Rosie Warin

We have reached the end of our placement and so our blog, sadly, is over.

However we are integrating elements of the blog on our website www.uydo.org, so we hope you continue to follow us there, and help us fight poverty, inequality and injustice.

We have put together a final team team video diary and this eill either be on here or our website in the next few days.

Thankyou,

Rosie, Rachel and Espen

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.”

Winston Churchill

Please join us on Tuesday for the final video diary, featuring an array of members of the lovely UYDO team!

The landslide in Uganda this week reminds us that there are people suffering right now, who are in dire need of our help and support.

We give them impoverished young people the opportunity to help themselves, for more information visit www.uydo.org.

We are so proud of the amazing people that work with UYDO, so every Tuesday we are going to help you get to know one of them a little better!

This week: James Nettleton

Who are you?
My name’s James, I’m twenty years old and a second year modern history and politics student at Oxford University.  Since October I’ve been working as the grant manager on the UYDO exec committee.
 
How have YOU made a difference with UYDO?
Grants are a funny business, so it’s hard to say specifically what I’ve done at this stage.  Having said that I hope that I’ve been able to make some valuable contributions in exec’ committee meetings and I’ve raised money, and some awareness, for UYDO at Oxford.  I’m currently pushing through a couple of big applications that could potentially really help us out so fingers crossed!

How has UYDO inspired or helped you?
The guys at UYDO really are inspiring in themselves and the amount of time and effort they put in to promote what we’re doing is really impressive.  Moreover the concept of UYDO is really inspiring in itself.  What UYDO does is try to empower young people (like me!) to see how they can make a difference in the lives of people living in poverty and in short, it has!  For the mean time I’m working with UYDO, in the near future I’ll be writing a dissertation on youth micro finance and in the summer I’m traveling to Uganda to work on a development project. Working for UYDO has made me more certain that I want to work in development as a career and put in the effort to be able to make a substantive difference.
 
Who is the one person living or dead you most like to meet?
I know it says one but I’ll give you two because I’m rubbish at deciding.  My first one’s Amartya Sen, he’s an amazing political theorist and development professional whose done a lot to argue the case for distributive justice and for ensuring that the poorest people in the world have a right to certain capabilities.
 
Second person would be my brother’s friend Genna.  She went over to Uganda a started a small MFI in Jinja when she was in her twenties and she’s over there trying to make a difference in the lives of the entrepreneurs she works with.
 
What’s your favourite place in the entire world?
Sarajevo in Bosnia Herzegovina.  It’s an amazing city with a loads going on and lots of amazing people that are trying to change the city for the better despite the tragedies suffered during the war.  Every time I’ve gone back it’s been incredible how different it’s looked.  Also, a lot of people don’t know that there’s some of the most beautiful mountains in Europe on the outskirts of Sarajevo and some great skiing and walking.  Also, despite what Micheal Palin says you can going hiking in safety because they know exactly where the landmines are and there’s very few left.
 
Tell us something about you that no-one else knows…
Some times I sit in my room wearing my ski boots because they’re warm and I miss skiing.

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.
Helen Keller

Hi everybody,

This weeks video diary has been postponed, as we are saving our updates and news for the final UYDO weekly video diary next week!

Make sure you tune in for the bumper final edition with special guests

The UYDO Team

The ‘Seed’ Cathedral, which is to be the centerpiece at the British Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo. The archaeological feat will show how biological diversity has improved peoples’ lives and just goes to show what creative ideas and opportunities can result in.

This weeks inspirational individual is the creator of micro finance, Mohammed Yunus.

Professer Yunus won a Nobel Peace Prize for his work in creating and developing the aid structure on which we base our charity. Not only this, he has since created the Yunus Centre, an institution dedicated to the eradication of poverty.

Follow him on Twitter

Or on Facebook

The fact is, that to do anything in the world worth doing, we must not stand back shivering and thinking of the cold and danger, but jump in and scramble through as well as we can.

Robert Cushing

Every Friday we are uploading a video diary updating you on the difference we have made that week.

