Year in Review 2023
See how we've made a difference for young people in 2023


Today, around 1.3 billion young people aged 15-24 are working to build their skills for a better future, but many continue to face disproportionate challenges and struggle to find decent livelihood opportunities. For young people living in lower-middle-income countries, the challenges are further compounded by limited access to quality education, economic instability, and climate change.
Yet, despite the challenges and growing uncertainty, there is reason for hope. Unprecedented opportunities are emerging to support young people, particularly within the rapidly expanding digital and green industries. Guided by our 2022-2025 Strategic Plan, the Generation Unlimited Public-Private-Youth Partnership (PPYP) network is breaking new ground in seizing these new opportunities — from digital and green skills to AI and youth climate action — to realize young people’s potential, wherever they may be.
Overview of our 2023 Results
Together with our community of global and local partners, we reached 64 million young people in 50 countries. Our impact spans the entire learning-to-earning journey, from equipping young people with job-relevant skills and dignified livelihoods to fostering entrepreneurship and driving social change at scale.
Importantly, among the 64 million young people reached, around 2 million achieved outcomes classified as transformative — including job placement, business creation, and social impact initiatives.


69% of programmes focused on digital skills

62% of programmes focused on green skills, jobs, or environmental action

51% of young people benefitting from our activities were women
Total Unique Young People Benefitting from GenU Activities in 2023

Portfolio of GenU Programmes in 2023

Impact Area 1: Skills & Employment

In 2023, GenU reached 45.4 million young people through programmes relating to Skilling & Employment. A total of 156 unique programmes were implemented under this impact area, with a diverse portfolio including digital & STEM skills, vocational training, career guidance, mentorship, apprenticeship & work experience, and job placement. Over 16 million young people gained skills, completed courses, and received certifications, while over 900,000 young people experienced transformational outcomes such as securing apprenticeships, gaining work experience, or job placement.
Passport 2 Earning

In collaboration with founding partners, Accenture, Dubai Cares, and Microsoft, as well as other partners including FCDO, Unilever, Standard Chartered, and Silatech, P2E is on a mission to equip 10 million young people with free world-class, job-relevant skills, thereby unlocking pathways to economic opportunity. First deployed in India in October 2022, work in 2023 focused on increasing the breadth and scale of P2E, whilst demonstrating viability. By September 2023 – after only 11 months of operation – P2E had skilled and certified 1 million young people through courses of more than 10 hours. By the end of 2023, 1.65 million out of 2.88 million young people enrolled in P2E had completed a course (10+ hours) and received certificates on digital productivity and financial literacy. At least 896k of them were adolescent girls and young women. By the end of 2023 P2E had also expanded its footprint and was live in six countries: Bangladesh, Brazil, Egypt, India, Nigeria, and Rwanda.
1MiO

One Million Opportunities (1MiO) is a GenU Brazil initiative that promotes professional training, employment, income generation, entrepreneurship, and civic participation for vulnerable adolescents and young people in Brazil. In 2023, it generated 512,870 opportunities, including 326,416 apprenticeships, internships, and first jobs, and 186,454 training courses in various skills. 1MiO engaged 167 large companies, 41 major social organizations, 7 state governments, 1,822 municipal governments, and 8 major urban centers. It also introduced green jobs and climate change skills to 4,549 youths from the Amazon and Semi-Arid regions. In collaboration with ILO, the Ministry of Labor and Employment, and the UN Global Compact, 1MiO launched the National Pact for the Productive Inclusion of Youth in 2023, promoting youth employability and quality apprenticeships.
Impact Area 2: Entrepreneurship

