Young people are not simply the leaders of tomorrow; they are active contributors to the development challenges and opportunities of today.
Across Africa and the Arab world, young people are shaping communities through entrepreneurship, technology, education, peacebuilding, culture, environmental action and civic participation. Yet, despite their growing contribution, many young people continue to face barriers that limit their meaningful participation in the decisions and institutions that shape their lives and future.
Supporting youth engagement across sectors therefore requires a shift from viewing young people primarily as beneficiaries of development to recognising them as partners, contributors and decision-makers.
This principle is closely aligned with the vision and mission of the Afro-Arab Youth Council (AAYC), which seeks to promote peace, unity and development among young people across Africa and the Arab world. At the heart of this agenda is the recognition that young people must have access to opportunities, knowledge, markets, capital and decision-makers if they are to contribute effectively to the transformation of their communities and regions.
The future of Afro-Arab cooperation will depend not only on policies developed for young people, but also on creating spaces where young people themselves can help shape those policies and translate them into action.
From Participation to Meaningful Engagement:
Youth participation should not be reduced to inviting young people to conferences, consultations or awareness campaigns. Meaningful engagement requires young people to have genuine opportunities to influence outcomes and contribute to the processes that affect their lives.
UNICEF Innocenti’s 2024 research on meaningful youth engagement identifies several conditions necessary for effective participation, including enabling environments, participation that goes beyond consultation, inclusive and representative engagement, and accountability.
This distinction is important. Young people may be present in a room without necessarily having influence.
Meaningful engagement asks a more important question: Are young people’s ideas being heard, considered and translated into action?
For the Afro-Arab Youth Council, this means creating platforms through which young Africans and Arabs can engage governments, institutions, development partners, the private sector and other stakeholders on issues that directly affect their opportunities and future.
Youth participation should therefore move from visibility to influence, from consultation to contribution, and from dialogue to action.
Creating Opportunities Across Sectors:
Youth engagement must extend across multiple sectors because young people’s lives and development needs are interconnected.
In education and skills development, young people require knowledge and practical skills that respond to changing labour markets. Skills development can strengthen employability, entrepreneurship and innovation when it is connected to practical opportunities.
For the Afro-Arab youth agenda, this also means promoting knowledge exchange between young people and institutions across the two regions, enabling them to learn from one another and access new opportunities.
In entrepreneurship and economic development, young people can contribute to economic transformation through businesses, innovation and new forms of digital enterprise. Supporting youth therefore means improving access not only to training, but also to mentorship, networks, markets, finance and opportunities to turn ideas into sustainable ventures.
Access to capital and markets is particularly important. A young person with an innovative idea may have the skills and determination to succeed but still struggle to turn that idea into a viable enterprise without financing, networks and market access.
In technology and innovation, young people are increasingly positioned to contribute to digital transformation. Digital platforms can expand access to information, education, employment, markets and entrepreneurship. But digital inclusion must accompany digital opportunity so that young people are not excluded because of geography, income or limited access to technology.
In governance and civic participation, young people need meaningful pathways into decision-making.
Youth participation in governance is not simply about increasing the number of young people attending political meetings. It is about creating mechanisms through which their perspectives can influence policies, institutions and development priorities.
This is particularly relevant to the AAYC agenda of connecting young people with decision-makers and strengthening their role in shaping the development of their societies.
Youth as Partners in Peace and Unity:
Peacebuilding is another area where youth engagement is essential.
Young people are frequently among those most affected by conflict and instability, but they are also important actors in preventing conflict, promoting dialogue, strengthening social cohesion and building peaceful communities.
The United Nations’ Youth, Peace and Security agenda recognises young people as partners in conflict prevention, peacebuilding and sustaining peace. Young people therefore need opportunities to participate throughout peace and security processes rather than being brought in only after major decisions have already been made.
This is particularly significant for Africa and the Arab world, regions whose young populations represent both a tremendous development resource and an important constituency for peacebuilding.
