There are 1.2 billion youth in the world - the largest number of youth to have ever existed.

The Youth 21 initiative is about supporting those youth to take a leadership in the 21st Century.
It has been 20 years since the Earth Summit in Rio, where youth took a stand and demanded that world leaders listen to them.

It has been 14 years since the 1st Ministers conference in Portugal, where the Braga Youth Declaration called for the better representation of youth globally.

On January 25th, 2012, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon announced that youth will be a focus for the next 5 years of the UN, and that he was going to appoint a Special Advisor on Youth

From March 15 – 18th UNDP and UN-Habitat, with financial support from the Government of Norway, are hosting a four-day meeting which seeks to better understand and advocate for the engagement of youth in governance.

At the conclusion of this meeting there will be a Final Statement which will be sent to the Secretary General outlining how youth can be better engaged in the UN and globally.