We hope you enjoy it and keep following us, helping UYDO fight poverty, inequality and injustice.

After a day of extreme technical problems, the UYDO Weekly Video Diary – week 5,  is still failing to upload.

It will be up first thing tomorrow, with a VERY exciting announcement regarding the art exhibition!

Our apologies, see you tomorrow!

Last weekend marked the start of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. This picture of Lindsey Vonn of the USA team from The Guardian was taken just before she sped to her first gold. As a young person (Lindsey is just 25) she is an inspiration – she was injured so badly she hasn’t managed to get out on the snow for a couple of weeks before but perseverance and determination paid off. Congratulations Lindsey!

Find out how our young entrepreneurs are using their perseverance and determination and how YOU can help!

This weeks Inspirational Individual is Andre Campbell.

Andre is only 21 but has spent the last 5 years focusing all his energies on entrepreneurship, international development and giving young people opportunities to improve their life.

He is the founder of Enfuse Youth, an education consultancy, helping young people to fulfil their potential both in the working environment and the business environment.

He has also worked in South Africa improving business relations and opportunities between Briton and South African youth. He has recently helped with founding the  National Consortium of University Entrepreneurs[ NACUE].

Andre not only represents everything that UYDO’s values, that young talent should never be underestimated, he also is an inspiration in his unending desire to help others do the same by sharing his knowledge and skills in entrepreneurship.

Learn more about Andre here

Follow him on Twitter @andrejcampbell

Meet and invest in our young entrepreneurs in Africa, who need YOUR help to fulfill their potential

We are so proud of the amazing people that work with UYDO, so every Tuesday we are going to help you get to know one of them a little better!

This week: Rachel Scofield

1) Who are you?

I’m Rachel Schofield and I’m UYDO’s Regional Manager for the UK. Unusually for UYDO volunteers I’m British and a Londoner!

2) How have YOU made a difference with UYDO?

UYDO is run by such a fantastic team so it’s hard to say how I personally have made a difference but I think that bringing inspired, driven and very capable people together to work towards a fantastic goal – to end poverty for young people in sub-Saharan Africa – is how I’ve made a difference.

3) How has UYDO inspired or helped you?

It’s so important for me to know that I’m working on something worthwhile – on something that is actually making a difference for some of the world’s poorest people. UYDO offers all that and the chance to take responsibility for it – and that’s so inspirational.

4) Who is the one person living or dead you most like to meet?

It might seem a little tacky but it’s going to have to be Nelson Mandela. He was so driven and dedicated to his cause, despite all the terrible things that he endured – it would be so inspiring to meet him!

5) What’s your favourite place in the entire world?

My favourite place would have to be the Sahara desert – I love the comforting dry warmth that feels like a huge delicious hug.  I’ve been thinking about the desert a lot this winter – especially in the snow!
6) Tell us something about you that no-one else knows

My sister is cooking a delicious Botswana banana cake right now! And what she doesn’t know is as soon as she leaves I’m going to eat it all!

The ability to convert ideas to things is the secret to success.

Henry Ward Beecher

We appreciate all our volunteers so much and to recognise this (and also as a bit of fun) each Friday one member of the UYDO team will be recognised for the difference they have made to fighting poverty, inequality and injustice that week.

They will be awarded the highest of all accolades, in the form of our UYDO Lemur, Derek.

Welcome to….Derek’s Difference Award

This weeks winner iiiiiiisssssss……Bathoul Ahmed!

Bathoul gets this weeks award a bit late, as she was supposed to be last weeks recipient! Bathoul has worked unbelievably hard on the art exhibition event we are holding in April and last week secured a meeting which may lead to a truly brilliant collaboration! She has also organised entertainment for the event and has generally been professional and hardworking. Well done Bathoul!

Bathoul unfortunately cannot be here to accept her award, so we have  cleverly just put the two pictures next to each other. Bathoul says this:

“Thank you so much for giving me this award. i have never won anything before so this means a lot to me, especially because its for a job i love. I work with such a great team, that the job i do doesnt seem like a job because i enjoy it so much.