GenU reached almost 1.2 million young people through programmes relating to Entrepreneurship. A total of 36 unique programmes were implemented under this impact area, with a diverse portfolio including entrepreneurial training, innovation challenges, enterprise creation & start-ups. 89% of young people were reached through programmes having components relating to green businesses, thus unlocking entrepreneurial potential for positive environmental impact. Over 125,000 young people experienced transformational outcomes such as business creation, profitability, and growth.
imaGen Ventures

imaGen Ventures catalyses young changemakers from disadvantaged backgrounds to create and accelerate innovative, financially viable ventures that help to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Partners, including USAID, UNDP, Plan International and the World Organization of the Scouts Movement, support by awarding winning teams with seed funding or by acting as global judges. In 2023, 309,008 young participants in 20 countries were supported by imaGen Ventures to gain innovation skills through online and in-person activities and develop entrepreneurial ideas. More than 100 judges reviewed and scored business ideas, with 10 global winners receiving $10,000 in equity-free seed funding and incubation support in December 2023. These ventures – from Mexico, Iraq, Ghana, India and beyond – focus on clean energy, mental health, climate action, access to education and more. Previous global incubation recipients are generating economic growth in their communities, such as Uganda’s “Global Energy Saver”, who by the end of 2023 were employing nearly 50 young people to create bio-briquettes
EKYAN (Innovation Pilot)

The EKYAN programme is an innovative partnership between UNICEF Kenya, young Kenyans, and implementing partners such as Kuza and Educate! Launched collaboration with the government of Kenya during International Youth Day on 12rh of August 2023, the programme aims to equip young individuals, particularly women, with skills to pursue employment and entrepreneurial ventures in agribusiness. The programme emphasises regenerative agriculture practices and establishing circular economies, primarily in rural settings. Financial and programmatic support is provided by FMC Corporation, The World Bank, and the Kenyan and Dutch governments. EKYAN aims train over 10,000 youths in sustainable food systems and to foster 4,000 youth-led agribusiness incubators. These agripreneurs will aid more than 50,000 farmers to sustainably enhance their income while adopting climate-smart agriculture techniques.
BeGreen Africa

BeGreen Africa aims to tackle the urgent challenges of climate change, biodiversity degradation, and the depletion of natural resources. This pilot programme, supported by the IKEA Foundation, the Tony Elumelu Foundation and the government of the Netherlands, provides opportunities for youth entrepreneurship in a green and circular economy while addressing the triple planetary crisis, reducing inequalities, and creating sustainable livelihoods for the young entrepreneurs and their peers. BeGreen Africa provides training, non-refundable grants as seed capital investment, mentorship, and access to professional networks and financing options. In Kenya, BeGreen is targeting the waste management sector. In Nigeria, South Africa, and Senegal, the programme is focused on green enterprises more broadly. The pilots in the four countries will generate valuable insights that will inform the scaling of the initiative. In 2023, more than 7,000 youth across Africa submitted applications to join BeGreen, with around 4,000 candidates undertaking the first phase of the BeGreen training programme, the greened Business Management training. Some 485 of these ambitious green entrepreneurs across the four countries will be awarded $5,000 each in seed funding. This seeding is projected to generate revenues of $6.8 million and create approximately 2,000 jobs over the following two years.
Impact Area 3: Social Impact

GenU reached 17.2 million young people through social impact programmes. A total of 101 unique programmes were implemented under this area, with a diverse portfolio including youth voice & participation, civic engagement, social volunteering, and green activism & action. 67% of programmes had components related to green activism and action initiatives, thus leveraging young people’s potential to achieve positive environmental impact in areas such as water conservation, afforestation, and waste management, among others
Global Volunteer Initiative (GVI)

The Global Volunteer Initiative (GVI) mobilises 12 million young volunteers in more than 40 countries annually to deliver change in their communities while building critical 21st-century skills. From eradicating polio to planting millions of trees to playing a key role in pandemic responses, young volunteers deliver measurable impact at scale. Over the past year, with Unilever and Botnar funding, GVI has continued to support to country volunteer programmes, achieving substantial results. Highlights from 2023 include: In Brazil, over 200,000 youth took action to improve local biodiversity, address water and waste challenges, collect waste at river sources, plant and distribute seedlings, and run awareness & advocacy campaigns to replace plastic bags with ecobags. In India, UNICEF supported the government to mobilise over 10 million people to take proplanetary actions. The states of Maharashtra and Karnataka activated 401,500 young volunteers to save 282,136 cubic meters of water and educated 371,426 community members on water conservation. In South Africa, volunteers implemented a nutrition campaign to promote healthier lifestyles and food choices, including planting university food gardens and training young people to run community gardens.
Prioritizing Digital, Green, and Girls

