A CHILDMINDER will be the voice of young people in the UK at an international conference this weekend.

Elly Mawson will be the UK’s youth representative at the G(irls)20 Summit in Moscow where she is joining fellow delegates from each of the G20 countries, along with the European and African Unions.

The 21 participants who are all girls, aged 18 to 20, will debate, discuss and design ways to improve communities around the world by empowering girls and women.

They were selected from hundreds of applicants, based on their responses to questions about leadership, personal triumph and their ability to find innovative solutions to economic challenges in their communities and globally. They will represent their countries in Moscow prior to the G20 Leaders meeting in September where the world's most powerful nations will gather in St. Petersburg, Russia.

“I thought it would be a good experience," said Elly, 20, who runs her own childminding business, Elly Totts, from a converted barn at her home in Cawood.

“I was working in India with the Girl Guides and someone there was a translator at the 2012 event in Brazil. They told me how much fun it was and I thought it sounded interesting. I Googled it, saw the application form and revised a lot of politics, and got through.”

Elly said she was amazed to find she had been chosen.

High on the group's agenda will be encouraging the various countries to tackle arranged and forced marriage among young girls and women, after Elly met a girl in India who was forced into marriage at 14, and told she would be burned if she did not have a child by the age of 15. Elly, who also volunteers as a leader at the village Rainbows group, hopes when the group presents to the G20, their aims will be taken on board.

She said: “Every child should have an education, that's one of the millennium development goals, and I think education is very important.

“I think from doing childminding I can teach them things that are tailored to them, because I don’t have a class of 27, I can teach them what they want to know.”

Farah Mohamed, president of the G(irls)20 Summit, said: “The summit brings together girls of all backgrounds and equips them with the tools to put their ideas into action. Together, they share and harness innovative ideas and put forth solutions that have the power to literally change the world.

“They are a resource the G20 leaders can count on.”

For more information on the organisation, or taking part next year, go to girls20summit.com