The AAYC vision of Youth, Peace, Unity and Development provides a practical framework for connecting these priorities. Peace cannot be separated from development, just as development cannot be sustained without unity, inclusion and opportunities for young people.
Recent African experience demonstrates that youth-led action can make practical contributions to governance and peacebuilding. In February 2026, UNDP highlighted 44 youth initiatives across Africa working to strengthen governance systems, support institutional reform and contribute to peace processes.
The same principle is relevant to the Arab world. The Arab Strategy for Youth, Peace and Security 2023–2028 seeks to enhance young people’s effective participation and contribution to development, peace and security, including through greater involvement in social, political and economic life.
These efforts provide an important foundation for strengthening connections between African and Arab youth around shared priorities.
Strengthening Afro-Arab Youth Cooperation:
The challenges facing young people in Africa and the Arab world may differ in context, but many aspirations are shared: access to education and skills, decent work, entrepreneurship, technological opportunities, peace, security, inclusion and participation in decision-making.
This is where Afro-Arab youth cooperation becomes particularly important.
The two regions are connected by geography, history, culture, trade and longstanding people-to-people relationships. Their young populations therefore have enormous potential to build new partnerships and develop solutions to common challenges.
The Afro-Arab Youth Council provides a platform through which this potential can be strengthened by bringing young people, institutions and stakeholders together around common development priorities.
Such cooperation can take many forms, including youth dialogues, leadership programmes, entrepreneurship networks, cultural exchanges, academic partnerships, digital innovation initiatives, peacebuilding activities and professional mentorship.
These platforms should not be viewed simply as opportunities for networking. They can become channels through which young people exchange knowledge, access opportunities, build businesses, develop leadership skills and contribute to regional cooperation.
From Visibility to Influence:
The next stage of youth engagement should be about moving from visibility to influence.
Young people should not only be invited to speak; they should be supported to participate in designing programmes, implementing initiatives, monitoring progress and evaluating results.
They should have access to the skills, networks, resources and institutional spaces necessary to transform ideas into action.
For governments, civil society organisations, development partners, private-sector actors and regional institutions, this means creating practical pathways for youth participation.
It means providing mentorship, training, financing, technology, networking opportunities and platforms through which young people can engage decision-makers.
For the AAYC, this approach reinforces the Council’s broader mission of creating opportunities through which young people can contribute to peace, unity and development across Africa and the Arab world.
A youth platform should ultimately be measured not only by how many young people attend an event, but also by what happens afterwards: how many ideas become initiatives, how many partnerships are created, how many young people access opportunities, and how effectively youth voices contribute to institutional and community development.
Putting Youth at the Centre:
Putting youth at the centre of development does not mean placing the entire responsibility for development on young people. Rather, it means recognising their potential and creating the conditions in which that potential can contribute to wider societal progress.
Youth engagement should therefore be understood as an investment in peace, unity and development.
When young people are equipped with skills, connected to opportunities and given meaningful roles in decision-making, they can contribute to stronger communities, more inclusive institutions, innovative economies and more sustainable societies.
For Africa and the Arab world, strengthening youth engagement across sectors also presents an opportunity to deepen cooperation between two regions connected by geography, history, culture and shared aspirations.
The future of youth engagement should consequently be one in which young people are not invited to the table merely to represent a demographic group, but are recognised as partners in shaping solutions.
The challenge for institutions today is therefore not whether young people should participate, but how to create the structures, opportunities and partnerships that allow their participation to produce meaningful change.
For the Afro-Arab Youth Council, putting youth at the centre is not merely a slogan. It is central to building a generation capable of advancing peace, strengthening unity, embracing innovation and driving sustainable development across Africa and the Arab world.
Ultimately, development is stronger when young people are not only beneficiaries of its outcomes, but active participants in creating them.
The author, Anisha Birungi, works with the Afro-Arab Youth Council.
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