Pelumi Olugbenga was recently at the United Nations headquarters in New York. In this piece, he shares his experience participating in deliberations at the UN General Assembly. “If you can dream it, then you can achieve it”. – Walt Disney A few weeks ago, I applied online to attend the United Nations General Assembly High Level Meeting on Peacebuilding and Peace Sustainability as a Speaker/Youth Representative/Observer. For you to apply and stand a chance of being selected, you must meet certain requirements such as being a Founder, Manager or Leader of a duly registered social enterprise, civil society or advocacy organization or any other active player in the citizen sector involved in peace building. You will equally be required to upload your up-to-date C.V (résumé) as well as your biography and achievements in the citizen sector. All your submissions in the course of your application will be thoroughly verified by either or both the Office of the President of the United Nations General Assembly and the UN-NGLS. After exchanging a couple of mails with the organisers about my organisation, I was eventually selected for the programme albeit very close to its commencement. Due to the short notification, I had to deal with certain challenges which initially made my attendance of the programme almost impossible. As fate would ultimately have it, everything astonishingly worked pretty well – huge thanks to my mentors who guided and supported me. My flight which arrived New York 1am on the 24th of April,2018 (the first day of the programme) was a very nostalgic one as my excitement equally came with the anxiety of being late for the programme due to what is known as jet lag. Nevertheless, being my third academic/business trip to the United States in less than 8months – jet lag failed to get the better of me. The first day of the programme required that you pick up a United Nations pass (already made available for all approved participants) from the UN Plaza before you then proceed to security screening and subsequently to the United Nations General Assembly hall. The General Assembly hall during a High Level Meeting is usually filled with Presidents from different countries, Diplomats as well as Ambassadors of Permanent Missions to the United Nations and other top United Nations officials. At the commencement of the High Level Meeting, the Secretary – General of the United Nations – His Excellency, Antonio Guterres addressed the Assembly. The Secretary General underscored the prevention of conflicts as the best way of maintaining peace in the world. Mr Guterres equally stressed the importance of the joint study carried out by the United Nations and the World Bank Group. “The Pathways for Peace: Inclusive Approaches to Preventing Violent Conflict” is a joint United Nations–World Bank Group study that originates from the conviction that the international community’s attention must urgently be refocused on prevention. A scaled-up system for preventive action would save between US$5 billion and $70 billion per year, which could be reinvested in reducing poverty and improving the wellbeing of populations. The study aims to improve the way in which domestic development processes interact with security, diplomacy, mediation, and other efforts to prevent conflicts from becoming violent. It stresses the importance of grievances related to exclusion—from access to power, natural resources, security and justice, for example—that are at the root of many violent conflicts today. Based on a review of cases in which prevention has been successful, the study makes recommendations for countries facing emerging risks of violent conflict as well as the international community. Development policies and programmes must be a core part of preventive efforts; when risks are high or building up, inclusive solutions through dialogue, adapted macroeconomic policies, institutional reform, and redistributive policies are required. “Life is too short to be average, to be ordinary or to even settle for less. The greatest of men are those who dream big and work hard to achieve phenomenal feats. The phenomenal is not unattainable as those who achieve it are no higher or lesser humans than others. Success is equally no guesswork and neither does it happens by accident. Rather, it is a product of hunger, hard work, strategy and tested principles. It represents the wise choice of many alternatives. I strongly believe in a relentless pursuit of excellence & greatness. All these make me defy my young age to achieve record breaking feats. If there is anything life has taught me, it is that no dream is too big for anybody.