However, i must say that this is a hugely combined effort with Rachel and Rosie who have made organizing this event so mich easier and fun. So i think its an award for all of us.

sorry i couldnt be there to receive this award in person (i really wanted my picture taken with Derek) but I will make sure i am there the next time i win (i will win it again)

Thank you guys.”

No Bathoul, thank YOU!

Every Friday we are uploading a video diary updating you on the difference we have made that week.

We hope you enjoy it and keep following us, helping UYDO fight poverty, inequality and injustice.

Today, 20 years ago, history was made as Nelson Mandela was released from jail in South Africa. His release, which many thought would never happen, was proof that with determination and relentless campaigning, people can achieve amazing things in the face of extreme adversity.

At UYDO, we want to give our entrepreneurs the opportunity to make a real difference to their own lives and to those of people in their communities.

We are so proud of the amazing people that work with UYDO, so every Tuesday we are going to help you get to know one of them a little better!

This week: Sara Lisa Ørstavik

Who are you?

A good deed is never lost: he who sows courtesy reaps friendship; and he who plants kindness gathers love.

Basil

Every Friday we are uploading a video diary updating you on the difference we have made that week.

We hope you enjoy it and keep following us, helping UYDO fight poverty, inequality and injustice.

This week we are continuing on the theme of Rachels Forgotton Tragedies shout, which pointed out that it shouldn’t take a devastating earthquake for us to sit up and notice of countries that may be suffering.

Today’s picture, showing trouble in Tenerife after unusually heavy rainfall causes huge craters in their roads, encourages us to remember that there are countries affected by environmental problems that do not make international headlines.

This weeks inspirational person is “The Chocolate Lady” or Nontwenhle Mchunu

Described as a ‘formidable, yet cautious young woman,’ Nonwenhle, known locally as ‘the chocolate lady’ grew up in a small town in the poor Kwa-Zulu Natal region of South Africa.

It is her ambition to create a world class, quality chocolate brand created only from sustainably produced good from African soil. On top of this, she wants all her company ‘Ezulwini Chocolat’s employees to come from the townships across South Africa, creating continued employment and skills training for the countries poorest people.

She has already won 2008 South African Businesswomen’s Association Regional Business Achiever Award, and South African supermarket chains and hotels, like Pick-n-Pay and Protea Hotels, have already begun to retail her products.

She is an inspiration to us as it just goes to show that with a little support and training, young people can not only help themselves, but also help thousands of others.

Could one of UYDO’s entrepreneurs in Kenya be the next ‘chocolate lady? Only with YOUR help!

Meet our entrepreneurs!

We are so proud of the amazing people that work with UYDO, so every Tuesday we are going to help you get to know one of them a little better!

Today: CEO Espen Berg

Who are you?

My name is Espen Berg and I am the founder and CEO of UYDO. I am originally Norwegian but have lived in the UK for the last 5 years now. I am a pretty ordinary guy who loves football and having a good time with my friends. Sadly I have not been able to do either much lately as UYDO tends to occupy most of my days – but then again UYDO is my favourite job and I love working here so I cannot complain!

How have YOU made a difference with UYDO?

Obviously as it is my job I work on UYDO quite a lot. But what I find really rewarding is raising the funds that can be invested in entrepreneurs, I am always bugging my friends and family to donate. Especially my sister is brilliant! As we don’t have a system for recurring donations yet (coming very soon) my sister logs on to the website and donates every month!

And the beauty of it is that the person fundraising can decide themselves which entrepreneur they would like to invest the money they have raised in.

How has UYDO inspired or helped you?

What inspires me the most with UYDO is the young people that we work with.  It is absolutely fantastic to see how enthusiastic and driven the entrepreneurs we are working with really are. Many of them have experienced quite a lot of challenges in their lives, but they don’t complain – they are just focused on starting a successful business and earn an income for themselves. Every time we get sent an entrepreneur profile from our partners I get reminded why we do what we do.

