Indian-origin women will make up three of the five delegates chosen to represent Australia at the G20 Youth Summit in Washington D.C. later this year.
The G20 Youth Summit, also known as the Y20, is the official engagement group of the G20 Leaders’ Summit. In August, the Y20 will conduct a week of negotiations to produce a set of policy recommendations feeding directly into the G20 leaders’ agenda.
Isha Desai, Madura Katta, and Riya Rao were selected from a national round of competitive applications by Global Voices, a civil society policy organisation. They will each lead negotiations across key global challenges, from economic reform to food security, global health, and conflict.
The three women met in Canberra earlier this year, where they engaged with the Human Rights Commissioner, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. In between sessions, Isha, Madura and Riya connected over their shared experiences as South Asian women and are excited to actively shape global spaces as they prepare to travel to Washington together later this year.
Isha Desai
Isha Desai is negotiating on the Global Economy and Job Creation track. She is currently researching the rights of gig workers in Australia, as well as policies to increase medium/high density developments to provide more affordable housing. In addition to her duties at the G20 Youth Summit, she is developing a policy brief with Global Voices to strengthen Australia’s policies to support climate refugees in the Indo Pacific.
In high school, Isha took modern history and economics, becoming fascinated with how change happens slowly on the international level. This led her to study politics and international relations at the University of Sydney, where she had the chance to intern at the United States Studies Centre.
“My highlight as an Australian delegate has been meeting with the G20 team at the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet to hear their insights and advice for working at global summits. I am especially excited to be travelling with other like-minded young women. Riya and I also connected over going to the same Indian wedding four years ago!” Isha told Indian Link.
Madura Katta
Moving as a 12-year-old from tropical Bengaluru to -25℃ weather in Edmonton, Canada, helped Madura Katta understand how domestic and international inequities shape health outcomes for people across the globe, and negotiating different perspectives became a daily part of her life.
While pursuing a Bachelor of Science at the University of British Columbia, Madura was drawn to public health policy, addressing problems at a system level and developing sustainable and resilient interventions targeting the drivers of health issues. This led to her pursuing a Master of Public Health at the University of Queensland, and she hopes to bring this perspective to engaging in diplomacy at the global level.
“Growing up in India, and then immigrating to two different countries helped me understand how domestic and international inequities shape health outcomes for people across the globe. I hope to bring this perspective to the G20 Youth Summit, where I am negotiating on the Food Security and Global Health track,” she says.
At the G20 Youth Summit, Madura is exploring food security, disaster preparedness, and health financing. She is also drafting a policy brief on how to limit exposure to unhealthy foods to improve dietary patterns and health outcomes for Australians as part of the Global Voices fellowship.
Riya Rao
Riya Rao was born and brought up in Sydney’s West, where she got used to seeing people like herself absent from rooms that matter. Studying International Studies and Media (Communication & Journalism) at the University of New South Wales, with a year at King’s College, London, shaped her focus on the role of policy communication, and whose voices are included in that process.
Riya’s turning point was fieldwork in Tanna, Vanuatu, contributing to a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade-funded project; Fiksim Sola, co-designing solar literacy and repair strategies. Working within remote, Ni-Vanuatu communities, she saw how quickly locally led solutions can falter without long-term policy support. This informed her contribution to the Global Voices journal, on how Indigenous knowledge inclusion can build resilience into Australia’s disaster governance system – a separate duty from her Y20 work.
At the G20 Youth Summit, Riya is negotiating on the Fragility, Conflict and Violence track, where she hopes to mediate between communities and decision-makers: listening, translating lived experience into policy and making those outcomes accessible again. Working alongside delegates like Madura and Isha, she is looking forward to ensuring global policy discussions include the voices of those most affected by the decisions they produce.
As the second-largest minority group in Australia, estimated to grow to the largest by 2031, it is no surprise this year’s Y20 Australia Team is majority Indian-origin. For Indian-Australians, this demographic shift is an opportunity to step up from being part of this society to actively driving change in their communities.
Isha, Madura, and Riya are keen to hear from other young Australians who would like to improve their local, national, and global communities, to bring these perspectives with them to the G20 Youth Summit.
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