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It is often said that young people are our future. But they are also our present. The 1.2 billion youth around the world – some 16% of the total global population – is the largest generation of young people in history. Almost 90% of today’s youth are in developing countries where they constitute a high proportion of the population. In Africa, the world’s youngest continent, , according to the United Nations Development Programme. Today’s young people face unprecedented challenges: not only are they currently three times more likely to be unemployed than adults, they have to face some of the greatest challenges ever experienced by humanity. Climate change, rising inequalities, conflict, the issues related to artificial intelligence and new technologies... the young people of today will have to navigate complex, uncertain terrain ahead. Compounding these problems, the lives of young people around the world have also been disrupted by the pandemic, with indicating that young people feel more anxious about their own futures as a result, leading to increased isolation, marginalization and, potentially, extremism.

Global trends are showing that culture provides multiple responses to this gauntlet of challenges. Young people are also the future guardians of our rich, diverse, heritage and dynamos for fresh ideas and creativity. Despite disparities in education, no generation has been so literate and so exposed to such a large volume of diverse knowledge - and, unfortunately, fake news - including about the challenges facing humanity and the planet. Today, youth are more politically aware and have the potential and the will to contribute to cultural and civic life. Connected to each other like never before through digital technologies, they already contribute to the resilience of their communities, proposing innovative solutions, driving social progress and inspiring political change. Investing in young people has a ripple effect throughout societies. Capturing the energy, inspiration and dynamism of the global youth population in building a better world is not optional: it is essential to the achievement of the ambitious Sustainable Development Agenda.

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UNESCO was among the first United Nations (UN) agencies to have a youth programme deeply rooted in the power of culture and the appreciation of cultural diversity to build peace in the minds of men and women. In 1947, following World War II, the Organization recognised that engaging youth in Europe in the reconstruction of cultural heritage was an important way of healing the scars of conflict. Nowadays, across the UN system, the need to fully engage the youth population in order to achieve peace and development has been fully embraced. In 2018, the UN published a Youth Strategy to amplify its work with and for young people across its three pillars: sustainable development, peace and security, and human rights. A UN Special Envoy for Youth, Jayathma Wickramanayake, was appointed in 2017. While the United Nations defines “youth” as persons between the ages of 15-24, UNESCO recognises that youth is a fluid, ever-changing category, which varies from country and region.

The right of youth to access, enjoy and actively participate in cultural life is enshrined in international law, forming a key part of their cultural and human rights. Participation in cultural life is necessary for young people to gain an understanding of their own culture and that of others, which in turn broadens their horizons, strengthens their ability to resolve conflicts peacefully and fosters respect for cultural diversity. UNESCO’s action on youth policy - as the UN agency with a lead mandate on culture and education - is guided by Sustainable Development Target 4.7, which calls for all learners to acquire an appreciation of the role of culture for peace and non-violence, global citizenship, and an appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development.

As one of its priority groups, UNESCO’s engagement with young people is guided by its The Strategy encourages engagement of youth in UNESCO’s action from the “upstream” integration of youth concerns and issues in the policy agenda to “downstream” grassroots youth-led initiatives in their communities. Working with young leaders, entrepreneurs and members of community youth organizations, young women, marginalized youth and youth with disabilities, the strategy follows three axes 1) policy formulation and review with the participation of youth 2) capacity development for the transition to adulthood and 3) civic engagement, democratic participation and social innovation. 

The integration of the youth perspective in UNESCO Culture Conventions and Programmes has come a long way since the action camps following the Second World War, becoming more structured and integrated. Since 1995, 91�鶹������Ʒ���� organized an annual in conjunction with the World Heritage Committee, offering young people the chance to learn about and respond to threats facing World Heritage. At the , held in Bergen, Norway, young people called for education on cultural and natural heritage to be incorporated into national curricula in order to better understand the challenges facing the protection and conservation of cultural and natural heritage, as enshrined in the principles of the . Participants also called for better representation with the local and national authorities through youth advisory committees. Since this initial World Heritage 91�鶹������Ʒ����, some 40 international, regional and national youth fora have been held around the world.

The UNESCO World Heritage 91�鶹������Ʒ����s are at the vanguard of emerging challenges that face youth, incorporating their perspective into the development of cultural policies. For example, at the 2019 World Heritage 91�鶹������Ʒ����, held in Baku, Azerbaijan, participants brought forward the youth perspective on the theme of “World Heritage: Local Insights for Global Challenges”, linking the and the to the . This theme is particularly pertinent as estimates that whilst currently, youth and children collectively account for nearly 40% of the world’s population, by 2030 60% of urban dwellers in developing countries will be under the age of 18, creating an 'urban youth bulge' that requires a reformulation of the social contract between young people and their societies.