Equally inspiring are the young people that volunteer their time, energy, and money to help create an environment where our entrepreneurs can successfully start their own business. Especially the Executive committee and the Global staff inspires me! Some people have even said no to lucrative job offers so they can volunteer for UYDO for free. It is just inspiring to see how much these people believe in UYDO and care about those young people living in a poverty environment in sub-Saharan Africa. It is because of all of these people that I wake up and go to work every morning! They should have songs written about them!

Who is the one person living or dead you most like to meet?

There are so many people that I would like to meet for so many different reasons!  I would like to meet the people who dedicate their lives to improve the lives of others – I would like to meet each and single one of them and just thank them for all that they have done. I would love to meet all the movers and shakers in the world and persuade them to combat poverty and environmental degradation.

Right now I would probably pick my family, and especially my two nephews as I do not get to see them very often and I miss them awfully much! A great barbecue on my brother’s porch with all my family members present would be lovely!

What’s your favourite place in the entire world?

It is just way too hard to pick one favourite place in the world, there are just so many of them! One of the greatest memories I have from growing up is fishing for crab with my mom, dad, brother, and sister at the coast just outside of Bergen – and then going home to prepare this lovely meal of freshly caught crab! But then again, sitting at my friend’s porch in Kenya and look at the amazing nature that Kenya has to offer is just breath taking.

Wherever my favourite place would be, it would not be perfect unless I could be there with my lovely wife Nevada.

Tell us something about you that no-one else knows

Once when I was seven I wanted to walk over this swamp/quagmire type of area on my way to school as I just wanted to see what would happen if I did. I got stuck and could not get out for ages, I managed to pull my foot out but my shoe got left behind – So I had to walk to school with my socks only.  When my teacher asked why on earth I had walked across a quagmire I knew it was a stupid idea, so I lied and said that some big boys came and forced me to walk across it. It was terrible! My shoe is probably still in that quagmire if you look carefully!

Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out..

Robert Collier

Every Friday we are uploading a video diary updating you on the difference we have made that week.

We hope you enjoy it and keep following us, helping UYDO fight poverty, inequality and injustice.

We appreciate all our volunteers so much and to recognise this (and also as a bit of fun) each Friday one member of the UYDO team will be recognised for the difference they have made to fighting poverty, inequality and injustice that week.

They will be awarded the highest of all accolades, in the form of our UYDO Lemur, Derek.

Welcome to….Derek’s Difference Award

This weeks winner iiiiiiisssssss……CHRIS HYLLAND!

This week Chris launched the ‘UYDO song sheet’, a 20 page document that enables all UYDO volunteers to understand the organisation clearly and refer back to whenever they need more information or guidance. He also did some seriously lengthy and laborious work sorting out our twitter account! We have been continually impressed with Chris’s level of professionalism since he joined, he never fails to meet deadlines and we can always rely on his standard of work. On top of this, he has done some really interesting shouts. In summery, as Rachel puts it, he is “just always on it”!

On Tuesday myself and new recruit Leila spent the day in the offices of leading PR agency Band and Brown, as they had very kindly suggested we use their resources (such as media databases and newspaper subscriptions) to help promote UYDO in the media. We had a great day brainstorming stories and both got really excited about making a strategic PR plan.

Then something even more exciting happened….

We have basically been offered the support of a team from Band and Brown to help us form the media relations strategy.  Leila and myself will be hosting a brainstorm next Tuesday which will have senior members of various teams in, to help us get started in our strategy. This is fantastic news, as although we have experience and will be implementing the campaign, it will be a great help to know that our ideas have been ‘okay’ed’ by professionals.

It is amazing how everywhere we take UYDO, the organisation seems to get an enormous amount of support. Just last night, I attended an event put on by Environmental Communications agency Futerra to launch a new piece of thought leadership. I started chatting to a internal communication professional, who asked what I was doing. When I told her about UYDO and mentioned that were were in the process of designing an internal communications plan, she almost instantly offered to help with it, and also offered continued help if we needed further advice and supervision.

It is really motivating to know how many people are behind the ideas and ethics behind UYDO and wish to support us.

