We Believe in Youth

The " We Believe in Youth" initiative advocates for the meaningful participation of young people leading up to the 2023 Global Refugee Forum (GRF). On this page you can read more about our work towards the GRF, and how we create pathways for sustainable futures for both refugee and host community youth.

Empowering young refugee voices

The first Global Refugee Forum (GRF) in 2019 underlined the increased urgency of working with and for youth to create more meaningful participation of refugee and host community youth in matters that concern them. This initiative aims to make sure young people affected by displacement will have a role in the further roll out of the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) and the 2023 GRF, and that their voices are heard and included. The Global Refugee Forum 2023 will take place between the 13th - 15th December in Geneva, with advance events on 12th of December.

Championing youth leadership

Youth agency, leadership, and engagement in all aspects that concern them are gaining more momentum in international policy forum, and the voices of youth are becoming a force of global change. To ensure that youth are properly involved in the processes towards the Global Refugee Forum, a group of youth led organizations and networks together with DRC, UNHCR, and the Compact for Youth in Humanitarian Action decided in the spring of 2021 to the We Believe in Youth initiative.

The efforts of the Compact for Young People in Humanitarian Action, as well as the development and launch of the IASC Guidelines on Working with and for Young People have further accelerated these trends, while providing a platform and tools for meaningful youth participation.

Youth recommendations

Youth joined together from about 40 different countries to discuss and develop their recommendations to international and national stakeholders on how to make national and global processes more youth-inclusive. Read their recommendations for how to achieve meaningful participation of youth in all aspects of the humanitarian and developing sector

Read the youth recommendations

The co-convening countries

In preparation for the GRF the initiative will host youth-led processes in four co-convening countries. The events will bring together young people with states, local authorities, private sector and other key stakeholders to discuss the youth agenda on issues such as protection, education, livelihoods, women and girls, representation etc. These convenings will result in concrete pledge proposals to be presented prior to the GRF in December and will also help strengthen the languages of other pledges by different stakeholders that include refugee youth’s perspective