As young people transition from learning to earning, they face a range of challenges that impact their lives in interconnected ways. To offer more comprehensive support to young people, we deploy holistic programmes and initiatives that combine skill-building, social impact, entrepreneurship, climate action and more into one package that prioritizes digital, green and girls. This way, we ensure that young people are not only ready for a changing world of work but also equipped to make a positive difference in their communities and contribute to a green future.
Examples include:
Girls’ Education and Skills Partnership (GESP)

GenU and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) have joined forces with nine businesses to boost girls’ access to skills and economic opportunities. A five-year programme, GESP aims to provide high-quality and market-relevant skills to 1 million young women aged 13-24, promoting equality of choice and access to learning, skilling, and livelihood opportunities. In 2023, GESP’s programme components were activated in the three focus countries – India, Bangladesh, and Nigeria. Through the Challenge Fund stream, girl-centred projects – led by Jaago Foundation, Save the Children, Sightsavers, Technoserve, and Yaba College of Technology – will increase the employment readiness of 79,300 young women in Bangladesh and Nigeria, providing skilling opportunities, facilitating access to mentors, supporting leadership development, and ensuring safe spaces for learning and work. The P2E platform is being leveraged to support young women in obtaining digital, transferrable, and employability skills. In 2023, P2E was activated in Bangladesh and Nigeria. Through GESP, over 1.2 million female users registered in this learning platform across the three countries, with over 694k young women completing course content on digital skills, financial literacy, and/or employability skills.
Green Rising

Green Rising was developed in 2023 to support youth climate action globally, ensuring that the most vulnerable youth receive the education, skills, opportunities and the power to contribute to a just green transition. It has rapidly gained global momentum, becoming a primary vehicle for delivering UNICEF’s Sustainability & Climate Action Plan’s vision of a global accelerator that supports young people to be champions for sustainability. Already, we see youth climate action taking many forms, from improving water security through river cleanups and promoting food sovereignty via community gardens to conserving biodiversity through reforestation. Additionally, young people are running waste management campaigns, green enterprises, app development, and advocacy to close toxic landfills. Green Rising has activated more than 2 million young people to take climate action in 2023. In India, over 400,000 young people were mobilized and saved over 280,000 cubic meters (280 million litres) of water. In Brazil young people in the Arid and semi-arid regions are cleaning rivers, planting trees, running campaigns to eliminate the use of plastic bags and successfully got a local municipality to close a toxic landfill. In South Africa, young people planted university food gardens, trained local youth to manage community gardens, and engaged in water quality monitoring, river cleanups, and water and sanitation awareness campaigns.
YOMA

Yoma is a transformative youth development platform that leverages a partnership ecosystem and mobile technology to empower young people across Africa with opportunities to build skills, generate impact, and earn. In 2023, through its diverse pathways, Yoma enabled over 465,980 young individuals, focusing on women, to access partner opportunities. Amongst these youth, some of the key achievements included: More than 13,000 certificates issued on Yoma, certifying participants‘ skills and the impact created. in Yoma’s digital skills pathways, 1367 youth completed an average of 120 hours of learning and a cumulative total of 164,073 hours of learning. Select youth have gone on receive scholarships with SAP in for technology careers in the educate to employ programme. Yoma’s focused environmental skilling and impact pathways— notably in South Africa and Nigeria—trained young people to become citizen scientists, ultimately leading to 1000 youth employed to support local government with environmental monitoring.
Accelerator Countries

