Remarks by the UN Resident Coordinator, Jean Kamau, at the inaugural webinar discussion on Youth Voices Shaping Guyana's Future: A National Policy Dialogue.

[As prepared]

Honourable Minister within the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport 

Honourable Members of Parliament 

Members of the Panel (President of the Rotaract Club Georgetown Central, President of the Guyana National Youth Council, President of the University of Guyana Student Society)

Lauristan Choy, Coordinator 

Students of the University of Guyana

Good Evening, 

It is a pleasure to join you today. 

I was reflecting on how often we hear the phrase, “youth are the future.” And I can almost imagine young people responding, “Thank you… but we’re also the present and we are ready to lead.” And you are absolutely correct. Too often, conversations about youth focus on their role in the future. But young people are not just leaders of tomorrow, you are leaders of today. Your contributions are not confined to what lies ahead; you are shaping our present in real and meaningful ways. In fact, you are leading this discussion right now. 

The future is not something young people will simply inherit, it is something you are actively building and transforming now, be it in your communities, on campus, in your homes, your places of worship, your workplaces, or through your advocacy. Recognizing this reality requires us to move beyond symbolic engagement and ensure that youth perspectives are genuinely heard, valued, and reflected in decision-making processes every single day. Youth mainstreaming must become standard practice. 

Within the United Nations system, we are guided by our global UN Youth 2030 Strategy, a framework to strengthen how we work with and for young people. It recognizes youth not merely as beneficiaries of development, but as leaders, innovators, rights-holders, and partners in shaping sustainable and peaceful societies.

Youth empowerment under the UN’s Youth 2030 Strategy means moving from participation to partnership. It requires moving beyond token consultation toward meaningful engagement in policy design, decision-making processes, programme implementation, and monitoring and accountability.

Youth 2030 is not a standalone initiative; it represents a system-wide commitment to integrate youth across all areas of the United Nations’ work - development, human rights, peace and security, and humanitarian action. This commitment is further reflected in the establishment of the United Nations Youth Office, an important milestone co-supported by Guyana. This office leads the UN’s work to advance youth engagement and empowerment across the UN system and works to ensure that young people’s voices are meaningfully reflected in global policy discussions and decision-making processes

Expanding youth participation in public life, improving access to quality education and skills, supporting youth leadership in climate action and peacebuilding, harnessing digital opportunities, and strengthening protection for young people in all their diversity, are also key elements of the UN’s Pact for the Future, an intergovernmental negotiated Pact agreed on by all Member States in 2024.

In Guyana, the UN Agencies, Funds and Programmes engage, involve and partner with diverse young people, including those with disabilities, young women, indigenous youth, young entrepreneurs, migrant youth, young people living with HIV, young LGBTI people, and young faith-based leaders. Young people have played a key role in several of our initiatives, such as supporting small businesses through product development and management training, agriculture-related services which led to increased local production and economic opportunities, creating Adolescent/Youth Friendly spaces to promote health and well-being, launching a Mental Health and Psychosocial Support program for youth, countering hate speech, misinformation and disinformation, and formulating the Youth Declaration on Climate Change, which has influenced government action on climate. 

Some of you were also in the room last November, when we held a youth dialogue with the University. Your contributions, through those group discussions, have guided some of our planned work for this year. 

At the UN, we take youth seriously and this means we promote, encourage and support efforts to invest in young people’s leadership capacity, removing structural barriers to participation, and ensuring that engagement is substantive. Your voice matters. Your ideas matter. Your leadership is critical. 

The UN remains committed to supporting efforts and ensuring that young people’s perspectives and voices are heard and included. The UN remains committed to youth empowerment and youth development.