Heinz Zak yesterday became the first highliner atop Germany’s highest mountain, the 2,962m Zugspitze. The image encapsulates what we at UYDO think all people have the right to: the feeling of achievement and empowerment that can only be enabled by extreme determination, and of course, having the opportunity to try.

Today’s inspirational person is Emily Cummins.

From an early age, in her grandfathers tool shed, Emily started inventing things. Little did her grandfather know, she would go on to become one of the most exciting young inventors in sustainable development.

Keeping medicines cool in countries that have little or no access to electricity, in order to power fridges, is a huge problem. But Emily decided to try and counter this problem by designing a fridge that could be ‘powered’ by dirty water alone. On her Gap year in Namibia, Emily refined these designs and her ‘Sustainable Refrigerator’ was born.

But then Emily did something even more amazing. Where many people would have patented the design and made as much money as they could, she gave her plans away to townships across southern Africa, so as many people as possible to could have access to these fridges.

Emily has since won many awards for her talents, including Barclays women of the year 2009 and Cosmopolitan Ultimate Save the Planet Pioneer 2008.

Emily is a huge inspiration to UYDO because she is a young person using her own personal skills and talents to make a huge difference to people’s lives – exactly what UYDO is all about!

To follow Emily on Twitter: @emilycummins

To learn more about Emily visit her webpage

We are so proud of the amazing people that work with UYDO, so every Tuesday we are going to help you get to know one of them a little better!

Today: Leila d’Angelo

1) Who are you?
I am 22 years old and have been running working in the media for 7 years – from PR campaigns for Sony Ericsson to working on Channel 4’s Come Dine With Me.

 
2) How have YOU made a difference with UYDO?
I haven’t made much of a difference yet, but I hope to get UYDO as much media coverage as is humanly possible. I will be working out of my old PR company (Band and Brown) so I’ll (hopefully) be bringing some extra resources to the table.

3) How has UYDO inspired or helped you?
I’m a bit of a dreamer and I think that UYDO gives people in developing countries the opportunity to turn their dreams into reality. Not to mention the fact that I’ll be putting my PR skills to good use!
 

4) Who is the one person living or dead you most like to meet?
I would love to meet Amelia Earhart, the record breaking aviator and amazingly inspiring woman. She dreamed of flying and did everything in her power to make it happen. Plus, she disappeared in very mysterious circumstances, so I’d love to find out what happened to her.

5) What’s your favourite place in the entire world?
Bed?! (Would love to be back in my PJs) Or alternatively, a beach in Sicily.

 
6) Tell us something about you that no-one else knows
I am slightly OCD – I can’t use a fork with bent prongs?

To learn more about our volunteers visit www.UYDO.org

A gap in the market?

It is fair to say that young people these days get a bad rap. Research from the National Young Volunteers Service in November 2009 found that 69% of British adults think that young people lack consideration for others. Even more worrying, 40% think teenagers have a predominantly negative impact on their community.

So who is to blame for this terrible reputation? The youngsters themselves, lost in a world of celebrity and social networking? Hyped up press reports of youth crime and internet obsession? Or charities, failing to engage with this audience?

Further research, from the Charities aid foundation, points to the latter, indicating that young people may simply not be getting the opportunities to prove their critics wrong. They surveyed 10-16 year olds last July – and their findings pointed to a clear communication problem.

They found that 65% of these youngsters would like to volunteer for a charity, if the opportunity arose. However, a mere 13% had done so. Similarly, a whopping 75% wanted to give money to charities – yet only a quarter ever had.

So clearly the desire to do good is apparent within young people. So why aren’t charities reaching out to them with the opportunities they deserve?

Well, this is where the United Youth Development Organisation comes in. At UYDO, we believe that young people have unrivalled energy and originality of ideas and aim to provide a platform in which they can channel these into meaningful, productive action. The opportunities we provide aim to consequently inspire young people to think of themselves as part of a wider global context and their responsibilities within this.

Read more and get involved in this debate on our community shoutbox!

Good actions give strength to ourselves, and inspire good actions in others.

Plato

Every Friday we are uploading a video diary updating you on the difference we have made that week.