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A new network of young cultural heritage professionals also emerged from a UNESCO-European Union project in 2019, The , held in Zada, Croatia, was the first Forum of its kind to address both the synergies and challenges of tangible and intangible cultural heritage in the European context. The new network of 28 young heritage professionals who can act as “Cultural Heritage Messengers” in their own countries and communities to actively raise awareness about the importance of caring for and transmitting our shared heritage.

Whist the UNESCO 1972 World Heritage Convention has led the way in integrating youth perspectives and actions into its implementation, 91�鶹������Ʒ���� progressively integrated youth into other areas of its work on culture. Youth are a priority group for the UNESCO Creative Cities Network and the 246 members are encouraged to engage with youth. Earlier this year, for example, the UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy, , environment, food, education, and urban regeneration. Furthermore, youth remain a priority group in relation to UNESCO’s work on Intangible Cultural Heritage to transmit knowledge, know-how and wisdom from generation to generation. At the UNESCO 91�鶹������Ʒ���� in 2018 young people were called upon to tell the story of their living cultural heritage, including Samoan tattoo artists and Guyanan traditional story-tellers.

Museums play a vital role in engaging young people to be active citizens, particularly by providing non-formal educational opportunities, including for marginalised youth. , for example, brings together some good practices for working with young people and provides guidance for enhancing youth programmes. UNESCO is also stepping up its engagement with youth on the value of museums, with a first event in May 2021 attracting 300 youth in collaboration with the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (South Africa), the National Gallery of Cayman Islands, the Child Museum in Cairo (Egypt) and the Victoria and Albert Museum (United Kingdom).

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Unemployment is one of the key challenges for youth. It is predicted that some 600 million jobs need to be created in the next 15 years to meet youth needs. Globally, [“not in employment, education or training”], which means they are neither gaining experience in the labour market, nor receiving an income from work, nor enhancing their education and skills. Some . Furthermore, the International Labour Organizations’ latest assessment indicates that

Prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the cultural and creative industries represented 30 million jobs worldwide and employed more people aged 15-29 than any other sector. Moreover, , as outlined in a recent World Bank report, Orange Economy: As a Driver of Jobs for Youth. In Pakistan, for instance, nearly one-third of people in creative and cultural occupations are under 24 years old. Similarly, in Ghana and Uganda, more than 25% of people in the creative economy are youth. The cultural and creative industries can also open up opportunities for disadvantaged young people, including refugees, such as Syrian Abdulrahman Naseb who . As such, expanding access to the cultural industries and supporting young artists and entrepreneurs, through subsidies and recognition schemes, should be a vital component of post-crisis recovery strategies.

The cultural and creative industries employ more people aged 15-29 than any other sector.

(Ernst & Young, 2015)

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UNESCO supports young cultural entrepreneurs through the - linked to the - and has supported some 120 projects in 60 developing countries since 2010. Youth benefit in at least half of the projects, from training opportunities for women and young creators in Honduras to engaging Namibian youth in the global music market: and from to establishing an audio-visual sector for a disadvantaged community in Indonesia to supporting the Steel Pan art form in Saint Lucia. The recent , supported by philanthropist Sabrina Ho, boosted opportunities for young female entrepreneurs in the creative sector, whilst a new initiative launched in 2020 in collaboration with Japanese film director, Naomi Kawase,.

Employment in the creative sector is particularly important in urban centres and can constitute up to 13% of employment in major cities worldwide, as highlighted in the recent UNESCO-World Bank publication . Many of the 246 cities of the harness creativity to create employment for youth. For example, Lviv (Ukraine) a UNESCO Creative City for Literature, has , the UNESCO Creative City for Design Shenzen (China) hosts the to promote the work of young professionals and the UNESCO Creative City for Gastronomy of Popayan (Colombia) has launched a with sections dedicated to encouraging creative young people in catering and hospitality professions.

The cultural heritage sector also supports youth employment. In Yemen, the UNESCO-EU has already employed more than 2,350 young people through the restoration of World Heritage cities and historic urban centres, rehabilitating more than 150 historical buildings. It has also supported artists, youth-led initiatives, and awareness-raising campaigns to boost the cultural and creative industries. A similar scheme is being rolled out as part of UNESCO’s flagship initiative , through which 1,500 young people - as well as internally displaced people and returnees - have gained employment opportunities in Mosul and Basra. These projects In the Arab region respond to the increased recognition that the culture sector can be a source of employment for youth, with the knock-on effect of preventing violent extremism and the mass exodus of young people. Meanwhile, young people are also bringing fresh ideas to heritage conservation, for example through 3D imaging to create digital replicas of heritage sites, such as , with whom 91�鶹������Ʒ���� partnered.

