7th February 2024, United Nations Headquarters in New York, CSocD62 Virtual Side Event organized by Syed Ali Mustafa from International Youth Conference (IYC), VANGUARD, AFS Intercultural Programs, UN Habitat Youth Programme, formally led by International Association for the Advancement of Innovative Approaches to Global Challenges (IAAI GloCha).
This Event concluded with a set of actionable agreements, aimed at enhancing youth participation in sustainable development and decision-making processes. Recognizing the crucial role of young people in shaping a sustainable future, the session underscored the importance of inclusive, innovative, and spiritual approaches to global challenges. The key outcomes agreed upon by participants are as follows:
-
Youth-Led Side Events at the UN Summit of the Future: It was agreed to organize five youth-led side events at the Summit of the Future in September 2024, highlighting youth initiatives and perspectives on global development challenges.
-
Informal Youth Summit of the Future: An "Informal Youth Summit of the Future" is set to be organized in New York in September 2024, providing a platform for young voices, especially those unassociated with accredited organizations or member states, to contribute to global dialogues.
-
Inclusive Access for Youth: There was a consensus on the need to ensure access to UN meetings and decision-making tables for youth who are not associated with accredited organizations, ECOSOC, DGC, or member states, with a special focus on participants from the Global South.
-
Digital Technology for Inclusion: The use of digital technology was emphasized as a key tool for broadening youth outreach and inclusion in UN dialogues and events.
-
Local Pacts for the Future & individual SDGs and climate action app (link to slides) have been presented by IAAI GloCha as action oriented engagement tools for citizens/youth engagement in SDGs implementation in the context of the UN SoF
-
Responsible Use of social media: The session highlighted the importance of leveraging social media responsibly to engage and reach out to youth unable to participate in traditional forums, ensuring their voices are heard.
-
Inner Spirituality: Recognizing the diverse backgrounds of global youth, the session noted the special place of inner spirituality in driving youth engagement and motivation.
-
Resource Generation for Participation: The need to generate resources to facilitate youth participation in the UN Civil Society Conference in Nairobi in May 2024 was identified as a priority, ensuring broad and diverse youth representation.
-
Continued Youth Outreach and Engagement: The ongoing efforts by the International Youth Conference and other partners to include youth in decision-making processes and significant conversations at the UN (such as ECOSOC Youth Forum, HLPFs, UNGAs, etc.) were acknowledged, with a commitment to continue and expand these initiatives.
For more information about the 62nd Commission for Social Development (CSocD62), please visit: https://social.desa.un.org/csocd/62nd.
Source: IAAI GloCha