INTERCULTURAL

LEADERS

In September 2025, during the UN General Assembly, the UN Youth Office will convene the #YouthLead Festival — a global moment to celebrate the leadership of young people and spotlight their role in shaping a more just, inclusive, and sustainable future. Anchored around the High-Level Plenary Meeting commemorating the 30th anniversary of the World Programme of Action for Youth (WPAY), the Festival will consist of a series of events to bring together governments, the UN system, youth organizations, and civil society to create momentum during the high-level week and reflect on progress and mobilize bold, intergenerational action for the future.

In the lead-up to the #YouthLead Festival, the UN Youth Office invites young people and partners from around the world to host and participate in #YouthLead Dialogues between July and August 2025. These conversations are an opportunity to bring local voices into global decision-making by reflecting on progress, sharing lived experiences, and proposing bold solutions for advancing youth rights, participation, and empowerment.

• Host a #YouthLead Dialogue: Organize a conversation in your community, classroom, organization, or network. Dialogues can be formal or informal, online or in person. We encourage youth-led, intergenerational, and inclusive formats.
  • Don’t forget to submit your dialogue’s key takeaways via the form (https://forms.office.com/e/X5R8gXyRVu) by Sunday, 17 August 2025.
• Share your perspectives on the SparkBlue Online Space hosted by UNDP: Speak up here — anytime, anywhere. This is your opportunity to contribute independently, whether as an individual or part of a youth group.
• Answer the U-Report poll hosted by UNICEF: Shape global decisions from the palm of your hand! We’d like to know what you think about the situation for youth today and where it is heading. The poll is available in Arabic, French, English, and Spanish. You can answer it by sending “LEAD” to U-Report any of the following channels:
  • Answer on Instagram by clicking here.
  • Answer on Facebook by clicking here.
  • Answer on WhatsApp by clicking here.
• Help spread the word: Use the hashtag #YouthLead and tag @unyouthaffairs. A full toolkit, including resources and key messages, is available on this Trello board.

No matter how you choose to contribute, all inputs will feed into a global summary document that will help to inform the high-level meeting commemorating the 30th anniversary of WPAY and other major intergovernmental processes and spaces. Co-prepared with UNICEF Innocenti and the UN Futures Lab/Global Hub, the document will also count with additional insights from a foresight workshop in late August.

Together, we can help ensure young people’s voices are heard, seen, and acted upon — at every level.