Over 16 months, 34 youth-led research teams have been conducting research with youth to explore the impact of the pandemic on them: from mental health to human rights; from learning to livelihoods; and from youth-led action to the role of technology, the YAR has been yielding findings on those aspects of the lives of youth that have been significantly affected. These were presented, at a preliminary stage, during the YAR Knowledge Sharing Meeting (5-7 October 2021) where the young researchers were able to debate and fine-tune their work through exchanges with technical and policy experts from government, academia, civil society and the UN System.

The UNESCO Youth as Researchers (YAR) Policy Conference on COVID-19 will provide a safe space for dialogue between young researchers and Heads of State and Ministers responsible for youth. It will be informed by a set of pragmatic and actionable policy recommendations that stem from the youth-led research and the YAR Knowledge-Sharing meeting. These will be the basis for dialogue and for determining priority commitments to be pursued further, both nationally and internationally, to address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on and with youth.

After this conference, UNESCO aims to establish a Global Grant Scheme to promote, strengthen and scale-up youth-led initiatives with social impact for post-pandemic recovery. It would provide support for two main categories of youth-led initiatives: youth-led research and youth-led grassroots actions.

Read more: https://bit.ly/33Q0lzP, https://en.unesco.org/youth, https://en.unesco.org/covid19/youth/yar, https://bit.ly/33XpIjq