Carlos went on: ‘We in the Big Six, the world’s largest youth empowerment organisations, we know when to ‘get out of the way’ of young people. And we know when to hold the space for them. We understand the value of intergenerational work, which is built on the premise that young people have many of the answers to the challenges they and their communities face, but that they need help – and small-scale funding – to get their ideas off the ground.’
The Youth Empowerment Fund – delivered by the Global Youth Mobilization (GYM) of which the Big Six are founding members, and funded to the tune of Euro 10 million by the EU – is just one highly effective way of giving microfinance to young people worldwide to fund their own initiatives towards meeting the Sustainable Development Goals. It’s set up by young people, and it’s for young people.
In its first phase, established with the WHO in the face of the disaster of Covid, the GYM reached nearly 600,000 young people, and over 3.6 million benefitted from national and local projects in over 125 countries. It was set up not just because young people were so badly affected by Covid, but in recognition of their capacity to find and deliver solutions.
In its current second phase, it has already seen a huge response to the first round of ‘Open Call’, and made over 400 awards of €500 to €1,000 having received over 10,500 applications. A second round is now under way.
The ECOSOC side-event looked at some of the issues behind youth funding, and the many other avenues for young people to get their ideas off the ground. All of the panellists brought different perspectives.
- Michelle Chew, IFRC Youth Commission Chair and IFRC Representative on the Global Youth Mobilization Board said: ‘There’s lots of noise about youth empowerment, but there are still so many invisible barriers to entry for young people. And there are lots of calls for data, but nothing beats storytelling to showcase impact – let us loose with short video, not lengthy paperwork. Thank you to the Big Six for putting up their hands for young people, and promising to be their intermediary to secure funding’.
- Dr Felipe Paullier, Assistant Secretary General for Youth Affairs, UN Youth Office, said; ‘The youth space is huge and it’s growing – it’s why in 2022 a special UN Youth Office was established. Many people are trying to move the system and there’s no monolithic approach: so all of these actors have to act in partnership. We have to do it together’.
- Dr Suchi Gaur, Senior Director of Strategy and Operations, World YWCA said: ‘Our progress on women’s rights and young people’s rights has been more symbolic than systemic – it needs to be truly transformational, not transactional. We need a mindset-shift: why shouldn’t we fund women and young people? why shouldn’t we see them as designers and not just implementers of projects? why shouldn’t we want to trust them, not control them? We have left behind the systems we grew up with, and ‘changed the space’.
- Michael Leo, GYM 2.0 Youth Panellist and Peer Mentor, exhorted young people: ‘Don’t wait for permission to make change: start with what you have and do what you can. And to you donors: microfinancing for young people is the smartest move you can make’.
- Renaud Savignat, Head of Section of the International Partnerships and Sustainable Development Section of the EU Delegation to the UN in New York said: ‘We absolutely believe in the youth voice. It’s why we set up youth ‘Sounding Boards’ to ensure that our funding would be youth-friendly, and it’s why we let young people themselves select the projects they think should be funded. They also tell us how to reach all young people, not just the ones from the best environments with the best connections’.
- Waad Mohamed, a youth advocate at WAGGGS (World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts) said: ‘My work in the “Free Being Me” program and leadership initiatives within the Egyptian Girl Guides is living proof that young women can break societal barriers’.
Follow the full 90-minute debate on the GYM YouTube channel.
