on the past year

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2022 has been a year full of opportunities which I'm so grateful to have had. I'm extremely proud of all that I've achieved this year, and would like to thank my family, friends, teachers, youth workers and colleagues who are always there to support me. 2022 was the year that we were able to get the Liverpool City Region Youth Combined Authority up and running. At the time of writing in December 2022, the YCA have settled in extremely well since we first met in August . We are looking forward to working more closely with Mayor Steve and policy leads in the new year to help feed into the CA's policies. Liverpool City Region Youth Combined Authority, September 2022 Over at Liverpool City Council, the Child Friendly City campaign was relaunched, and we're working to promote this as best we can in 2023 as we progress with the steps to gain CFC status for the city. I also had the absolute privilege of chairing Young People's Question Time  at Liverpool Town Hall , wh...
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Young People's Question Time event - November 2022

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The Council Chamber, Liverpool Town Hall, full of young people who joined us to ask the panel their questions. Yesterday evening I was absolutely honoured to MC the Young People's Question Time event at Liverpool Town Hall. It was such an amazing experience to host the event and I'm extremely grateful for the opportunity to do so. The evening was centred around the UNICEF Child Friendly Cities initiative (you can find out more information about this here), and the badges that Liverpool City Council needs to earn. These are: Co-operation and Leadership; Culture; Communication; Healthy Living; Equality and Inclusion; and Place. Our panel consisted of professionals from each area and who represented each badge: Dr Rob Noonan, Reader of Health at University of Bolton Sonia Bassey MBE, Chair of Mandela8 and Africa Oye Councillor Harry Doyle, Cabinet Member for Culture and Visitor Economy Stephen Reddy, Head of Children and Young People's Services at Liverpool City Council Gill B...
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