We hope you enjoy it and keep following us, helping UYDO fight poverty, inequality and injustice.

This weeks winner iiiiiisssss…..RACHEL SCOFIELD!

Rachel has made a huge difference to UYDO this week, dedicating time each day to the slog of securing funds and has been successful in one case already, with a promising second case in the pipeline! She has also worked hard developing a UYDO internal communications plan, an area which needed a lot of work. Alongside these achievements, she has also kept Espen and myself smiling by leaping round the office in excitement every time something good happens…

Well done Rach!

Building UYDO’s Team Spirit

We appreciate all our volunteers so much, the work they do, the commitment they have and the time they put in.  Over the next two months, we are developing ways in which we can show our volunteers how much they mean to us.

To do this, and also as a bit of fun, each Friday one member of the UYDO team will be recognised for the difference they have made to fighting poverty, inequality and injustice that week.

They will be awarded the highest of all accolades, in the form of our UYDO Lemur, Derek.

Welcome to….Derek’s Difference Award

We have spent this week busily brainstorming and getting our creative juices flowing to create events that will get young people in the UK really excited about fighting poverty.

One of our plans is to hold an art exhibition around the theme of ‘The Lottery of Birth’, where young, talented UK artists and African artists showcase work that highlight and reflect on the issue of how where you are born determines your prospects and opportunities in life.

As we have pretty much no budget, we are doing our best to find a venue for free. Yesterday, Rachel contacted her cousin at William Norris, a top London events management company.

He was kind enough to provide us with a lot of invaluable advice regarding venues, timings and protocal for getting things for free!

We are meeting again tomorrow to assess the plans under the light of his guidance, so we just want to say a big thanks Michael Harman at William Norris!!!

To learn more about us and our projects, visit www.uydo.org

Hope still remains in Haiti as another person is pulled from the rubble, 26 year old Hotteline Lozama

UYDO’s thoughts are will the families of those who were not so lucky as this girl and are in desperate need of aid.

William Kamkwamba

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

William Kamkwamba grew up in a village in Malawi, Africa. Age 14, William’s family could not afford send him to school. So, he went to his local library, found a science book and discovered something that would change his life – the windmill. Based on this book, William set about trying to build his own wind generator using a tractor fan, shock absorbers, PVC pipes, a bicycle frame and anything else he could find. Amazingly, with no other support, he succeeded. He is now at Johannesburg University, top of his engineering course and with the opportunity to be top of his field.

William inspired his village to change the way it sees itself, and now because of him, many Malawians are building windmills, digging wells and harnessing their skills and imagination.

William Kamkwamba has been a huge inspiration to UYDO as he represents exactly why we should give young people in Africa the opportunities they deserve.

He is an inspiration to many people, as he realised his dream through determination and self-belief that he could reach his goal. Indeed, William later confessed in his blog that “many people, including my mother, thought I was crazy.” William can teach us all a lesson in strength of mind in the face of adversity.

Follow Wednesday’s inspirational individual on Twitter: wkamkwamba

Learn more about William by watching his amazing video story at www.uydo.org.

We are so proud of the amazing people that work with UYDO, so every Tuesday we are going to help you get to know one of them a little better!

Today: Signe Sorensen

1) Who are you?

Ahoy! I am the Danish lairy Viking, Signe. I am 20 summers old and currently in my second year of an Economics degree at SOAS.

2) How have YOU made a difference with UYDO?

Rather than actually make a difference on my own with UYDO I believe I have contributed to UYDO’s dynamic Executive Committee as a whole. I consider one of UYDO’s strength to lie in the combination of our talents, brains and collective motivation and think that that is going to make the real difference. As the Fundraising Manager I’ve brought in some ideas and experience from some of my previous fundraising activities. These have mainly been in relation to African Communities and based on a ‘self-help’ approach.

3) How has UYDO inspired or helped you?

Most of all I find UYDO’s focus on young African entrepreneurs unique. The importance and impact of the African youth has largely been neglected and it is to be realised that employment of this generation not only is an extremely important tool for the eradication of poverty, but also empowers young Africans to take an active role in their communities. The beauty of UYDO is that the money invested will be reinvested and reinvested again and benefit larger and larger parts of African communities. What is there not to be inspired about?

