The IYPF congratulates Cheryl Paten on being awarded Australian Young Engineer of the Year 2005!

Cheryl, a member of The Natural Edge Project (TNEP) team, was a key figure in the convening of the first International Young Professionals Summit 2001 and the formation of the IYPF. She has been a fantastic support and is truly an exceptional young professional.

The following excerpt from a TNEP e-mail gives some additional information:

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Cheryl joined TNEP formally in 2003 after working in a volunteer capacity. She brought with her energy and wisdom that has strengthened the project over the last two years. We believe Cheryl is a great ambassador to Young Engineers - Her commitment to her work and colleagues is unwavering and we are very grateful to have her on our team.

Cheryl was recognised for graduating from environmental engineering from Griffith University with a University Medal, four years in an international consulting engineering firm (Arup), eight months on contracts to the Queensland public service (Main Roads and the EPA), and her current collaborative role as Education Coordinator for TNEP and lecturer at Griffith University. She has worked on the Engineering Sustainable Solutions Program, is the TNEP representative on the International Advisory Board for the International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, and is currently working on a PhD to further embed sustainability principles and practices into engineering education. Cheryl’s research has been developed to feed into TNEP education priorities, focusing on the current level of sustainability education within engineering undergraduate degrees, and opportunities to significantly improve the national 'benchmark'.

Cheryl accepted her award on behalf of TNEP and thanked our mentors for their continued support. She also thanked her family, colleagues and friends for their patience with her passion and enthusiasm for making a positive difference!

http://www.naturaledgeproject.net/2005YoungEngineeroftheYear_CherylPaten.aspx

Welcome to our final newsletter for 2005!

Download here - http://www.iypf.org/news.htm#latest

And what a year it's been! Thank you for sharing it with us and we hope you'll be back, equally inspired, motivated and eager to create a better world for all through your actions in 2006. We look forward to assisting you further on your journey and providing opportunities for you to learn, contribute, act, support, challenge and excel.

There is a lot written in this newsletter about what we have achieved in the last 12-18 months, and where we hope and plan to go over a similar period in to the future. I have just got back from Melbourne where we held the 2005 Annual General Meeting, and I presented on these matters. You'll find a good summary in the IYPF 2005 AGM PowerPoint that is now available from our website. Our Annual Report for 2004/2005 will also be completed and released soon, with more depth and detail about our achievements, challenges and how we intend to move forward. I'm excited about where we find ourselves! We are assembling a great team and have some initiatives continuing that have great potential to contribute to our vision of creating a better world for all through local and global action taken by young professionals. We would certainly not be in the position we are if not for the contribution of our Board members, our staff, volunteer interns, and indeed everyone within our membership and network. Working with and meeting so many amazing young professionals is such an honour and a privilege for me - I can't help but be hopeful for our future! I take this opportunity to publicly thank everyone who has contributed to the IYPF's vision and mission over the last 12 months.I want to make special mention of two amazing women who have contributed so much to the IYPF over the last two years - our outgoing Director and President Martha Lee, and our outgoing Content Producer Nicole Randall. They have given so much and leave the organisation much the better for their input. It's fitting that both of them have contributed to this edition of our newsletter - a
reflection of their commitment and how much they will be missed.

In conclusion, I wish to thank you all for the ongoing honour of serving as the CEO of IYPF. It's been a long journey over the last 4 years. I've learnt so much and the organisation has grown strengthened, and is in a good position to further engage young professionals around the world and effect positive social and environmental change in the communities where our members work and live. When we get back in 2006, we'll keep moving forward with planning for the next 5 years, restructuring our Board reinvigorating our membership and processes, building our team, and putting in place the resources we need to better support all of you.

Yours in solidarity for a better world for all.

Cameron Neil
CEO, IYPF

HIV and AIDS Reflection
by Rassel Chisango

It is my pleasure once more to share my thoughts on this crucial topic, HIV and AIDS, with all of you amazing and youth, youth workers and young professionals across the globe.

I wanted to use this article as an opportunity for us to reflect on the World AIDS Day (December 1) theme: "Stop AIDS - Keep the Promise".

I recently attended the Voluntary Services Overseas - Regional AIDS Initiative of Southern Africa (VSO-RAISA) Conference on Stigma and Discrimination, in Pretoria, SA. There, VSO-RAISA advisory board member Professor Kelly noted that mankind seems to be getting used to living with HIV and AIDS devastations. As an example he sighted the ever-increasing number of Youth headed households.

