Nowhere is it more important to give young people a voice, than in the Commonwealth.With 60% of the population aged 30 and under, young people need to be at the forefront of decision making to guide and inform our development. With so many pressing issues facing the Commonwealth and the world: rapid urbanisation, climate change, the need for sustainability in the various ways in which we live, the Sustainable Development Goals, which provide a blueprint of what we need to achieve to ensure we leave no-one behind, young people must be part of this.

Youth in cities

That is why CLGF is ensuring that youth has a key role in our areas of advocacy and supporting our members to engage and serve young people in their communities is a key priority for CLGF. The Commonwealth Sustainable Cities Network (CSCN) is the vehicle that brings together local government and city mayors from the 54 Member States of the Commonwealth to share best practice and debate pressing issues relating to the growth of urban areas and the increase of people moving to cities. In 2021, it was agreed to increase the focus on youth and a specific Youth in Cities strand was added as an additional, specific focal area for the network.

Linking policy to action dialogues

As part of this commitment the CSCN has recently commissioned a paper on Youth in Cities in the Commonwealth and will be holding a series of cross-Commonwealth dialogues in the coming months on how better to link policy to action in responding to the specific issues and needs of young people in cities. Please look out for more news on this.

The International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) is celebrating International Youth Day - Tuesday, August 16, 2022 with an online event with youth experts from the Association of Youth Organisations Nepal (AYON)l; Justice Without Frontiers (JWF); the Society for Inclusion and Development in Communities and Care for All, the Social Workers’ Syndicate, the European Commission Program Officer as well as IFES staff. Find out more about the event and the work of this organisation on their website.