GOMA, Democratic Republic of the Congo/NEW YORK, United Nations – “To heal from our war wounds, we must protect ourselves rather than inflict the same pain on others.” These were the words of Sarah Kyabu Ntambwe, an advocate for peace and women’s rights in her home country of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Sarah was born just months before devastating conflict erupted, the beginning of decades of turbulence. But none of this held her back: At 19, she started her career as a television host and youth advocate. She founded Change Your World, a human and civil rights group, and started programmes to provide vocational training and other support to children affected by war and neglect.
It was the first of many initiatives she would go on to create, including some supported by UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency. Sarah’s programmes worked to advance women’s and girls’ leadership, reunify families, and teach adolescents about their right to be free of sexual abuse and exploitation.
“These children often carry profound pain that can inadvertently facilitate the transmission of violence across generations, thereby fueling the cycle of conflict,” she explained. “My work focuses on breaking this cycle by helping victims transform their pain into the courage needed to drive positive change and protect future generations."
Today, as she nears her 30th birthday, she can look back at tens of thousands of people who have been helped through the organizations and initiatives she created.
This is the promise that is unlocked when young people are empowered.
Youth at the helm
Our world is home to the largest generation of young people in history: 1.8 billion, 90 per cent of whom live in developing countries. Despite their growing numbers, young people are often excluded from the spaces in which decisions are made about their futures.
UNFPA and its partners are working to change this.
In 2018, Youth2030, the United Nations Youth Strategy, was launched to improve how the United Nations works with young people, strengthening its engagement with young people and seeking to benefit from their insights, creativity and ideas. Since then, UNFPA has expanded its partnerships with youth advocates and youth-led organizations.
In 2024, UNFPA hosted the ICPD Global Youth Dialogue in Cotonou, Benin, an event which brought together more than 400 youth delegates from 130 countries to engage in direct conversation with Member States and to call for decisive action on the issues that matter most to them: sexual and reproductive health, resilience amid crisis, and youth participation in decision-making.
It was “a unique opportunity”, said Mohammed Yakuba, a youth leader from Ghana who attended the event. “Young people are not usually given the opportunity to be part of the decision-making processes.”
Out of this dialogue emerged the landmark Cotonou Youth Action Agenda, a youth-led advocacy tool which has already begun to shape global policy: At the Summit of the Future, youth activists used the document to successfully push for the inclusion of sexual and reproductive health in the youth chapter of the Pact for the Future.
Working together
“What really stands out about UNFPA’s approach is how deep and sustained it has been over time,” said Lucy Fagan, Social Policy Officer with the Major Group for Children and Youth, a youth-led constituency that advocates for the representation of young people across intergovernmental processes.
“There has always been a sense of continued allyship, stretching back to a time when very few organizations were talking about youth engagement.”
A newly released UN report, the Youth2030 Global Progress Report, recognizes UNFPA, together with UNDP, as the top-performing UN agencies advancing the UN system’s Youth2030 Strategy.
This acknowledgement is a credit to young people themselves, said Rewan Youssif, a programme analyst at UNFPA.
“It comes down to being a trusted ally – respecting young people’s expertise, providing resources, and giving them space to lead change,” she said.
It is also the result of financial support to UNFPA’s youth programming from the governments of Canada, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Switzerland.
As the Youth2030 Strategy enters its second phase, keeping youth at the heart of the UN System will be critical. Equally important is the mindset shift needed among decision-makers, from working on behalf of young leaders to working hand-in-hand alongside them.
