First Global Forum for Children and Youth (CY21)

By unicef

The COVID-19 pandemic is a historic crisis. As COVID-19 vaccines are distributed globally, it is possible to imagine an end to the pandemic, but we know that the work has not ended yet. The crisis has led millions of families and children into poverty and revealed inequalities in accessing services such as healthcare, education or social protection.

Children and young people have modelled resilience and leadership throughout the COVID-19 crisis. Faced with new challenges, they have had to remain flexible to adjust to the rapidly changing environment that we live in. And yet, in the understandable rush to save the most vulnerable lives and, in some places, even as a return to normal begins, children and young people are going overlooked in the rooms where decisions are made.

We are hosting the Global Forum to focus the world’s attention on the rights and urgent needs of children and young people, identify and celebrate proven and new solutions to address these, and inspire commitments, drive actions and mobilize transformational resources to scale up and advance child rights and meet the Sustainable Development Goal targets.

To deliver the change that children and young people deserve, we must work together – with children and young people at the heart of the redesign. As we mark UNICEF’s 75th anniversary, the Global Forum for Children and Youth will convene leaders from the United Nations, government, business, philanthropy, and civil society, alongside authors, artists and, critically, children and young people themselves. I have also invited the United Nations Secretary-General, Mr. António Guterres to join us. We would love for you to play a leading role in its first year. 

PMNCH Board Chair, Rt Hon. Helen Clark will be speaking at the event, in the health session entitled “Primary Health Care: The path to responding, recovering and reimagining better outcomes for children” streamed on 8 December from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. (EST).