The Big Picture: Trends, Challenges and Opportunities

Dear participants, 

Welcome to the discussion on the big picture. I am Irem Tumer, and I am the focal point for youth leadership and participation at UNFPA headquarters. Together with Penninah, we are excited to moderate the first week of the discussions. 

As you can see above, we have posted two sets of questions. The first one focusing more on the macrotrends affecting young people today, and the second one about UNFPA's work delivering for young people. 

Pick one (or more), and let us know what you think! 

Looking forward to the discussion, 

Irem 

Trends, Challenges and Opportunities.

5. Priorities for recovery especially adolescent and youths should include the following:

i. Risk reduction by intensifying behaviour change communication programs

ii. Availability and access to contraceptives

iii. Identify and engage youth ambassadors to promote advocacy on sexual reproductive health rights

UNFPAs work for and with young people.

3. Innovative pathways the next 4years( 2022-2025):

i. HIV Counselling and Testing services

ii. With poor mental health outcomes among young people, Reproductive Health Programming should incorporate psychoeducation in program delivery.

Trends, Challenges and Opportunities.

1. Covid-19 showed us that young people are quite flexible and resilient when it comes to crisis management, therefore, it is important to invest in young people's meaningful participation in decision-making, particularly in relation to the topics which can be connected to the potential crisis in future. Climate Change is such kind of topic. The adverse impact of Climate Change will bring more and more challenges and the impact will be visible in almost all areas of human development since development processes are all inter-connected. Young people will be the ones who will have to fight back and "fix" whatever older generations have done to harm the environment and triggered Climate Change at this scale, therefore, it is important to provide spaces for them on different levels of decision-making. 

On the other hand, it is also crucial to raise awareness of young people about the importance of their participation. As a young educator and advocate, I have noticed throughout my work with young people, that usually most of them feel quite indifferent and neutral to the important issues of societal development and well-being. 

To sum up my answer to this question, I believe the next 9 years will be the moments of reconsidering, revisiting, and analyzing history, in order to really achieve equality it will be the time when people will stand up for their rights, particularly those who have been marginalized and disadvantaged for already long time. Therefore, it is crucial to give them space and really ensure that they are represented meaningfully. 

Thank you for your valuable inputs Jika and Anuki! 

1.-What are the main issues related to adolescents and youth that UNFPA is uniquely placed to work on or connect more closely to?
UNFPA has the capacity to listen to and support the initiatives of young people of African descent, which we develop locally.
Our population group faces many challenges that prevent our voices from having an impact on our realities, however with advice, financial support and above all with emotional support and safe spaces to confront the violence we experience we will achieve it. I am a firm believer that we must create changes from the basics, the essentials, that transform our immediate realities.

Why? 

Because they only listen to us until we have the backing of international agencies, and that does not even guarantee that we will be heard. Yet it gives us strength and support. Many times our struggles only lead us to death, at the hands of the system that is enriched with our blood

3.-What are innovative pathways for the next 4 years (2022-2025) which UNFPA should explore in its programming for and with young people?
Ancestral development, native and afromexican communities know what its the best to our lands, we can develop our lands with the correct resources

As a young man that right now is figting against the steal of my ancestral land against a canadan mining company i must say that we need protection, Roy Martínez, Homero Gómez, Carmela Parral, Samir Flores, are martyrs for the defense of our ancestral heritage an land...i do not feel safe against the blatant extractivism on my country
The world is ending and they want more world destroying natural spaces.

4.-Where do you see the greatest potential for new avenues of collaboration that UNFPA could explore?

Eethnoeducation, and the preservation of ancestral heritages to fight against the enviromental racism that destroys our communities. The right to the territory in order to protect our land from the destruction and sacking, but to prevent the forced migration. 
We are because we belong, we need to use our cultural heritage to fight all the violence that we experience in our bodies, in our souls.
We need to create spaces of collective healing.

