Our Common Humanity in the Information Age. Principles and Values for Development

Rajiv Ramakrishnan, Brandeis University

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Annexes | 207
Rajiv Ramakrishnan is an undergraduate student at Brandeis University, currently 
studying Political Science and International and Global Studies, and works in the 
Brandeis University Undergraduate Student Union Government as the Chairman of the 
Senate Social Justice Committee to uphold social justice on campus and in the greater 
community. He is also the Director of Public Relations of Positive Foundations, a student 
organization.

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ANNEX 5
SUMMARY OF THE YOUTH FORUM ORGANIZED BY 
FRIENDS OF THE UNITED NATIONS
Youth Forum on Our Common Humanity in the Information Age
Deborah Moldow, Friends of the United Nations
Friends of the United Nations (FOTUN), an NGO affiliated with the UN Department of 
Public Information invited college students and young professionals committed to 
working for a better world to participate in the Youth Forum. Six youth representatives 
took the results of youth deliberations into panel discussions of the Our Common 
Humanity meeting, alongside experts, celebrities, UN officials, and outstanding members 
of various disciplines.
The goal of the Youth Forum was to facilitate:
1. Youth input into “Our Common Humanity in the Information Age”
2. Youth activists focusing on UN values and agendas
3. Creative exchange of ideas, solutions, projects
4. Opportunities for new ideas to emerge
5. Networking with one another
6. Networking with leaders in various fields
7. An electronic forum reaching university students and the general public 
8. Informing students and alumni about UN issues through college news media.
Participants in the Youth Forum consisted of approximately 35 college students and 
young professionals who had demonstrated leadership areas of global concern, including 
college students engaged in political or social issues ; campus newspaper editors and 
Internet communicators; young leaders in business and technology; youth NGO leaders; 
international students .
Colleges and universities represented included Columbia, Harvard, Georgetown, Rutgers, 
Vassar, NYU, Pace, Lehigh, SUNY New Paltz, Brandeis, Berea, American International 

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Annexes | 209
College, and the University of South Florida. There was also strong participation from 
Young Professionals for International Cooperation (through the auspices of the World 
Federation of United Nations Associations), as well as the One World Youth Project, the
Young General Assembly, and Positive Foundations.
This bright and informed group of young people hailed from many countries, including 
China, France, Malaysia, Vietnam, Niger, Japan, Costa Rica, South Africa, Brazil, U.K., 
India, Liberia, Spain and Zimbabwe.
Six youth leaders were asked to serve as the facilitators for the Youth Forum. Their role 
was to present the subject of the panel in which they would be participating and steer the 
breakout session on that topic.
• Freedom and Development: William Gyude Moore, a Liberian refugee who graduated 
from Berea College in Berea, KY, and for the past three and a half years has been an 
Oxfam America CHANGE Leader;
• Respect for Nature and Sustainable Development: Deepen Shah, a non-violent activist 
who recently graduated from New York University in Finance and Information Systems 
and currently serves on the NY Task Force of the Temple of Understanding;
• Equality and Opportunity: Stacey S. Roussel, Chair of the Patel Foundation for Global 
Understanding’s Savita Society, supporting women and children both locally in the 
Tampa Bay area and globally in rural India and Africa, and chair of the UNA USA 
Young Professionals for International Cooperation (YPIC) Tampa Bay Chapter, while 
working at Public Television in Tampa, Florida;
• Tolerance and Dialogue: Natasha P. Ghent-Rodriguez, a major in Biomedical Sciences 
and Political Science at the University of South Florida, who is on the board of UNA-
Tampa Bay and the Vice-Chair for UNA's Young Professionals for International 
Cooperation program, and also serves on the working committee for the Initiative for 
Global Development, a program initiative of Bill Gates, Sr.;
• Solidarity and Equity : Jessica B. Rimington, founder of the One World Youth Project 
initiative for middle and high school age youth around the world to work to achieve the 
United Nations Millennium Development Goals, and a student at Georgetown University 
School of Foreign Service;
• Shared Responsibility and Partnership: Seth Werfel, a freshman at Brandeis University 
and Co-Coordinator of Positive Foundations, a student-led organization committed to 
mobilizing the Millennium Development Goals on campus, and Rajiv Ramakrishnan, 
also of Positive Foundations at Brandeis .

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