Inclusive by design: Mainstreaming young people’s perspectives in decision making

In the context of fragile economic growth and evolving conflicts, young people have demonstrated remarkable resilience to shocks across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Young people (aged under 30 years) constitute more than half (55%) of the population across the MENA region, and have led positive change in the global agenda to fight climate change and promote peace and security, and as volunteers and members of youth-led organisations in their communities. Despite their positive impact, young people are facing unprecedented levels of uncertainty due to the impact of
climate change, rise of AI, cost-of-living crisis, migratory pressures and conflicts. Building a more secure future for young people across the MENA region is therefore paramount. However, available data demonstrates that trust in public institutions remains low among young people and that they continue to be underrepresented in positions of influence.

The MENA-OECD Youth Empowerment Network (the Network) provides a forum gathering for (youth) policy makers from MENA and OECD governments and youth representatives to exchange good practices and lessons learnt in delivering better policy outcomes for young people from a public
governance perspective. The Network is part ofthe MENA-OECD Governance Programme leveraging the OECD Recommendation on Creating Better Opportunities for Young People.
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The Network last met on 23 June 2022 at the OECD Training Centre of Caserta, Italy (summary note), which was co-chaired by the United Arab Emirates and the Netherlands. Drawing on the outcomes of the meeting, a special session of the Network, Inclusive by design: Mainstreaming young people’s perspectives in decision making will be held virtually on Tuesday 10 December 2024. It will discuss country practices to deliver on the identified priority issues in 2022 and chart a common way forward, namely on how to:

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1. Create an enabling environment to strengthen young people’s trust in public institutions and
for young people’s participation in public life; and
2. Deliver equal access for all young people to integrated policies and public services of high
quality

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