Young people are not only the leaders of tomorrow; they are leaders of today. As such meaningful youth engagement is a powerful catalyzing process to materialize the sustainable development we hope to achieve by 2030. It is an investment that reiterates the commitment of leaving no one behind, and a unique opportunity to transform the collaborative relationship between different generations working towards the same objective.
Founded in 2020, 254 Youth Policy Café (YPC) is a network for young people to engage and foster advocacy and policy change to promote inclusive policies. 254 YPC is tapping into the opportunity to close the youth well-being gap by engaging and mobilizing conversations on youth inclusion in the design and implementation of policies, programs, and projects. 254 YPC fosters timely conversations confronting multidimensional social issues that present barriers to youth’s economic well-being. These include barriers to decent employment, education, health, and civic participation.
Our work is a call for action for designing and implementing an inclusive well-being agenda for youth. 254 YPC endeavours to create liaison between the young people and the policymakers and implementers so that youth’s perspectives can be accounted for in the creation of policies, programs, and services. 254 YPC work will feed in starting conversations on a youth roadmap that can serve as a cohesive and targeted plan of action.