Intangible cultural heritage skills and practices – whose intergenerational transmission are vital – can also provide youth employment opportunities. For example, the vocational schools in Turkey make it possible to obtain a two-year degree in and equip young people with relevant skills, creativity and design knowledge to provide job opportunities. The Ministry of Labour and Human Resources of Bhutan has strengthened and extended traditional arts and crafts institutes, ensuring that links with the monasteries and villages with the traditional know-how are maintained. Greece’s Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports is also making efforts to provide technical and vocational education and training for its vernacular shipbuilding. Whilst the formalisation of youth training in intangible cultural heritage can provide youth employment, it is .

Young people are yearning to reconnect with their heritage. They don’t necessarily know how to do it, and schools are a useful mechanism to allow this to take place.

John De Coninck, Cross-Cultural Foundation of Uganda

Incorporating culture – including living heritage - more seamlessly into the school curriculum can also make learning more relevant to learners and help their development to adulthood. As part of the UNESCO-EU living heritage project, for example, ten pilot projects are underway to test ways of teaching with intangible cultural heritage in the European region, resulting in a . This supplements experiences documented in the 2017 UNESCO publication that shows how elements inscribed on the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage can be incorporated into learning in several disciplines. This includes Pakistani Truck Art to aid in chemistry lessons to learn about the composition of paint, traditional Muong music of Viet Nam to understand the source of sounds, Besh Tosh and Lank Uzbek Folk Games for the physical and health sciences and the Palauan Notion of Respect Within the Community to learn about road safety.

More broadly, as the world of work changes, the skills gained from engaging in culture and creativity are becoming increasingly important for the contemporary workplace. The World Economic Forum’s predicts creativity, innovation and ideation will be key skills for the workforce of the future, as manual tasks become automated. UNESCO is currently engaged in an important global reflection - including with youth - on that aims to rethink education in a world of increasing complexity, uncertainty, and precarity. already indicate that it will be vital “to open education to advancing a diversity of cultures and epistemologies, making good use of concepts such as care, ubuntu [southern African word loosely meaning “humanity”], teraanga [Wolof word loosely meaning “hospitality”], sumak kawsay [Quechua term meaning “good living”], ayni y minka [Quechua concepts related to collective work], among many others.”

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Culture and education are the building blocks to construct stronger, more harmonious and more resilient societies, through the transmission of values of inclusivity, respect and mutual appreciation of cultural diversity. World Heritage sites, for example, are repositories of knowledge, laboratories for climate change adaptation and focal points for intercultural dialogue. In recognition of this important function, the engages young people to participate in heritage conservation and respond to the continuing threats facing our World Heritage. Initiated as a UNESCO special project in 1994, it is a collaboration between the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and the

The programme has developed several resources for use inside and outside of the classroom. , developed in 1998, aims to raise awareness among young people about the importance of preserving their local, national and World Heritage. It covers key themes such as identity, tourism, the environment and a culture of peace, and is available in 40 languages. A short film series entitled , created in 1994 by a group of Spanish-speaking students, has been developed. Furthermore, a 2015 manual for teachers on underwater heritage, entitled not only intends to highlight the role of the , but also offers a concrete way to introduce the concepts of dialogue, peace and reconciliation.

The , launched in 2008, provides more hands-on experience on the preservation of World Heritage. Since the first project that took place at Mosi-oa Tunya/ Victoria Falls (Zambia & Zimbabwe) in 2009, some 5000 volunteers have participated in more than 350 action camps at 138 World Heritage sites. These experiences have been collected in a recent publication celebrating the first ten years of the initiative, entitled . The sites featured are located in some 60 countries, and include sites that are in danger and sites that are on the tentative list for World Heritage, meaning that young people have a real stake in securing the future of these sites, such as the Rainforests of the Atsinanana in Madagascar, the Lalbagh Fort in Bangladesh and the Inca site of Incallajta of Bolivia. Countries are also taking initiatives to safeguard their intangible cultural heritage through transmission to youth. For example, the Fujian Province of south-eastern China has to ensure the puppetry art form is passed on to future generations whilst have participated in inventorying to safeguard their oral traditions.

Youth are also key stakeholders in global efforts on the prevention of violent extremism, and UNESCO is the leading agency on educational and cultural approaches on this priority area for the UN. At a time when cultural heritage is increasingly in the line of fire during conflict, as recognised in several UN resolutions (notably ), UNESCO launched the campaign in 2015. The campaign combined social and traditional media, as well as events, to provide an alternative narrative to vulnerable young people as a means of strengthening the resilience of youth in the fight against extremism.

In the Arab region in particular, 91�鶹������Ʒ���� been supporting youth social actors in the prevention of violent extremism through culture, often harnessing digital technologies. In 2018, the , was launched in collaboration with UN Office of Counter-Terrorism to support youth civic engagement and equip youth with knowledge, tools and skills to participate in peace-building. The project "MediWander”, for example, aims to engage secondary and high school students through a digital game that takes a creative, approach to promote the tangible and intangible cultural heritage of the Sousse Medina – a UNESCO World Heritage site.