4) Who is the one person living or dead you most like to meet?

Nice and simple, everyone knows him: Michael Jackson. Even though the media have made us nice and tired of him at times, it can only be legendary to meet a man who’s changed the music trends forever and created his own dance-style. The creation of 5 albums among the world’s best selling albums cannot be anything else than a sign of pure talent.

5) What’s your favourite place in the entire world?

My family’s little, wooden house in Denmark. It’s the most peaceful place in the world close to the sea, no internet connection and no house phone. When I go there it is only to enjoy the presence of my family and forget about my troubles.

6) Tell us something about you that no-one else knows

I didn’t know how to make scrambled eggs until two months ago – I literally had no clue. Now I often make them and get compliments from my friends but I never tell them that it’s actually my flatmate who taught me!

To learn more about our volunteers visit www.UYDO.org

This Saturday saw in our monthly UYDO team meeting. As morning arrived, we all tried to forget our busy weeks, early starts and Friday nights and head off bright eyed and bushy tailed to Moorgate, to join UYDO execs from all over the UK.

For anyone who has used their own office at weekends, the bizarre feeling of stepping into what is usually a buzzing, busy office space, when it is entirely quiet aside from the humming of the fridge, will be a familiar one.

We are lucky enough to use the office space of Hewlett-Packard for these meetings. So entering the beautiful and grand buildings of hp, taking the glass elevator and stepping into a silent space of hotdesks, lockers and glass meeting rooms, the bizarre feeling becomes quite a surreal experience.

However, we put our awe at HP’s beautiful and silent offices to one side and were soon engaged in what turned out to be a fantastic meeting.

We heard the new marketing plan for 2010 (cue baffled expressions as our marketing manager, Louisa, tried to explain Twitter, tweetdeck and retweeting), plans for our March art exhibition “The Lottery of Birth” and exciting plans for a set of UYDO promotional videos. Everyone gave updates on their own work with UYDO and it was so exciting to hear how hard the team has been working and what they have achieved. A big thanks to all on this front.

We also welcomed two new members, Kristin, who will work on schools campaigns, and Layla, who joins us on loan from leading PR firm Band and Brown. Welcome to you both.

At 6pm we called it a day and ended our Saturday session where it should end – down the pub.

A great day, proving that sometimes weekend work isn’t as bad as it may seem, particularly first thing on a Saturday morning…

You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.

- Eleanor Roosevelt

For more inspiration, visit www.UYDO.org

Here lies the trials, tribulations and triumphs of the team from the United Youth Development Organisation as we try to make a World of Difference.

Three of us have a unique chance to turn our small charity into a mighty one. The journey may not always be pretty, but we promise this account will be brutally honest, always entertaining and packed full of interesting information and juicy titbits that will keep you coming back for more!

Although blog posts will be predominantly documenting our day-to-day triumphs and challenges as a young charity, and comments on development issues, we will also feature a regular array of team insights and online delights to keep things interesting!

Monday readers will find an inspirational quote to kill the Monday blues, alongside Tales of a Working Weekend: a short, humorous post from the challenges inevitably faced by third sector volunteers working weekends (we’ve all been there!).

On Tuesday’s will see Q&A with a member – as UYDO is run by youth volunteers our members are a vibrant and interesting bunch who would love to tell you why THEY are making a World of Difference with UYDO!

Each Wednesday we will introduce you to an individual inspirational to UYDO, their background and why they may inspire you – and also their twitter and facebook name so they can keep you fired up.

Thursday’s offering will be the best picture on the web that week, whether it may make you laugh or cry, you’ll want to show your friends!

Finally, but most importantly, Fridays are all about the Difference we are making each week at UYDO. A weekly video diary will outline how we have made a difference, however small or big, in helping and inspiring young people worldwide to stand united against poverty.

Thanks for your support in reading our blog, we hope to see you again!

The Team

www.uydo.org