Making youth engagement meaningful: recommendations to Member States.

  In Our Common Agenda, the United Nations Secretary-General urged the United Nations system and Member States to take steps to make youth engagement in United Nations deliberative and decision-making processes “more meaningful, diverse and effective”. Institutional capacities to meaningfully engage with young people need to be built and strengthened to this end, both across United Nations entities and in Member States, making use of the tools and resources at our disposal. It is only in this way that our institutional cultures can be transformed in the long term. In recognition of the vital contributions that young people can make to securing a breakthrough to a better future for all, the United Nations Secretary-General urge Member States to take action in three critical areas.

Initial consultations with Member States, the United Nations system, and youth-led and youth-focused organizations have produced broad clarity around the gaps and areas for proposed action as presented in the present brief. Now, Member States have an opportunity to seize the momentum, and elaborate on each of these areas for action, exploring in greater depth how best to deliver on our common commitment of engaging young people in decision-making in the most meaningful and effective manner possible. The United Nations Secretary-General  also urge young people to continue to support and participate in our efforts to advance Our Common Agenda, to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals and to engage in decision-making processes with a spirit of openness, inclusion and partnership that this moment demands.