It is challenging to motivate youth to find greater interest in heritage and to introduce them to the fascinating history of their medina. Our game is designed to make heritage an appealing and youth-friendly topic. Ultimately, the objective is to gain knowledge and skills to engage in peacebuilding efforts through solidarity and respect for diversity, education, critical thinking, dialogue, engagement and action.

Yoldez, young Tunisian architect, designer of Mediwander

Intercultural dialogue is increasingly important in societies across the world, as well as the increasingly interconnected online spaces, particularly for youth. Ethnic, linguistic and cultural minorities are more likely to be among the estimated in some form every year. Global Citizenship Education is a response to such intolerance and UNESCO’s dedicated programme has explored cultural practices from around the world to instil respect for diversity, in its publication . Media and Information Literacy (MIL) also plays a significant role in instilling values of respect for cultural diversity through efforts directed at strengthening cultural literacy. UNESCO - with the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations - has launched the to bring together the latest research, share educational materials and promote youth-media initiatives.

Young people are not passive beneficiaries but equal partners and actors for sustainable development and peace. They are increasingly vocal and reject what they see to be ‘tokenism’. Culture and education rank highly as priorities for youth and they are increasingly bringing their concerns to major political fora. For example, the youth group of the G20 industrialised nations’ group (known as the ‘Y20’), recently conducted a survey on the main “preoccupations for the future” of young people, which highlighted that education and culture are the second and third most important priorities, following climate change. In the framework of the G20 Summit under the presidency of Italy, the Y20 will present their recommendations, which include strengthening the synergies between culture and education, as well as enhancing access to digital technologies.

The pandemic has particularly highlighted how countries can harness the power of the cultural sector to respond to the needs of young people who face great precarity. The sector can provide employment, a fact that is being particularly highlighted during the UN Year for the Creative Industries, avoiding the "brain drain" phenomenon by which countries lose their talented young people who seek better opportunities abroad. Empowering youth to be active in tailoring policy design is the best guarantee for having a confident youth workforce, wanting to invest in their societies.

Culture can also facilitate learning, as well as being a way for young people to interact socially, as demonstrated by the recent UNESCO social media campaign #YouthOfUNESCO that connected young people from around the world through the art of storytelling. The pandemic has highlighted the importance of intercultural exchange programmes for young people - such as the ERASMUS scheme in the European Union, which have ground to a halt - for opening their minds to other worldviews. Furthermore, culture can be a way of engaging youth in public discourse and civic life, as demonstrated in several country’s Voluntary National Reviews (see Agenda 2030 section).

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Conversely, the cultural sector itself is revitalized by young people, through their role as future custodians of the heritage of humanity and their dynamism that nourishes human creativity. Mobilizing the energy and ideas of youth will also help to reinforce the role of culture for sustainable development across policy areas: from health to the protection of the environment, from food security to sustainable cities. With an increasingly interconnected world - and in the face of growing inequalities - exposing young people to greater cultural diversity is one of the surest ways of moulding global citizens who are respectful of cultural diversity, nurturing their critical thinking and openness to adaptability, therefore building more peaceful societies.

Governments have made progress in supporting youth in policy-making in the cultural sector. For example, youth were recently active participants in the , as well as Jamaica’s new cultural policy in 2016 (with the support of UNESCO’s IFCD). Yet, more progress could be made in facilitating the youth-led cultural policies. Fostering peer-to-peer programmes to support knowledge sharing, providing grants for youth start-ups and truly engaging youth at the national and local level will enhance and strengthen cultural policies. UNESCO emphatically encourages ministries to engage youth as a key party in processes to revise national cultural policies.

Investing in young people has a ripple effect that permeates throughout their communities: it is a great force for social transformation. Therefore, providing funding and training programmes to ensure young people’s full participation in the safeguarding and transmission of living heritage, in the conservation of tangible heritage, and in the cultural and creative industries is a critical policy investment for the future. Digital skills and media literacy are also necessary to navigate the world today and, whilst some young people are digital natives, others need opportunities to develop these skills. Furthermore, the collection of age-disaggregated data will help to pinpoint ways to better understand the status of youth participation in various forms of cultural life, including in cultural employment and non-formal cultural education.

The ways in which countries respond to the shifting demographics in the world, as well as the ways in which young people navigate their transition into adulthood, are critical for the progress of humankind and the health of the planet. As Nobel Peace Prize laureate and advocate for the abolition of child slavery, Kailash Satyarthi, puts it: “The power of youth is the common wealth for the entire world. The faces of young people are the faces of our past, our present and our future. No segment in the society can match with the power, idealism, enthusiasm and courage of the young people.”

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