5.-What does success look like?
I will never see success If I die in a better world in which I was born, I will know that I will be remembered as a man who gave his life to the human cause.
When would you say that UNFPA has made a valuable contribution to this area of work?When I meet people like me in decision making spaces, every time I look at the diversity in their offices and I realize that they have a space for everyone, I have a little faith

Thank you for your replies David and bringing to attention the issues that Afro-descendant young people face. We appreciate your inputs and reaffirm that there is a space for young people in decision making spaces! David Alejandro Gómez Arriaga 

1. What are the main issues related to adolescents and youth that UNFPA is uniquely placed to work on or connect more closely to? Why?
2. Young people today especially in Nigeria face many obstacles  The sexual and reproductive health needs of adolescents are often underserved in many societies , yet adolescents constitute large proportion of the population.and are characterized by series of physiological, psychological and social changes that expose them to unhealthy sexual behaviour such as early sex experimentation, unsafe sex and multiple sexual partners that’s why you see escalating cases of SRH problems like early marriage, teenage pregnancies, unsafe abortion, sexually transmitted infections HIV and AIDS, and other life threatening SRH problems This suggests the need for adequate attention towards adolescents’ sexual and reproductive health. Adolescents’ SRH needs and problems are yet to receive adequate attention especially in the developing countries like Nigeria.Efforts to attain quality sexual and reproductive health are constrained by inadequate, access to and inequitable distribution of quality SRH services About 40% of new HIV infection occurs among young people in Nigeria . This could result from early sexual debut and early marriage which increase adolescents’ HIV vulnerability
3. there is need to Mobilize Youth for Action to provide Accurate and comprehensive information on their sexuality Education , Support and rnposkills to postpone starting sex for those who are not yet sexually active;
   Improve Access to protective measures to prevent unwanted pregnancy, STDs including HIV/AIDS for those
   who have initiated sex;
   Protection and care from sexual abuse and exploitation; and
   Access to a range of youth-friendly services that are designed to promote their sexual and reproductive
   health.

Hola querido equipo del UNFPA, aqui mis comentarios:

Tendencias, desafíos, oportunidades: 

1. ¿Qué desarrollos clave (incluidas oportunidades y desafíos) anticipa para los próximos 9 años (2022-2030) que afectarán directamente a los jóvenes y que tendrán un impacto en el logro de los compromisos de 2030? (Por favor, dé ejemplos globales, regionales y locales). 

R: El aumento de la brecha de desigualdades a causa del COVID-19, la represión por parte de los gobiernos en algunos contextos nacionales y locales en latinoamerica por ejemplo México y Centroamerica en la apertura de un espacio civico sano y abierto donde puedan participar las organizaciones en especifico las juventudes, el aumento de la violencia y el crimen organizado.

1. Cuando mira hacia adelante al menos treinta años e imagina el mundo en 2050, ¿qué mega tendencias considera que son las más críticas? ¿Por qué?

El cambio climatico debido a la crisis que se esta presentando actualmente y que no ha habido cambios tangibes en algunos contextos regionales, el uso de nuevas tecnologías y el aumento o dismunición de la brecha de desigualdades.

1. ¿Cómo ve el vínculo entre el cumplimiento de los derechos y la salud sexual y reproductiva y abordar los desafíos clave en torno a las megatendencias que ha identificado? 

Transversalizando cómo estas tendencias afectan el ejercicio y acceso de de los derechos sexuales y reproductivos desde el principio de indivisibilidad de los derechos humanos.

1. ¿Qué problemas emergentes, que pueden estar al margen ahora, cree que podrían volverse más críticos en 2050?

El manejo de emergencias por pandemias globales, la salud emocional y el acceso al derecho a la salud.

1. A la luz del profundo impacto que tiene la pandemia de COVID-19 en los jóvenes de todo el mundo, ¿cuáles cree que deberían ser las prioridades para la recuperación, especialmente para los adolescentes y los jóvenes? ¿Cómo afecta esto a la programación juvenil del UNFPA a largo plazo? 

La salud emocional, el acceso al trabajo y autonomia de continuar con su proyecto de vida.

El trabajo del UNFPA para y con los jóvenes: 

Este conjunto de preguntas se centra en el trabajo del UNFPA, especialmente en lo que se refiere a los jóvenes.

1. ¿Cuáles son los principales problemas relacionados con los adolescentes y los jóvenes en los que el UNFPA se encuentra en una posición única para trabajar o conectarse más estrechamente? ¿Por qué?

En la experiencia que tienen en el uso de datos y abriendo espacios donde las juventudes comunmente no estas inmersas (derechos sexuales y derechos reproductivos)

1. ¿Cómo puede el UNFPA apoyar mejor a los jóvenes para que tengan derechos y opciones en torno a su salud y derechos sexuales y reproductivos?

