With your support, we can empower young people through the Youth-Led Solutions Initiative to become problem-solvers and drive sustainable development efforts in their communities.
Young people have the power to be change agents
The World YMCA believes that the role of young people as change agents is increasingly important, as the global risks to society intensify and efforts to address them remain insufficient. Young people hold the power, empathy, and technological ingenuity to help solve these problems. They just need and want the tools and resources to do so.
Now, more than ever
Tragically, young people have been hit hard by the pandemic. They have lost jobs, lost education, and many are suffering from mental health issues. The International Monetary Fund worries that today’s young may never fully recover, and the International Labour Organisation is concerned about a “lost generation”.
The Youth-Led Solutions Initiative
The YMCA launched the Youth-Led Solution Initiative (YLSI) to equip young people with knowledge, networks, tools, and resources to lead change in their communities and the world and to help achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The YLSI tackles three of the greatest challenges facing young people today – the climate crisis, the jobs crisis, and a growing mental health crisis. Read about it here on the World YMCA website and here on the official Youth-Led Solutions Initiative (YLSI) site. And see here how the October 2020 climate action summit led to 35 new youth-led projects worldwide.
Your contribution will enable us to empower more young people
Our global Summits are of course free – we want as many young people as possible to participate.
But your financial contribution will help ensure that the sessions and summit materials are accessible to young people around the world through quality interpretation and internet access. You will also help ensure that young people have some funding to implement their community projects and get a chance to tell their story.
Thank you for giving.

Donate to the Youth Led Solutions Initiative
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YMCA releases six ‘Youth-Led Solutions’ climate action films
YMCA releases six ‘Youth-Led Solutions’ climate action films In January and February 2...
07/01/2022 -
YMCA funds 27 Youth-Led Solution projects to meet local employment challenges
YMCA has selected 27 youth-led projects from 13 countries, to receive a total of some USD ...
01/12/2021 -
YMCA’s 10 days at COP26: looking back
YMCA saw COP26 as a prime opportunity to propel young people’s voices into vital convers...
16/11/2021 -
YMCA announces further investment in youth-led solutions and young leaders at COP26
Press Release Friday 12 November 2021 At a time when a great deal is being promised...
12/11/2021 -
Join YMCA at COP26 for an exclusive film premiere of youth-led climate change solutions
We will showcase six youth-led solutions on climate action from across the globe, inside t...
04/11/2021 -
YMCA adds in-person COP26 documentary film preview with Rhys Lewis performance
Join YMCA for an evening of youth-led climate discovery as part of an exclusive YMCA film ...
04/11/2021 -
Mental health & wellbeing summit: Conversation is the best tool we have
“What mental health needs is more sunlight, more candour, and more unashamed conversatio...
11/10/2021 -
YMCA at COP26
Youth voices for climate action Six YMCA projects to feature in global film premier...
01/10/2021 -
Coming soon! 3rd YMCA Youth Led Solutions Summit on mental health and wellbeing
On World Mental Health Day, Sunday 10 October 2021 (14:00-17:00 CEST), the YMCA Movement p...
14/09/2021 -
“Our creativity will fuel us to do better, and to find better ways”
Karren Fetalvero, 26, is a member of the World YMCA Executive Committee. She is based in t...
30/07/2021 -
World Youth Skills Day 2021: creativity and resilience to face the pandemic
World Youth Skills Day, observed annually on 15 July, focuses on equipping young people wi...
14/07/2021 -
Over to you!
The three-day YMCA Youth-Led Solutions Summit on the Future of Work finished yesterday. Bu...
10/06/2021