The Professor also discussed "otherisation", a feature of AIDS-related stigma and discrimination, which is the strong tendency to regard HIV and AIDS as problems belonging to someone and somewhere else. For instance the north might "ease" in their response to HIV and AIDS viewing it as a problem of the south, as it is the hardest hit region in the world.

With such sentiments in mind let's ask ourselves where are we as individual beings or youth for youth associations; Where are our friends, our families, our companies, our governments, our networks,our "purely" development oriented NGOs, in the fight against HIV and
AIDS that has been going on for more than two decades?

Do we have any contributions, however small, that we are making? That is if we ever promised to do something. If there is, how are we fairing? Are we genuine activists or advocates, or are we mere gold-diggers and fake development zealots plundering HIV and AIDS resources at the expense of the infected and affected? The latter is the type that is motivated to occupy crucial decision-making positions by things other than the passion to deliver with no clue what it means when it is said that HIV and AIDS is a Global Crisis,an unprecedented developmental challenge!

Surely that's not what we promised when we got on to the HIV and AIDS battlefield - however if that has been the issue we can all start again. Lets re-orientate our minds this year-end and make life-saving resolutions to deliver effectively or, better still, to pave the way for others.

I've heard some uninformed policy makers at conferences, meetings,camps, launches, wrap-ups, workshops etc, grumbling and mewing over the under-utilisation of HIV and AIDS resources!

Funny, isn't it? I hear some youth, who have an action and results oriented roll out program for HIV and AIDS prevention and mitigation hovering around their heads, trying to find where these resources are lying idle so they can put their ideas into action as well. However,
what our dear policy-makers fail to realise is that it is "one thing to fend for a family and another to feed a family".

I agree HIV and AIDS resources might be there in some constituencies,but what procedures and steps need to be taken for instance by youth AIDS service organisations whom we always hear at the end of most of the prevention programs as having been the backbone for success in such initiatives.

As IYPHAN we make our World AIDS Day promise to stand-up and advocate for investment in and nurturing of youth talent, creating an enabling environment for effective youth participation and sustainable use of HIV and AIDS resources. This is in addition to the already mentioned IYPHAN vision, mission and objectives, which you can find at http://projects.takingitglobal.org/YP-HIV-AIDS.
Please join us if you subscribe to these goals. Together we are invincible!

As you join IYPHAN and make your promise this World AIDS Day,remember that "the challenges are immense but by no means insurmountable, where there is a will there is a way and that tough times never last but tough people do!"

Compliments of the Season, Merry Christmas and a prosperous '06.
Rassel is the coordinator of the International Young Professionals HIV&AIDS Network (IYPHAN) and can be contacted on rasselchisango@iypf.org
This article is taken from the IYPF's November / December 2005 Newsletter. To subscribe go to www.iypf.org and sign up through the subscription box.

Annual General Meeting

On December 3, 2005, IYPF's Annual General Meeting was held in conjunction with the Engineer's Without Borders conference in Melbourne, Australia.

At the meeting, members were given the opportunity to vote for the next Board of Directors and were given an overview of the previous year's operations.

Some of the highlights of the previous year were:

·The success of the Youth & Sustainable Consumption project.

· Presenting the Young People & the Millennium Development Goals to the Commission for Sustainable Development meeting in New York on April 19, 2005.

· IYPS2004, which encouraged new membership and partnerships as well as inspiring young professionals to take further action locally and globally.

· Establishing the Strategy Working Group to develop Strategic Plan for 2006-2011 and creating a Communications Policy for the IYPF Board and IYPF Financial Management Policy.

· Strengthening the IYPF networks and membership throughout the year,and keeping IYPF supporters informed of project progress and member achievements through the monthly newsletter.

· Representation at conferences and events throughout the world, and interest in IYPF projects and activities generated through this representation.

To read the minutes of the meeting and view the PowerPoint presentation, go to http://www.iypf.org/membership.htm#AGM.

Young Professionals and Corporate Social Responsibility
by S.J. Dawson

When I was at University, I was questioned for being sponsored by a multinational chemicals company whilst being the chair of our GreenWorld environmental society. I remember distinctly having to get up in the debating chamber and talk to people about my choice of either being the person outside waving a banner (which I would happily have done!) or being inside industry trying to make a difference. I was studying Chemical Engineering with Environmental Management and I firmly believed that I was making the right choice.There was a definite role, especially in the mid 90's, for people on the outside questioning and pushing manufacturers to make the right choices, but you needed someone who cared on the inside so that real changes were made and not just the bare minimum to keep the protesters from the door.