The GenU Strategy 2022-2025 focuses on a group of geographically diverse countries with large youth populations not in education, employment, or training, supported by committed coalitions. By the end of 2023, GenU had delivered programs in over 89 countries. Priority is given to five 'accelerator' countries—Bangladesh, Brazil, India, Kenya, and Nigeria—which are showing promising results for large-scale impact.
GenU Bangladesh

GenU in Bangladesh developed a multi-year (2023-2027) flagship Initiative, ‘Skilled Futures,’ engaging public, private, and youth partners to focus impact, investment, and partnerships on skilling, employment, entrepreneurship, and social impact with and for young people - specifically adolescents’ girls, young women, and youth with disabilities disconnected from education, training, and employment opportunities.
GenU’s public, private, and youth partners engaged in programme prioritisation and partnership-building activities, including a strategy co-creation workshop for P2E, the GenU imaGen Ventures National Pitching Event, and Youth Challenge boot camps in eight divisions of Bangladesh. Nearly 800 teams (approximately 3,500 youth) applied to be part of the Youth Challenge, with 500 youth in 100 teams, primarily girls, participating in eight divisional boot camps to work on their unique solutions to chosen community challenges of climate change and gender.
Following capacity strengthening sessions, the 80-member strong GenU Bangladesh Youth Action Team (BYAT), spread across eight divisions of Bangladesh, designed and implemented their divisional-based initiatives on gender mainstreaming and youth leadership, engaging 400 youth across the eight divisions.
Through Alternative Learning Pathways (ALP), a comprehensive ecosystem-based diversified alternative learning programme, 6,992 of the most vulnerable out-of-school adolescent girls and young women enrolled for skills training (transferable and occupational skills), with 133 graduates securing employment/livelihoods.
Significantly, through collaboration and support extended to the national Ministry of Education, a skill-based curriculum in secondary education was introduced, estimated to have impacted 5.4 million students (with ~52% being female students) in building essential life skills and employability skills.
The country team supported the boosting of skill-based learning in the National Curriculum Framework, which aims to transform secondary education and prepare 10 million young people for the future of work, life, and livelihoods.
GenU Brazil

The Brazil One Million Opportunities (1MiO) initiative, launched in 2020 with the aim of promoting opportunities for professional training, decent employment, income generation, entrepreneurship and civic participation for vulnerable adolescents and young people aged 14 to 29, continued to expand during 2023.
Engaging 167 large companies (including Brazil’s 10 largest companies) and private sector organizations, 41 major social organizations, 7 state governments, 1,822 municipal governments and 8 major urban centers, the initiative has generated 512,870 opportunities, of which 326,416 were apprenticeships, internships and first jobs for vulnerable young people, and 186,454 were professional training, through courses in foundational, job-specific, digital, entrepreneurial and transferable skills.
1MiO is actively promoting the creation of job opportunities and skills development in partnership with municipalities through the UNICEF Seal, a certification that UNICEF gives to cities committed to guaranteeing rights and creating opportunities for children, adolescents and young people, and benefited approximately 90,000 adolescents and young people since 2022.
Through integration with Passport to Earning (P2E), more than 40 certified courses are being offered in a digital learning environment, with offline training and content available for educators and young people.
In partnership with UNICEF’s Office of Innovation (OOI), 1MiO implemented the Game Changers Coalition (GCC) program in Brazil, enabling more than 160 girls to participate in innovation days, where they developed skills in the STEAM curriculum.
Another significant advance was the introduction of skills related to green jobs and climate change, benefiting 4,549 young people from the Amazon and Semi-Arid territories.
In a significant partnership collaboration, 1MiO, with ILO, the Ministry of Labor and Employment and the UN Global Compact, spearheaded the launch of the National Pact for the Productive Inclusion of Youth in 2023, the first federal government program on youth employability and quality apprenticeship since 2016, which will use the same PPYP model to promote public policies for the positive transition of Brazilian youth into the world of work.
GenU India

