About YOUNGA

a Global Event for Impact

Younga® was created as a response to

a call by His Excellency António Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General, on member states to host the largest, most inclusive global dialogue on the future we want in commemoration of the UN’s 75th anniversary.

UNGA, the United Nations General Assembly, has served as the world’s largest town hall of today’s leaders coming together to build action plans for equality, peace and global cooperation for all. But what is the role of young people in UNGA?

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To successfully build action plans for future generations, we believe it is crucial that we involve the voices, ideas and active participation of the nearly two billion young people under the age of 30 around the world—for we will be the generation of leaders that will be living through the outcomes and dealing with the consequences of the decisions made today.

And so, YOUNGA was born...

to create a global platform to unite today and tomorrow’s leaders together where we can co-create solutions for our future.

Hear YOUNGA Founder and Global Chair, Kelly Lovell speak about YOUNGA's mission and objectives for the UN Decade of Action

There are three essential pillars to YOUNGA and the work of BridgingTheGap Ventures that we want to emphasize:

Inclusion and access–ensuring everyone is at the table

To build solutions that last, we must have all stakeholders involved. YOUNGA is not about tomorrow versus today’s leaders—putting generations at odds. YOUNGA aims to foster constructive intergenerational and multi-stakeholder dialogues, for each of us offers different perspectives, lived experiences and knowledge that together create a sustainable solution that serves and supports everyone.

New perspectives

Through YOUNGA, you will meet peers from all walks of life. No two people share the same lived experiences. We have different levels of education, access to information or misinformation, different parental, cultural, political and religious influences that have formed the value systems, opinions and beliefs we have today.

YOUNGA is a non-partisan, multilateral platform. Our objective is to create a safe space where everyone is seen, heard and respected.

Collaboration and unity

Charles Darwin said that “it is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.” This, however, is only one half of the equation. The most critical part of Darwin’s wisdom that is often overlooked in our history lessons is the importance of unity for our survival and prosperity. In his later findings, Darwin shares, “In the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.”

So, we gather at YOUNGA...

from all parts of the world for a truly borderless event experience.

Collaboration is the key. See your neighbours that share your ideas or hopes for the future not as competitors to hide from or to dominate over, but as supporters and prospective partners that can accelerate your progress towards a shared goal.

YOUNGA is made possible by collaboration. We are grateful for the support of over 100 partners last year that share in our goal to empower global unity and youth action for our future.

Participate in our 2023 program

Be notified when we announce registrations, speaker
nominations and our 2023 program