International Coordination Meeting of Youth Organisations highlights its future

The International Coordination Meeting of Youth Organisations (ICMYO) took place in New York from 21st to 22nd September, following the United Nations Inter-Agency Network on Youth Development (IANYD) Open Meeting with Youth-led Organisations between the 18th and 20th.

This year’s meeting highlighted how to better structure and improve the work of the ICMYO. Participants reflected on its purpose and added value and agreed on a new set of guiding documents with clear objectives. They will have 20 days to ratify the documents, which hopefully will lead to a more unified voice of youth-led organisations on a global level.

Afterward, they discussed updates on the outcomes of key global initiatives and events, including the U.N. General Assembly, functional commissions of the U.N.’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and other relevant U.N. meetings. They also conducted an internal assessment of the global youth agenda and talked about how to work together and coordinate future actions in the implementation and monitoring of the U.N. System-wide Action Plan on Youth (Youth-SWAP).

Finally, participants appointed a new Task Force comprising the Forum, Global Young Greens and International Falcon Movement–Socialist Educational International. Other new members include the International Federation of Liberal Youth, International Federation of Medical Students' Associations, International Union of Socialist Youth, Pax Romana and World Organisation of the Scout Movement. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Envoy on Youth attended a session of the ICMYO, during which youth engagement in the U.N. system and the globe was discussed.