by Flor Cagliero, World Scouting Youth Representative

25 September 2024

The Global Youth Mobilization model provides funding and resources to enable meaningful youth engagement, along with mentorship, coaching, and capacity building support.

The world’s six largest youth organisations, who lead the Global Youth Mobilization, held a high-level roundtable discussion on the sidelines of the 79th United Nations General Assembly and Summit of the Future this week to showcase the initiative’s model as a high-impact approach to empowering young people to drive sustainable development in their communities.

Hosted at the IFRC in New York, the roundtable was attended by Jutta Urpilainen, European Commissioner for International Partnerships, Dr Felipe Pauiller, United Nations Assistant Secretary General for Youth Affairs, Big Six CEOs and Board Members, leaders of civil society and youth activists.

The discussion focused on global challenges facing young people today, including climate change, unemployment and economic insecurity, access to education and healthcare, as well as the speed of technology advancement and growing up in a hyperconnected world.

Today, there are more than 1.8 billion young people between the ages of 10 and 24 representing the largest generation in history. Young people are worth investing in and have an incredible potential to create positive impact in society, however there are still many complex barriers to funding youth-led initiatives.

Initiated in 2020 as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Global Youth Mobilization has expanded into a movement of young people taking action to tackle global issues to improve their lives and their communities. Along the way, more partners and collaborators have come on board to support the initiative which offers opportunities for meaningful youth engagement by providing access to funding and resources, along with mentorship, coaching, and capacity building to young people with a focus on engaging marginalised and underrepresented youth.

The EU Youth Empowerment Fund, a EUR 10 million pilot initiative of the Youth Action Plan designed by, with, and for young people, is now being implemented in partnership with the European Commission and the Big Six Youth Organizations through the Global Youth Mobilization. In doing so, the fund will provide and facilitate access for young people to resources that will contribute to the sustainable development of local communities and societies in EU partner countries, helping to reach the objectives of Agenda 2030 in line with the EU’s Global Gateway strategy.

The high-level roundtable with leaders, policy-makers and young people at the UN General Assembly is raising the profile of the the Global Youth Mobilization as a key approach to engaging marginalised young people and grassroots organisations. 

The model connects and bring young people together in over 125 countries, providing direct financial support, training, mentorship, and networking opportunities to empower them in addressing sustainable development challenges. This holistic approach equips young leaders with the resources needed to drive change in their communities, while creating an enabling environment for young people to lead solutions to global and local challenges.

About the Global Youth Mobilization

The Global Youth Mobilization is an initiative of the Big Six Youth Organizations – a network of the world’s largest youth organisations powered by millions of volunteers across more than 190 countries. Together, the Big Six actively involve, engage and support more than 250 million young people in non-formal education and learning, contributing to the empowerment of more than one billion young people during the last century. Learn more at globalyouthmobilization.org.