In 2023, GenU India (YuWaah!) reached over 25 million young people across the country by connecting them to skilling, socio-economic, and changemaking opportunities. This large reach was driven by innovative and scalable solutions co-created with partners and young people, as well as active engagement with key stakeholders, such as the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change, Capgemini, Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, and United Nations Population Foundation.
Following the promising results of Meri LiFE, the platform launched with the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change that resulted in 25 million pro-planet actions across all ages in 2023, YuWaah strengthened its commitment to youth-centered climate action and launched Green Rising at COP 28. This aims to equip 50 million children and young people to become climate-conscious, adaptable, and resilient by 2030.
Scaling up existing solutions, YuWaah connected 1.5 million young learners to 21st-century skilling opportunities and enabled young people to emerge as changemakers, generating 50,000 youth-led ideas.
Focusing on job-readiness, collaborations with the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and Ministry of Labour and Employment were strengthened, resulting in the co-development of an apprenticeship report and joining the Ministry’s task-force on women's labor force participation rate as a knowledge partner. Further to the MoLE collaboration on strengthening efforts of the National Career Services portal, employment awareness sessions were launched and attended by 100,000 young people.
Lastly, YuWaah has also engaged with young people as co-creators, onboarding its third cohort of the Young People’s Action Team, comprising 49 youth advisors that engage with each of YuWaah’s solutions, and also launched the “Youth Ke Bol” advisory groups.
GenU Kenya

GenU Kenya’s ambition to expand digital solutions that connect 10 million young people to learning, skilling, and employment opportunities by 2030 is making progress. Aligned with the country’s Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA), GenU Kenya works with the government, UN agencies, the private sector, and young people to support inclusive growth through the creation of productive employment.
The co-creation with the government of the Joint UN Programme on Youth Skills, Employability, and Civic Engagement (2023-2026) seeks to give 500,000 youth across 14 counties access to decent employment opportunities, generate self-employment, and increase their voice and agency in development processes.
Significantly, the digital financial inclusion initiative designed to improve financial access, especially for young people, popularly known as the ‘Hustler Fund,’ has disbursed loans to over 21 million young people, with over 7 million repeat borrowers.
The National Youth Opportunities Towards Advancement (NYOTA), scaled-up from the Kenya Youth Employment and Opportunities Project (KYEOP), is targeting 40,000 vulnerable youth to increase employability, provide business support, and offer savings opportunities to create resilience.
Young people are also being engaged in a “Youth for Children” (Y4C) approach, where over 600 young people supported the collection and verification of Out-of-School children (OOSC) data.
Lastly, two GenU flagship programmes, ‘BeGreen’ and ‘Engaging Kenyan Youth in Agriculture and Nutrition’ (EKYAN), were launched on International Youth Day. With the support of The State Department for Youth Affairs and Creative Economy (SDYACE) Kikao program, over 2,000 young people registered and commenced the BeGreen training.
GenU Nigeria

