About

This is the page for the Major Group of Children and Youth. For the organisation Children and Youth International (which is the charitable Educational, training and financing organisation of the MGCY) please go here http://childrenyouth.org/cyi

We represent the voice of children and youth around the world

Welcome to the United Nations Major Group for Children and Youth. If you are under 30 then this is your constituency within the Sustainable Development negotiations at the UN.

We are a dynamic, international network of young people and organisations bringing about change in the world. We care about the future, the sustainability of our planet and the development of the people on it. We are here as a space for the voices of children and youth globally. At the UN and in our local communities, we are changing the way the world works. We are designing the future.

We are lead by monthly facilitation calls which anyone can join and appoint a number of facilitators from time to time to lead bits of our work. The Whole group is facilitated by Organising Partners (see about us section)

Vision

The vision of the UN Major Group for Children and Youth (MGCY) is the meaningful participation of children and youth and their organisations, networks and committees at all levels – local to international – in decision-making on sustainable development.

The MGCY envisions a world in which children and youth are planning, designing, implementing, monitoring, reviewing and evaluating policies aimed at achieving sustainable development.

Mission

In order to achieve this, the MGCY is a self-organised space which ensures the effective coordination of children and youth participation in United Nations processes related to sustainable development and other allied processes.

We strive to ensure diversity and inclusion of all children and youth taking into account (among other things) region, geography, gender, (dis)ability, marginalised groups and type of organisation.

Mandate

We are mandated by Agenda 21 and UN General Assembly Resolutions (such as 2013’s A/Res/67/290), as well as ad hoc agreements with UN bodies and conferences.

We act as a bridge between children and youth and officials in the UN system, whilst ensuring children and youth are afforded the right to attend and intervene in official meetings, have access to and submit information and documents, make recommendations and organise events and meetings.

Guiding Values

MGCY strives to be:

  1. Mission-driven and professional
  2. Participatory and consultative
  3. Innovative
  4. Independent of external control and voluntary in nature
  5. Egalitarian, respectful and inclusive
  6. Accountable, transparent and open

How the MGCY works

We Provide:

  1. Platforms (online and offline) to foster dialogue among children and youth, our stakeholders and partners, on issues that children and youth care about and/or affect children and youth.
  2. Spaces for children and youth to agree on joint statements and policy positions for UN processes covered by each of the External Working Groups.
  3. Information on UN processes.

We Conduct:

  1. Capacity-building of children and youth so that they can take part and be informed of UN processes.
  2. Training of young people on the practical skills of participation.
  3. Our work, such as policy position development and selections, in an open, transparent, inclusive and democratic manner.

We Coordinate:

  1. Logistics of children and youth’s participation in UN processes.
  2. Inputs into UN processes where the UN requires civil society participation through Major Groups.
  3. Resources which are offered to civil society to enable their participation in processes to ensure fair and equitable distribution of those resources.

Our organising structure includes:

  • Participants, who are either individuals 30 years old or under or organisations representative of or working with children and/or youth. Participants must join at least one of the Working Groups to become a member of the MGCY.
  • The holding organisation called “Children and Youth International.” All participants of the MGCY are also automatically members of Children and Youth International. It is a permanent and non-elected Organising Partner. It operates the MGCY’s Finance Working Group and supports the Elections Working Group.
  • Working Groups, which cover each of the UN processes we are involved in (external Working Group) or support the internal work and/or policy coherence of the MGCY (internal Working Groups).
  • Assembly meetings, which happen online (and sometimes in person) and coordinate the work of all the Working Groups and receive reports from the Organising Partners.
  • Five elected Organising Partners for staggered two-year terms. They are organisations whose policy-making is controlled by people who are 30 years old or under. Their role is to support the MGCY’s work and to liaise between MGCY and relevant UN bodies.
  • Deputy Organising Partners (for external Working Groups) and Facilitators (for internal Working Groups), who are individuals who facilitate and coordinate MGCY’s work.
  • Acting Organising Partners, who may be asked to fill Organising Partner roles at UN events if Organising Partners are unable to attend.
  • Regional focal points, who external Working Groups may appoint if they deem them important to the development of policy positions and/or statements.

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