Young people are indispensable partners in advancing the 2030 Agenda. As innovators, leaders and changemakers, they are at the heart of sustainable development, generating new ideas and advancing solutions that foster more responsive, inclusive and future-ready public institutions.
On 13 August, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ DESA brought together young leaders, practitioners and policymakers for the 10th Youth Forum on SDG Implementation. Taking place online after the International Youth Day on 12 August, the Forum was organized under the theme ¡°Advancing Youth Engagement in the Public Decision-Making Process through Digital Transformation and Innovative Governance¡±. The Forum received 674 registrations from 78 countries across Asia and the Pacific, Africa and beyond, including 48 presentation registrations and 626 audience registrations. Through interactive discussions, participants explored how digital innovation and youth-led solutions can strengthen meaningful participation in public decision-making and help accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The Forum was opened by Changseob Han, Head of the United Nations Project Office on Governance (Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵPOG), who highlighted the importance of creating meaningful opportunities for young people to contribute to SDG implementation. Reflecting on the Forum¡¯s 10-year journey, he noted its role in providing ¡°a valuable platform for young people to connect, exchange ideas and contribute their perspectives¡± on global challenges and opportunities. He also emphasized that, despite living in very different circumstances, young people share common aspirations for ¡°dignity, participation and opportunity¡±.
In his keynote address, Felipe Paullier, Assistant Secretary-General for Youth Affairs, underscored the urgency of accelerating progress towards the 2030 Agenda and the critical role of young people in this effort. He highlighted the potential of digital platforms and artificial intelligence to create new avenues for youth participation in public decision-making, while emphasizing the importance of inclusive and people-centred approaches. He also highlighted the relevance of Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ 2.0 in supporting more innovative, data-driven and forward-looking approaches to governance.
The Forum then turned to how youth participation can move beyond consultation towards meaningful engagement and co-creation. The first session explored how digital transformation and emerging technologies can create new opportunities for young people to contribute to policy design and agenda-setting, and representatives of the African Youth Commission and Youth for Privacy brought perspectives on youth leadership in policy design and the responsible use of AI for inclusive and participatory governance. Discussions also emphasized the importance of responsible innovation, including privacy, transparency and human oversight, as well as sustained engagement and feedback mechanisms to ensure that young people's contributions can meaningfully inform public policies and decisions.
The second session moved from dialogue to youth-led solutions. In preparation for the Forum, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵPOG invited young people from around the world to develop practical and scalable solutions to global challenges, drawing on the five transformative areas of the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ 2.0 Quintet of Change: data, digital technologies, innovation, behavioral science and foresight. Five teams presented proposals addressing challenges ranging from digital inclusion and local policymaking to sustainable energy, policy intelligence, road safety and youth engagement in accelerating the SDGs. Among the ideas presented were an offline-first AI platform enabling young people in remote and indigenous communities to contribute to local policymaking, and a sustainable fuel alternative made from agricultural waste. Together, the proposals demonstrated how young people can translate local challenges into practical and innovative solutions, while experts feedback underscored the importance of accessibility, evidence, impact measurement and clear pathways for implementation and scale.
The final session featured contributions from representatives of She Loves Tech and Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵESCO and explored how to build inclusive ecosystems that can help youth-led ideas develop and thrive. Discussions highlighted that digital access alone is not enough, and young people also need the skills, knowledge, networks and resources to turn ideas into action. Capacity development and strategic partnerships among youth, governments, international organizations, academia, civil society and other stakeholders were also brought up as essential factors to creating an enabling environment for youth-led innovation. The session also reinforced the importance of moving beyond consultation towards co-creation, with young people engaged as partners from the outset and supported to shape, implement and monitor solutions.
Across the Forum, a clear message emerged that meaningful youth engagement is not simply about giving young people a voice, but about creating the conditions for them to exercise agency and contribute to public decision-making. Digital transformation and emerging technologies can help expand these opportunities, but their contribution must be grounded in inclusion, transparency, accountability, privacy and human oversight. Sustained institutional support, capacity development and partnerships is also equally important in ensuring that youth-led ideas can contribute to more inclusive, responsive and future-ready governance.
The Forum concluded with a call for continued collaboration to strengthen youth participation in public decision-making and support youth-led innovation, reaffirming that young people must be empowered not only to voice their ideas, but to help shape the decisions and solutions that will define their future.
The key messages and youth perspectives received from the Youth Forum will inform the Youth Session of the 10th Regional Symposium of the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ DESA/DPIDG/Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵPOG. This event will take place in a hybrid format in Incheon, the Republic of Korea, in November 2026, extending opportunities for youth-led ideas to gain visibility and contribute to broader discussions on governance and SDG implementation.
and discover how young people are helping to shape a more sustainable and inclusive future.