In 2023, the GenU Nigeria (9JA) Public-Private-Youth partnership, which aims to connect 20 million young people with skills and employment opportunities by 2030, continued to provide young people with skills development, connection to opportunities, and support in making a meaningful impact in their communities.
Key partners of the 9JA ecosystem include the Federal Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development, Airtel, IHS Towers, ATC Nigeria Foundation, Microsoft, MTN, Unilever, CISCO, PWC, DSM-Firmenich, Jobberman, ILO, World Bank, and GIZ. Having a strong focus on delivering skilling at scale, GenU 9JA connected schools and communities to the internet, where amongst other activities Passport to Earning (P2E) was activated. The team also secured zero-rated (whitelisting) status for Yoma and 4 other learning platforms in Nigeria through the Airtel partnership i.e., Airtel users do not need to pay for data on these platforms.
Furthermore, the Unilever-UNICEF FUCAP (Future Unilever Campus Ambassador Program) initiative was activated, engaging over 75,000 young people. Efforts are also underway to expand the Youth4Children approach, a program empowering young people to advocate and increase service provision for vulnerable children. For example, GenU youth volunteers are raising awareness of the HPV vaccine in communities and advocating for girls to be vaccinated.
Additionally, over 560,000 young people have participated in civic leadership initiatives, allowing them to voice their opinions, needs, and solutions and actively contribute to society. Activities include contributing to the development of the National Life Skills Framework, engaging in climate actions such as sanitation exercises and tree planting, participating in Town Hall discussions on youth skilling and employability, and supporting the Nigeria e-birth registration campaign for children led by the National Population Commission.
Delivering as a Partnership
As a PPYP, GenU’s primary mission is to unlock the full potential of all young people—wherever they may be. We achieve this through broad and diverse partnerships with governments, businesses, UN agencies, international financial institutions, foundations, and civil society organizations. Each of these partners brings unique capabilities, resources, and expertise to the table, enabling us to develop and scale impactful programmes.
Our most critical partnership is with young people, who co-create programmes with us, ensuring their relevance and impact. They are positioned as leaders in the partnership, helping to drive our strategic direction, and hold positions at the highest levels, including the Board and Global Leadership Council. This way, together with our diverse range of partners, we’re able to create initiatives that are globally informed yet locally relevant across different sectors, cultures, and demographics.
In 2023, data captured by countries reporting on governance showed an increase in the number of countries with PPYP coalitions from 17 (in 2022) to 21 (in 2023). These 21 countries accounted for 83% of our results in 2023, an increase from 32% in 2021.
Founding Partners

Achieving universal access to learning, skilling, employment, entrepreneurship, and social impact for all young people by 2030 requires a strong and committed alliance investing in resources, partnerships, and innovative strategies.
The driving force that enables our results for young people in the transition from learning to meaningful livelihoods are our Founding Partners— Dubai Cares, IKEA Foundation, Microsoft, the Government of Netherlands, PwC, SAP, UNICEF, and Unilever.
Their contribution – both financial and in-kind – allows GenU to focus its efforts towards generating sustainable and lasting results for young people in an evolving world of work and life.
To help GenU skill and connect young people to opportunities, Founding Partners:
Provide Strategic Guidance: Founding Partners, including members of the Board, shape GenU’s direction and priorities, advise on operating modalities, drive innovation, mobilise resources, and strengthen GenU’s governance and results measurement to ensure high-quality skills development and pathways to brighter futures for young people.
Build Public-Private Youth Partnerships: Founding Partners, through their powerful networks and sector expertise, identify partnership opportunities and cultivate industry connections to scale up innovative initiatives benefiting young people globally. Comprised of CEOs from prominent businesses, foundations and youth leaders, the GenU Board attracts new partners and resources to develop and scale up programmes.
Support Programme Innovation, Impact, and Scale: Founding Partners help the development and scaling up of innovative programmes that address specific needs and opportunities in different regions to equip young people, especially girls, for success in green and digital economies.
Ensure Youth Centrality: Flexible funding guarantees the involvement of young people in the creation of solutions, ensuring avenues for engagement and feedback and building programmes that meet their real needs and aspirations.
Galvanize Support through Advocacy and Communications: As influential voices in their respective sectors, Founding Partners leverage owned and earned platforms to build credibility for GenU as a partner of choice to drive the agenda on skills and opportunities for youth. This includes participating in campaigns led by GenU and leveraging key external platforms such as government summits, World Economic Forum, COP, and more; championing the voices of young people and promoting their meaningful involvement in crucial discussions at a global, regional and national level.
Funding and in-kind support from Founding Partners allows GenU to optimise resource allocation so we are best placed to meet the evolving needs of young people. Funds are allocated to develop and scale programmes in countries via: technical assistance to design, deliver, scale and measure impact of skilling, entrepreneurship, and employment opportunities; ensuring that meaningful youth engagement is central to all GenU’s programming and operations at global, regional, and country levels; mobilizing Public-Private-Youth partnerships, technical, and financial resources to scale up programmes in countries; and operating the global partnership.
Global Resource Partners
In 2023, our Global Resource Partners have provided crucial financial resources to support GenU programmes globally and in countries. Along with our Founding Partners, this support has enabled us to expand our efforts in skills development, social impact, and economic opportunities for young people to provide them with the tools they need to thrive.
We also acknowledge the pro bono support, innovation, and creativity that many of our partners have brought to the table through a shared value approach, which has enabled us to leverage each other’s strengths and expertise to achieve greater collective impact.
Resource Partners | Public Sector

