The 11th UNESCO Youth Forum
Written by: Vusi Tshabalala
Every two years, youth meet at UNESCO’s Headquarters to discuss the challenges we face today falling within UNESCO’s fields of competence. This year, the Forum had the opportunity to showcase and discuss good practices in youth engagement with UNESCO in the context of the Youth Space Initiative or other projects youth have developed with the support of the Organization. Youth Spaces in Action took place at U
The outcome document of the Forum will be presented by youth at the General Conference. The constitution of a Global UNESCO Youth Community of Practice (YCoP), that will be growing regularly with new engaged youth from throughout the world, will ensure a long-term relationship between UNESCO and youth and facilitate their direct involvement in the Organization’s work at all stages and in all domains of concern to young people.
Every two years, youth meet at UNESCO’s Headquarters to discuss the challenges we face today falling within UNESCO’s fields of competence. This year, the Forum had the opportunity to showcase and discuss good practices in youth engagement with UNESCO in the context of the Youth Space Initiative or other projects youth have developed with the support of the Organization. Youth Spaces in Action took place at U
Earlier this year in September the UNESCO Man and Biosphere (MaB) hosted its 2nd International MaB youth forum in China which was attended by 200 young people from biospheres across the world where South Africa was represented by the Kruger 2 Canyons Biosphere. Building on from that, the MaB youth organisers selected 5 young leaders to represent the MaB programmes during the 11th UNESCO Youth Forum.
The outcome document of the Forum will be presented by youth at the General Conference. The constitution of a Global UNESCO Youth Community of Practice (YCoP), that will be growing regularly with new engaged youth from throughout the world, will ensure a long-term relationship between UNESCO and youth and facilitate their direct involvement in the Organization’s work at all stages and in all domains of concern to young people.
The Forum participants were selected based on the projects they have co-led or co-shaped with UNESCO on the ground. The youth participants represented many different youth engagement modalities and regions across the globe; there were researchers, entrepreneurs, media personalities and change-makers, who had at least one thing in common –the objective to enhance meaningful engagement of young people in UNESCO’s work.
For the first time, the UNESCO Youth Forum was fully designated and ran by young people themselves! A Youth Steering Group (YSG) was established in August 2019, consisting of 5 young leaders from all regions of the world (Africa, Arab States, Asia & the Pacific, Europe and North America, Latin America and the Caribbean).
The main objectives of the 11th UNESCO Youth Forum consisted in creating strategic and meaningful recommendations on youth engagement with UNESCO, to better shape the work of the Organization when it comes to including young people in every stage of programme and project design. These recommendations were presented by youth at the 40th session of the UNESCO General Conference on 27 November 2019 by participants. For the two days of the Forum, the participants and panellists combined their skills and strengths to create courageous, innovative and meaningful results, which were presented at the 40th session of the General Conference. The participants strongly recommended for the UNESCO Secretariat to have a youth observatory seat in the Executive Board to ensure linkages between UNESCO Youth and UNESCO’s governing bodies. Moreover, they invited UNESCO’s Director-General to formulate a ‘Global Youth Advisory Group’, consisting of members that are representatives of youth from across all regions, including vulnerable groups. It was also recommended that UNESCO should establish monitoring and financial support mechanisms to ensure that young people are well-represented in the development and implementation of UNESCO programmes.
During the closing session, selected participants gave a dynamic presentation of the outcome documents that include strategic recommendations on youth engagement with UNESCO as well as a document outlining the Global Youth Community of Practice (YCoP). The YCoP intends to bring together different streams of youth engagement, to facilitate youth-to-youth collaboration and intergenerational learning. Its objectives are to encourage and facilitate the meaningful engagement of young people in the development and implementation of UNESCO projects and structures. It is meant to emerge as a learning community for and by youth around the world to co-design and co-implement projects related to UNESCO’s fields of competence in a safe, flexible and inclusive space.
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