Trabajando con ellxs, ser mas cercanxs, adaptarse a sus necesidades, trabajar desde la base y no solo con personas jóvenes privilegiadas.

1. ¿Cuáles son las vías innovadoras para los próximos 4 años (2022-2025) que el UNFPA debería explorar en su programación para y con los jóvenes?

Acercarse al trabajo comunitario, fortalecimiento de capacidades para la incidencia, vinculación con movimientos sociales de personas jóvenes, uso de tecnologías y otros medios de comunición.

1. ¿Dónde ve el mayor potencial para nuevas vías de colaboración que el UNFPA podría explorar?

Vinculación con el trabajo de base comunitario y el fortalecimiento de capacidades para la incidencia (creación de redes de trabajo)

1. ¿Cómo se ve el éxito? ¿Cuándo diría que el UNFPA ha realizado una contribución valiosa a esta área de trabajo?

Cuando las juventudes puedan lograr su maximo potencial sin que se les vulnere por ser jóvenes.

Thank you for your valuable inputs Edwin Reyes Adam Abdullahi 

Trends, challenges, opportunities: 

1. 3. How do you see the link between fulfilling sexual and reproductive health and rights and addressing key challenges around the megatrends you have identified? 

I was raised in a small village in the Republic of Moldova, the aspects written below are just personal conclusions.
As a project coordinator at Y-PEER Moldova organisation, I had the possibility to meet people from other villages and also cities. Unfortunately, I saw a big difference between children raised in a village and a city. Teens from villages are more inhibited and shy to speak about their sexual and reproductive health. They were touch that “well-raised” kids do not speak about this “intimate” subjects. At the same time, I saw very open-minded children in cities, speaking freely about their body, without shame and fear. From my perspective, it was “cool” to speak about your sexuality and reproductive health in the cities and it was a shame to speak about sexual and reproductive health and rights in villages. So, I would say, speaking about this is a megatrend in cities, that’s not bad. Speaking with kids, I concluded few causes of these differences:
1. Distant teen-parent relationship in villages
2. The religious part (People from villages are more connected with the church, thinking that it is a sin to speak about sexual and reproductive health and rights)
3. Less informed people in villages
It is sad to speak about this differences between villages and cities, I truly believe that there are some exceptions, but this is what I experienced in my activity.

UNFPA’s work for and with young people: 
What does success look like? When would you say that UNFPA has made a valuable contribution to this area of work?

Even if there are a lot of aspects to work on, I would already say that UNFPA achieved a great success in the Republic of Moldova. I could see how the activity of Youth Klinic improved in my region during years. Being part of “Health education – my right, my choice” campaign, I could see the big impact that it had on teens in my village, being more open to speak about sexual and reproductive health, being very excited to participate in all the activities we organised.
The most important result I am looking forward to is decreasing the differences between the level of information between teens from villages and cities.

UNFPA is doing a great job when it comes to adolescents between the ages of 13 - 24 years. In strongly feel that the youth between the ages of 25-35 are being neglected when health programmes are being developed and designed. These people are still considered as young people in my country with some of them still going through the same social issues that adolescence go through. 

Covid 19 has presented a lot of challanges when it comes to young people taking care of their sexual and reproductive health. Recent trends in Zimbabwe have shown that due to the previous and recent lockdown a lot of young people are idle and have resorted to sex and drug use to cope with what I think is a sense of hopelessness and idleness. When they were in school they were occupied but at this moment were most of them come from homes were there cannot all afford and access online education or even the so called private lessons they have very little to do.

There is also limited parental monitoring because most parents are out looking for means to feed their families some are even going beyond the boarders despite the lockdown. The reality is most people ask themselves what's better dying from Covid 19 or dying from hunger. So at the end of the day feeding the family is better than hiding from the threat of Covid 19 in the confines of a home that does not have adequate food. 

Cases of early pregnancies are rising and most teenage girls  are involved in the wifestyle kind of life with older men. I refer to it as a wifestyle kind of life because these kids are not getting married legally and within customary laws but they are staying with men whom they recognise as permanent boyfriends which has resulted also in high cases of gender based violence and child abuse. 

Despite all the sex these children are engaging in they lack knowledge on how to protect themselves and even on how to use contraceptives. 

Hi friends! 

From Feb 1st, my colleague Heidi and I will be handed over to moderate the discussion on the 'big pictures' in this consultation room. 

