The COVID-19 pandemic has upended the lives of young people from every region — limiting movement and severely impacting social and economic activity — and sparked a global crisis that is also undermining hard-won development gains and progress. From gender equality to education and skills development to fighting climate change, and protecting our oceans and biodiversity, young people are advocating many initiatives with creativity and commitment in response to our fast-changing world and for future generations. 

The 2022 ECOSOC Youth Forum was convened by the President of ECOSOC and co-organized by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) and the Office of the Secretary General’s Envoy on Youth (OSGEY), in collaboration with the United Nations Inter-Agency Network on Youth Development (IANYD), and co-convened by the Major Group for Children and Youth (MGCY) and the International Coordination Meeting of Youth Organizations (ICMYO), with technical input from youth organizations relevant to the theme of the forum. 

Against this backdrop and at a critical point in the recovery from COVID-19, the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Youth Forum took place on 19 and 20 April 2022 in a virtual format. The Forum provided a platform for young people to engage in a dialogue with Member States and other actors on concrete actions to rebuild from the pandemic and to advance towards the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Decade of Action. Young people from across the world shared their perspectives on how to transform the world into a fairer and more sustainable place. 

The Youth Forum addressed the theme of ECOSOC and the 2022 UN High-level Political Forum on sustainable development (HLPF) on “Building back better from COVID- 19 while advancing the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda”. It also reviewed progress in the areas of quality education (SDG 4), gender equality (SDG 5), life below water (SDG 14), life on land (SDG 15) and partnerships for the goals (SDG 17). 

As the main platform for youth to share their ideas at the global level, the Youth Forum provided representatives of youth-led and youth-focused organizations and networks, and youth advocates with opportunities to explore ways and means of promoting youth development and engagement. 

The UN wants to hear from youth

Take part in an exciting opportunity to join the conversation (in 7 languages) by adding your photo and sharing with your friends on social media to highlight the positive change we see in our world when #YouthLead — don’t forget to use #YouthLead and tag @UNYouthEnvoy.  

About the ECOSOC Youth Forum

The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Youth Forum is an annual initiative of the President of the Council. It has evolved into a key platform where young people can contribute to policy discussions at the United Nations through their collective ideas, solutions and innovations. 

Since 2012, the Youth Forum has established itself as the largest gathering of young people at the United Nations bringing their views, ideas, solutions and innovations to policy discussions on issues that matter to them.