Global Youth Mobilization

World YMCA is proud to be a founder member and a key player in the Global Youth Mobilization (GYM), an initiative implemented alongside five other members of the ‘Big 6’ the world’s largest global youth organizations.

Through GYM, World YMCA works to ensure that youth have knowledge, skills and resources to address the most pressing challenges in their communities and to articulate their voice on these issues in local, regional and global spaces.

GYM’s first phase was launched in December 2020 with support from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations Foundation.
While marking the GYM 1.0 launch, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, said “WHO remains committed to continuing to work with the Global Youth Mobilization, and we encourage other partners to join the next phase of the initiative and invest in the health and well-being of future generations”. Mr. Carlos Sanvee, Secretary General, World YMCA and GYM Board Member said “We have seen that young people must be involved at the highest level of decision making and trusted to develop solutions. By enabling and trusting them to deliver projects on the ground, young people have made a real difference to their local communities, as well as creating a collaborative network that can make an impact in the future as they learn from each other.”
GYM 1.0, addressed the negative impact of the Covid pandemic on young people and supported them to rebuild their lives and communities. GYM 1.0 reached nearly 600,000 youth and over 3.6 million benefitted from national and local projects in over 125 countries. Projects focused on mental health, gender inequality, education and employment, and protection against – and prevention of – Covid.

Click here for more information on GYM 1.0

The EU and the Big Six joined forces to implement the Youth Empowerment Fund through the Global Youth Mobilization. The purpose of the partnership between the Youth Empowerment Fund and GYM is to increase the contribution of young people in all their diversity to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) within their communities and societies. This will be achieved through two key objectives:

1) Improved engagement of young people in their diversity and their organisations, including the Big Six networks, in the implementation of initiatives related to sustainable development of their communities and societies.

2) Increased capacity of young people in all their diversity to connect, lead, take action and advocate for their needs in relation to the SDGs.

Click here for more information on GYM 2.0