We look forward to hearing your amazing ideas and thoughts. Your voice will help us shape our new Strategic Plan. As it says, 'nothing about us, without us'. 

So, if you have any thoughts regarding the questions listed on the board, or if want to react to any comments from other young people. Please drop your message here!

Let's keep it going :)

Heidi and Gaoshan

1. What key developments (including both opportunities and challenges) do you anticipate for the next 9 years (2022-2030)  which affect young people directly and that will impact on achieving the 2030 commitments? (Please give both global, regional and local examples.) 

My response to this is COVID has expanded inequalities in the world, especially in developing countries with little or no social safety nets, there are emerging evidence to show an increase in school dropouts especially among girls

I also see opportunities, the world of work has changed and more people are investing and looking into how to deliver better educational opportunities using digital tools and maximising local resources.

1. When you look ahead at least thirty years, and picture the world in 2050, what megatrends do you see as being the most critical? Why?

There is a growing movement in Africa, where young people are unmasking the culture of silence, and where young women are maximising their agency and speaking up. Opportunities exist to use these movement to pull down harmful cultural and traditional practices using novel and innovative ways

1. In light of the deep impact the COVID-19 pandemic has on young people around the world, what do you think should be the priorities for recovery, especially for adolescents and youth? How does this impact UNFPA’s youth programming in the long term? 

Provide opportunities for young people to take active part in shaping local and national policies, post COVID,

Prioirities should also focus on education, skills and providing accurate information to young people about SRHR

Trends, challenges, opportunities:

2. When you look ahead at least thirty years, and picture the world in 2050, what megatrends do you see as being the most critical? Why?

By the year 2050, climate change would be the most critical and evident more than ever before. But its impact on lives, more than on economy, is what would and should be heartbreaking and pressuring for, not only the government of the country, but also on NGOs such as UNFPA. The developed countries might be able to keep up with the changes of the time but the ones that would suffer the most will be the developing and underdeveloped countries. The challenges already faced in achieving the goals, will only get worse in the time, and might even nullify the work done till date by UNFPA or other similar NGOs. By that time, most of the government who chose economic development over environmental development wouldn't even be around and the youths of now would be paying for their decisions. Therefore, helping the youth in practicing their rights to securing a safer future would be better than securing a better future.

UNFPA’s work for and with young people:

4. Where do you see the greatest potential for new avenues of collaboration that UNFPA could explore?

The best place to start is in education sector. It would be like putting shackles when an elephant is younger than when it's an adult. 

Eugyen Wangchuk thank you for your insights! 

1. In light of the deep impact the COVID-19 pandemic has on young people around the world, what do you think should be the priorities for recovery, especially for adolescents and youth? How does this impact UNFPA’s youth programming in the long term? 

I do very much agree that education and employment opportunities should be prioritized for adolescents and youth as these are the aspects that were deeply affected during the pandemic. Their ability to finish school and be able to advance economically would impact their future and the nation’s socioeconomic growth.

UNFPA’s work for and with young people: 

Apart from adolescent sexual and reproductive health, UNFPA is uniquely placed to work on genuine youth participation in different decision-making processes. UNFPA also has the capacity to empower and listen to young people’s concerns. In the Philippines, the country office was able to successfully involve young people in organizing and conducting intergenerational dialogues between young people and key government officials by providing them a virtual safe space. The post-dialogue evaluation forms show that young people appreciated the dialogues as they were able to directly hear answers to their questions or concerns in a direct and youth-friendly manner. In addition to that, a number of youth groups were also provided opportunities to create solutions that would address the needs of their communities. This is crucial as many Filipinos are suffering from the COVID-19 crisis.

Essentially, UNFPA enables young people to participate and lead in innovative solutions and while it was successful in providing opportunities for them, I feel that the impact could be felt greatly if resources are allocated specifically for youth programming (Note: This may not be the case in other regions). Moreover, there is a need for the organization to reflect how working with and for youth is operationalized. A concrete example would be reviewing the organization’s requirements to officially engage young people as direct partners or even as youth interns for example. I feel that these requirements should be adjusted to consider young people’s capacity to comply documents that are generally and historically submitted by adults. This is coming from a couple of feedbacks that have been relayed to the youth team in the Philippines during engagement with them.

To end this on a more positive note, we can say that UNFPA is successful when young people can decide for themselves and be able to significantly participate and contribute in different levels of decision-making processes, may it be in community , provincial/regional, or national level.