This is a choice I have never regretted from an ethical point of view. Working in industry, I have had the opportunity to do projects such as removing noxious gases from the atmosphere, improving emergency control measures to prevent pollution incidents and reducing energy emissions from factories. Probably much more than I could have achieved from the outside, although I have always tried to maintain great links and networks with people working on the environment and sustainability to "keep me real". Also, all great things for my company - each project contributing to profit.

At IYPS 2004, I spoke in a workshop about a Corporate Social Responsibility project I had been involved in whilst working at Unilever in Leeds. An "opportunity" had crossed my desk in that I saw a memo from head office saying that people were to be allowed to spend one day out of the office or factory to work in the community during "Vitality Summer". I call this an "opportunity" because it is the type of thing a Young Professional working in industry always keeps an eye out for - an opportunity to leverage working in the corporate sector to make a wider contribution. During a fortnight over 2500 employees across Europe each spent a day working on community or environmental projects. Practical help was given to all sectors of the community, but predominantly the young,elderly, disabled or disadvantaged, by running school health fairs,renovating buildings, creating playgrounds and gardens and setting up befriending projects. The natural world was also supported with a large number of man-hours spent on conservation work. The Leeds site had played a big part in the success of this event, with my team arranging 25 different events and more than 300 people taking part.We had taken everyone from senior managers to factory operators out into the community doing activities such as creating a school conservation area; painting a drop-in centre; hunting for dark-bordered beauty moth larvae; shopping with the elderly and running a soup kitchen.

In organising this, I found that the "Young Professionals" around me had the desire, passion and knowledge to make the biggest contribution. It was qualified people, mostly engineers, in the 20 to 30 age bracket I could count on to organise the different activities,to get their teams involved and to drive the work on the day. These individuals gave me their time and energy without question, and brought me the skills I needed (such as project management, risk assessment and communications) to get the job done.

I found myself wondering why they were doing this. Was it because they thought they would get recognised for it - not really, a lot of what they did went unrecognised because it was in their own time and they didn't make a show of their contribution, rather celebrated with their team when success was achieved. Did they do it for me? Perhaps a little, friendship always goes a long way, but asking people to commit that amount of time and effort just for a mate is maybe a bit much. Was it for Unilever? Again, perhaps a bit, our leaders had shown foresight and care in setting up the project, and I guess people like to work for a company they think cares. However, I think the main reason was that these Young Professionals cared themselves. They wanted to make a difference and they knew they could. They wanted to use their skills and experience for the advantage of others. They were just like me - they saw the "opportunity" and they took it.

A short while later, I was fortunate to be invited to the Business in the Community Awards for Excellence 2005 at the Royal Albert Hall in London. The Vitality Summer project was nominated for, and actually won, the European Community Engagement Award. I looked at the programme. All the great and good of British industry was there,doing the "Corporate Social Responsibility" thing. Awards were given for promoting healthy communities, protecting the environment,driving diversity in the workplace, impact on society, skills for life programmes and cause related marketing. These included a supermarket chain who had set aside an area for local suppliers (within 50 miles radius) who were too small to supply nationally to showcase produce and crafts, a multinational investing heavily in HIV education programmes "to help contribute towards the MDGs" and a Skillseeker programme for 16 to 17 year-olds from disadvantaged areas.

It seemed the projects were in fact very aligned to what we want to achieve in the IYPF. Sure, the businesses will be getting something from these projects (increased skills of their workforce, teamwork,advertising), but it was really apparent that the people who got up to speak about their projects really believed in them and were doing them because they were the "right thing to do". I asked around why they had worked so hard to set up these projects and found their ideals roughly the same as mine. They worked for big companies and wanted to use this to "do good". They had found their companies supportive of this and they too "took the opportunity".

If you work in a big corporation, don't let this stifle your aspirations for a fair and just world, without poverty or hatred,where the environment is cherished and protected. Seize the opportunity it presents. What could you and your colleagues achieve in a day? You are in a great position to make a difference. Remember CSR is usually good business from a financial, legal, moral and ethical perspective and companies will normally support it. Use the IYPF or other networks to understand what are the important issues in the World today and use your position in work to help effect a change.

This article is taken from the IYPF's November / December 2005 Newsletter. To subscribe go to www.iypf.org and sign up through the subscription box.