Global Youth Mobilization

World YMCA is proud to be a founder member and a key player in the Global Youth Mobilization, which aims to address the negative impact of the COVID pandemic on young people and support them to build back better.

Alongside the five other members of the ‘Big 6’ (the world’s largest global youth organisations, also including the World Young Women’s Christian Association, the World Organization of the Scout Movement, the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award), World YMCA joined the World Health Organization and the United Nations Foundation in establishing the Global Youth Mobilization in December 2020.

The Global Youth Mobilization is a movement of young people taking action to improve their lives now and in a post-COVID-19 world.

Young people are an essential part of the solution to pandemic recovery.  Investing in programs, policies and initiatives led by and for young people will bring about sustainable change in the livelihoods and health of young people now and in the future.

Issues the Global Youth Mobilization is addressing

There are an estimated 1.2 billion young people impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic response measures. Disruptions to education, employment, services and social support have changed the future of an entire generation. It is more important than ever that governments, policy makers, academics, business leaders and civil society come together to find innovative ways of supporting communities and providing hope to younger generations.

With support from the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund, the Global Youth Mobilization is supporting and scaling up youth-led solutions and youth engagement programs across the world.

Through a fund of USD$5 million, the mobilization aims to support young people to engage in and design efforts to turn around the impact of the pandemic by supporting local and national youth organizations. Grants are being made available for youth-led solutions, and for an accelerator programme to scale up existing response efforts. These measures are directly supporting young people engaged at the grassroots level to tackle some of the most pressing health and societal challenges resulting from the pandemic. 

More information

The World YMCA and the Global Youth Mobilization

Among other activities, so far the World YMCA has:

• Supported the Global Youth Summit, 28 April 2021
• Launched 18 Global Youth Mobilization-funded national projects to support COVID recovery work by young people, 14 June 2021
• Led Global Youth Mobilization communications on International Youth Day, 12 August 2021
• Supported 15  teams (affiliated with the YMCA) which were awarded funding by the Global Youth Mobilization Local Solutions programme to support COVID recovery work
• Represented the Big Six at the launch of the Unlock the Future Coalition, 28 September 2021