Piece by Peace: A Collaborative UNESCO Youth Movement to a Brighter Future

We - young people engaging with UNESCO from Canada, Finland, Germany, Iceland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Philippines, and Sweden - believe that every National Commission would benefit from a youth participation format that invites young people¹ to think through and contribute to the decision-making processes, the programmes, and the actions that UNESCO initiates grounded in the mandate to strengthen ties between people to build peace; to strengthen international cooperation in the fields of education, science, culture, and information.² Our creative and unique perspectives are valuable to UNESCO’s present and future. 

There is a multitude of possibilities falling under our operationalised umbrella term “youth participation format”. Depending on national and regional contexts, individual youth focal points, youth commissions, youth forums, or other forms of meaningful youth engagement³ might be established. Examples of existing youth participation formats are highlighted in Appendix 1. Through listening to each other and reflecting on each other’s approaches to meaningful youth engagement in UNESCO’s decision-making processes, programmes, and actions, we not only build friendships and trust, but we can also see that inclusion of young people’s opinions is realistic and can be achieved in meaningful and generative ways. 

We advocate for three points of action:

1. Establish or strengthen permanent youth participation formats with at least an advisory role in, but preferably an equal position within their National Commission.
2. Facilitate international exchange and peer-to-peer learning sessions between National Commissions to implement successful youth participation formats that suit national and regional contexts.
3. Create a flexible directory of youth participation formats that forms the basis of a platform that enables youth participation formats to directly contact each other. This platform will allow youth participation formats to collaborate and to learn from each other, recognizing that personal connection is the ultimate deterrent to conflict.

As existing youth participation formats, we commit to helping implement these three points of action. We have experience in and knowledge about meaningful youth engagement, making us valuable to be included in the process of actualising these points of action. In the process of talking about us, do not forget to talk with us. 


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1. While the age group of 15 to 24 years old has often been used by the UN and by UNESCO for statistical purposes, UNESCO’s programmes respect context specificities (including regional and national age limits) in their definition of youth. More information can be found in the UNESCO Toolbox for Youth Policy and Programming (2024): "Because Youth Perspectives Matter" in the chapter “Who is youth” on pp. 32-44.

2. More information and an explainer video can be found on the UNESCO web page “About us”.

3. “Meaningful youth engagement” is further defined in Appendix 2. We operationalise “youth engagement” as the process of involving youth, whereas “youth participation format” is used to indicate a specific format that allows youth to participate actively within National Commissions through an advisory or participatory role. This format may vary depending on national contexts and is always specific to each country’s realities and culture of engagement with youth.