The future of the United Nations concerns the next generation, including students at Yale. The UN System Design Solutions Working Group at Yale is leading an effort to constructively contribute to the necessary conversation of improving and redesigning the United Nations system, including its global leadership. On Friday April 29, 2016, we are organizing a Yale-wide retreat to discuss and contribute to the selection of a new UN Secretary-General.

We are pleased to see the UN system opening up as we witness an unprecedented and significantly more inclusive election process evolve for the selection of the new UN Secretary-General by the end of this year. The Working Group has earlier submitted a set of questions for the UN General Assembly hearing with candidates. We are responding further to this increased inclusivity and aim to actively develop and put forward the ideas of the Yale community, students in particular, on the selection of the next UN Secretary-General.

During the retreat we will reflect on what we think the ideal leader for the global institution will look like. Next, we will look at what our ideal institution would look like. The concrete outcome of the retreat would be a draft op-ed for publication that voices the concerns and ideas of our generation about these UN-related issues that ultimately matter to all.

The retreat is open to anyone, with a strong emphasis on Yale students across different Graduate Schools as well as Yale College. Please make sure you register via bit.do/UNYale to guarantee a spot. We highly encourage you to share this with other students who might be interested to contribute.