Thank you all for providing this space for sharing!

1. The emergence of the COVID 19 pandemic has affected adolescents and young people globally especially accessing quality health care. The attention of the world has been shifted to the pandemic with little or no attention to other health-related concerns with emphasis on sexual &reproductive health.

Also, experiencing mental health difficulties by adolescents and young people. The pressures this generation of young people face also extend to their mental health. These effects of living with a mental health difficulty are both profound and pervasive, as it infiltrates many areas of a young person’s life, affecting their confidence, performance at school and their prospects of finding work. Without help and support, this can even lead to individuals taking their own lives. One in four young people who experience mental health difficulties have self-harmed or attempted suicide.

Suicide is the biggest killer of young people. But despite the considerable numbers of young people affected and increased public awareness and recognition. This stigma exacerbates the negative effects of living with mental health difficulties, and most significantly it prevents them from speaking out and seeking help, meaning many adolescents and young people suffer in silence with their mental health difficulties. However, addressing stigma alone is not enough. It is critical that young people know where to go and appropriate services are available when they do speak out and look to seek help, something which currently isn’t the case.

Opportunites

1. We need to establish more youth-friendly centers equipped to enable adolescents and young people to access information and services.

2. The need to be creative and innovative in developing technological platforms that promote access to information and services for adolescents and young people.

3. Track the funding for programs such as COVID 19  and level of implementation at all levels.

Trends, challenges, opportunities: 

2. When you look ahead at least thirty years, and picture the world in 2050, what megatrends do you see as being the most critical? Why?

One of the ways to move forward is by learning from past events. Challenges are very well present in our world today. In the next 30 years, I see a world where the trend of Inequality won't be present and I believe that is the most critical because the presence of inequality can determine the magnitude and manner of our response to challenges.  As inequality reduces in some part of the world, we see an increase in the well-being(mental) of the individuals, as people can express their value in full capacity and access better services, this over the years would translate to a Higher Human Development Index of the country and furthermore, the world at large.  The days ahead of us are almost unpredictable as Covid-19 has shown us, one thing we can do for sure, is to equip ourselves and be ready to work together with equal rights and access, to overcome the challenges ahead of us and utilise the opportunities. 

Calling all young people, and anyone else who have an interest in young people!

It is 15 February, and I will be taking over the moderation for the next 2 weeks. 

This is the final sprint to add you perspective on the big pictures, how macro level changes impact young people and how it should inform UNFPA's next strategic plan.

We want your input, please share your thought on any or all of the questions.

I look forward to hearing from you!

One of the key development challenge which I have seen is teenage pregnancy -marriage and school dropout. Once girls fall pregnant, they often opt for marriage and decide no longer to go back to school as they now have to provide.

This needs to be seriously addressed as it has a direct link to poverty increase as well as HIV/Aids.  

Thank you for raising this important issue. Teenage pregnancy is one of our core indicators. 

How do you see this reflected in your community? And what do you think UNFPA could do to address the issue?

Apart from the consequences for the young girls themselves, how do you see teenage pregnancies impact communities and what effects do you see it has on naitonal development?

Couldn't agree more on the issue of teenage pregnancy and it's centrality to UNFPA's work across the globe. 

it would also be interesting to hear about community led solutions to mitigating teenage pregnancies and helping teenage mothers claim back their future.

In light with Trends, challenges and opportunities: question five.

The one of the neglected key areas that Covid-19 is the pyschosocial area for young people. With the pandemic we have seen a rise in GBV cases, rapes, suicides, teen pregnancy, depression and substance abuse that directly add to the HIV AIDS burden we are working to eliminate. I believe addressing the pyschological aspect for youths will promote Behavior Change. This to should also include the provision of youth friendly centres to provide such services and mentorship programs that encourages youth participation 

1. What key developments (including both opportunities and challenges) do you anticipate for the next 9 years (2022-2030)  which affect young people directly and that will impact on achieving the 2030 commitments? (Please give both global, regional and local examples.) 

