We’ve Been Ready: Why Youth Leadership Can’t Wait Another 30 Years

By Ulysses Matricciani, Student Leader and Global Scholar (Cohort of ‘22)

What if I told you that you could go to the United Nations at 18 years old? What about sooner? Well, I got to experience this hypothetical last week when I represented AMP at the United Nations High Plenary Meeting to Commemorate the 30th anniversary of the World Programme of Action for Youth. Like many other Global Scholars, I compete in Model United Nations, in fact it was another scholar who introduced me to it. While I’ve always seen it as a deeply meaningful activity, I’ve also held hope that one day our resolutions could be real. This was my chance to make myself heard at the real deal.

The opening session was kicked off by a series of panelists, as well as the presidents of Botswana and North Macedonia. Initially I didn’t expect actual heads of state to be present in this meeting, but I was more surprised by the tangible action they were taking. The North Macedonian present for example, made a youth council which to date has organized several activities sponsored by the European Commission, and the president also stated she has nominated youth for presidential commissions. The current work that’s being done isn’t given the press it deserves.

Yet as I listened to so many speakers from so many backgrounds in both the plenary meeting and stakeholder panel, I can say with confidence there was one theme which was in every. single. statement. Even if youth are involved at surface levels, we’re not trusted to have meaningful responsibilities or roles. We’re not given opportunities to be the leaders we are in spaces that matter, and we’re not being given the resources we need to translate speeches into action. During the intergenerational multi-stakeholder session, it was made clear that this isn’t just an issue because we’re missing the youth perspective in government, it’s a statistical representation problem. A speaker from Mozambique described how 65% of the country’s population is under 25, and how this is true for many other African nations. This is true for the entire world, over half of the world is under 30. 

Panelists especially among the stakeholder session highlighted that the lack of youth involvement is a structural issue, and that ageism is baked into world structures. This was put so succinctly and clearly by Panelist Casey Harden, who said “Thirty years since the World Programme of Action for Youth, we must stop asking if young people are ready. The truth is: the systems are not”. I encourage readers here to view a copy of her statement linked here.

As the stakeholder session ticked on, my window to speak kept shrinking. My statement was ready, but it appeared like the assembly wasn’t. I stayed through two sessions, I was on the list to speak. But when the time ran out the first time, I was told my voice would be included. Then, time ran out for a second time, and instead of speaking my voice was relegated to the UN Journal – a footnote in a document few will ever open. That silence said more than any statement I could’ve given.

Since we as youth aren’t being given these opportunities to make change, we have a responsibility to make them ourselves until systems decide to catch up. I did this when I said I was prepared for a college education and earned my associates degree in highschool. I did this when I then used that degree to win $50,000 for my business at a competition for college students. Youth have had to make their own space for all of history, as highlighted by the aforementioned North Macedonians President’s speech where she provided several examples of how students drove change. The Tiananmen Square protests, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the 1968 Protests in Paris. A recent example was the “No Kings” protest. These were all spearheaded by young people.

And this lesson will make me think. What am I frustrated about? How can I build the space to solve this issue myself? How can I bring not only other young leaders into this new space, but how can I use my drive to foster intergenerational action and relationships?

At the core of these questions is a commitment to resolve global issues. Educating, empowering, and engaging youth in these global issues is what AMP Global Youth is about. AMP’s signature program, global scholar, does this in a way that I haven’t seen replicated in any other program. First It changes the mindset of youth to think about issues big picture (e.g. dividing problems into root, “trunk” and “leaves”, or illustrating all the steps to make toast and how that is a global process). Then it shows youth that age isn’t a barrier to make change. Lastly, it actually engages youth by having us develop final projects which actually have real world impact.

As I’m looking inward at our organization, the driving question I want to bring home and serve as our prompt to evolve is: How are we incorporating mutually beneficial, meaningful, intergenerational collaboration into not only Global Scholar projects, but for organization wide efforts like the State of Global Youth Report, Power Up, and future programs?

To my fellow young people: I want to tell you a story. One where a baby elephant’s leg is tied to a post, and at its young age it’s too weak to break the rope. So even when it’s older, it won’t even attempt to break rope despite having more than enough strength to do so. These mental “ropes” are meant to be snapped. We as youth are strong enough to break them. But better yet, let’s restructure the system so no one has to.