Resource Partners | Corporates and Foundations

Ecosystem Partners
Our ecosystem partners are essential to our ability to drive positive change for young people. Their knowledge, expertise, and networks enable us to co-create solutions that are innovative, sustainable, and impactful, and we look forward to continued collaboration and co-creation in the upcoming years.
Inter-Governmental Bodies
• African Union (AU) • Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) • European Commission (EU) • Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) • MERCOSUR • Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
Corporations
• Arm • DSM • ING • Mastercard • Pearson • Telenor Group
Global Partnerships/Initiatives
• Aga Khan Foundation • BRAC • Children’s Investment Fund (CIFF) • Consortium Jeunesse • Commonwealth Youth Council • Decent Jobs for Youth • Educate! • Education Development Center • Education for Employment • Giga • Global Business Coalition for Education • Global Partnership for Education • International Chamber of Commerce • Elman Peace and Human Rights Center • Goodwall • Higher Life Foundation • IamtheCODE • International Youth Foundation • JA Worldwide • J-PAL • Junior Achievement Worldwide • Plan International • Solutions for Youth Employment • SOS Children’s Villages International • Teach For All • Technovation • Theirworld • The Tony Elumelu Foundation • World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts • World Economic Forum Civil Society Organizations • World Organization of the Scout Movement • World YMCA International
United Nations
• International Labour Organization (ILO) • Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) • Office of the UN Secretary General’s Special Coordinator for Development in the Sahel • United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) • United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) • United Nations Environment Programme • United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) • United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI) • United Nations Global Compact • United Nations Office of the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth (UN Youth Envoy) • United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
Multilateral Development Banks
• African Development Bank • Islamic Development Bank • World Bank
Youth as Partners
As a leading partnership for young people, we understand that young people can make a difference and tackle the world’s biggest problems when they have the support of a global community of partners. That’s why we focus on building their skills, amplifying their voices, and creating opportunities for them to flourish and lead in their communities and beyond. This year, GenU has developed the Youth Centrality Index, which strategically guides efforts for meaningful and inclusive youth engagement in GenU’s programme design, implementation, and evaluation; partnerships; governance; and advocacy. This ensures that youth perspectives are embedded into every aspect of the work of the partnership platform, particularly at the country level.
We have also introduced a two-way mentorship between GenU’s Global Board and the Young People’s Action Team (YPAT), fostering intergenerational dialogue, co-creation, and mutual learning. So far, 8 board members of GenU have conducted mentorship sessions with 96 young people from global and local YPAT structures, with 96% of them expressing deep satisfaction with the outcomes.
As the second cohort of GenU’s Young People’s Action Team (YPAT) concluded their mandate, we also conducted a comprehensive, participatory, and youth-powered selection process for the third cohort, onboarding 66 new young people who will start their tenure in April 2024. They include inspiring young people from vulnerable communities from over 38 countries worldwide, with 67% being girls and young women.
GenU also supported multiple partners in incorporating meaningful youth engagement practices in their governance, assisted the Office of the UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth by having a YPAT representative serve as a global SDG Youth Ambassador, collaborated with UNESCO, UNGEI, the Green Jobs for Youth Pact along with ILO and UNEP, the Netherlands’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs Youth Advisory Committee, the Youth Economic Opportunities Initiative 2030, and YMCA’s Meaningful Work Strategy. Young people’s voices were amplified at 30 global conferences and convenings, reaching approximately 500,000 people. Finally, over 20 sessions with the YPATs have helped shape the direction of six programmes, collectively impacting millions of young people.