Youth Bulge Restless Development has been discussing the "youth bulge" where 1 in 4 people are under 30 in the world today with as high as 90% of young people residing in developing countries. Opportunities to engage young people in governance and across all fields of development will be critical as this generation comes to age. Rather than seeing this youth population as a trend to fear, manage, censor, or control, we see the need to create more youth-led and youth-focused opportunities that build capacity and leadership across all sectors. There's an important element to consider around youth and social movements and to ensure that policy, development, and human rights exist in much more accessible and engaging ways for young people. If the UN system is creating silos between youth-agendas and adult-led processes/agendas, without significant input and voice from young people, we risk falling behind in terms of relevance. We think youth leadership in social movements is significant and it's important for their analysis finds their way into UN and government spaces. Put youth at the center.

Economic justice & livelihoods - So many development programs focused on youth economic opportunities and training but the reality is that there aren’t enough jobs to meet the youth bulge. It's not training, it's job creation that is a core issue.

Decent Jobs / Entrepreneurship - With less access to decent jobs, more and more youth are embracing entrepreneurship. How are young people getting by? It’s often a mixed approach that uses a variety informal and formal employment. It will be important to understand how organizations can learn from young people on their responses to precarity. Restless' own research highlighted that youth are not just interested "a job" but a pathway towards self-actualization and meaningful work. 

Resourcing youth civil society. With the unpredictability of bilateral and government funding (for example the reduction and restructuring of development aid in the UK, the unpredictability of political leadership/agendas in US) - youth civil society continues to be in a precarious place. Restless believes there has to be a drastic investment in youth and youth leadership, not just through an individual basis but supporting youth civil society as a whole. This means UNFPA and other organizations should be an ally in advocating for flexible and core-funding for youth-led organizations. Overhead and staffing are not easy for CBOs to cover, yet they continue to receive project-based funding. We believe there will need to be a major shift from viewing youth as strategy-makers, not strategy takers. 

Internet access and connectivity - the next 9 years will be a massive shift as governments become more adept at regulating (and at times, weaponizing) digital surveillance, security, normalizing targeted internet blackouts, and their relationship with tech platforms and corporations. Censorship issues are already widespread in limiting civic participation that may be critical of government policies and human rights abuses - and these policies will target the most outspoken which are often young people, feminists, climate activists and others. 

Misinformation and what is labeled as threatening runs the risk of targeting youth activists and those in the rights community. We are going to see a big rise in data and surveillance regimes, but is the human rights community paying attention? With more young people gaining access to the internet - likely to rise most dramatically in Africa - how can we support vibrant online discourse to hold governments (and corporates/other stakeholders) accountable?

2. When you look ahead at least thirty years, and picture the world in 2050, what megatrends do you see as being the most critical? Why?

Climate Change - Countries will have to redirect national budgets and cooperate multi-nationally for adaptation if not mitigation for climate-related impacts. As it currently stands if climate change is not addressed, current short-term gains will give way to massive long-term crisis and stagnation, impacting the amount of resources countries, especially the developing world, can dedicate to social safety nets and welfare related to all the global goals (thus impacting everything from education, job markets, gender equality etc.). Climate change will impact how resources are national budgets are spent - and this will disproportionately impact the poor, exacerbating joblessness, housing, access to welfare.

Job Market Shifts We are already seeing segmentation of labor across developing countries though these are not aligned with the number of graduates holding professional degrees. There will be large scale introduction of AI and AI-assisted labor in many sectors impacting livelihoods of young people. As professional degrees becoming scarcer, young people will have to grapple with an increasingly unstable economy. The gig economy model will also have long-term impact on job security, benefits and livelihoods.

3. How do you see the link between fulfilling sexual and reproductive health and rights and addressing key challenges around the megatrends you have identified? 

Backtracking Advocacy Wins Misinformation and a closing of civic space, including free press and the right to protest, is already undoing decades of gender advocacy on hard-fought wins on reproductive justice, CSE, gender norms and sexual rights. Instead “family values” and nationalism or ethno-religious arguments around gender binaries, definitions of what a family is, compulsory heterosexism and defunding rights to abortion are becoming more normal. With less bilateral funding to support gender and sexual rights movements and a lapse in leadership by traditional government champions, the gap between sexual rights increases. 

Precarious Youth Civil Society A lack of funding, lack of leadership, and lack of access to decision-making spaces by youth-led reproductive justice organizations remain a challenge. Youth activists and advocates, not only because they represent a major constituency, but because there are still fundamental issues of power-sharing and gatekeeping when youth work with adults. means that youth leadership will be a challenge if not addressed.  Their voice as rights bearers and advocates should be supported, which includes through investment, capacity building, and better intergenerational power sharing.