Youth Leadership Programme

YLP's mission is to invest in young women and men across the Arab region to unleash their potential to become social innovators, leaders, thinkers and a powerful force for change in their communities, countries and the region at large. 

YLP equips youth with tools to develop their own unique and innovative solutions to address real-life challenges and further the 2030 Agenda. The programme consists of three main pillars: Sustainable Development Goals, Social Innovation and Gender Equality. It encourages participants to become changemakers, capable of developing their ideas from plans to practice. 

The Youth Leadership Programme is highly tailored to the context and needs of the youth in each country where it is organized. This means that while the core elements of YLP remain the same across the region, each country tailors the programme to their specific context and priorities. 

Since its initiation in 2015, YLP has been implemented it 18 countries across the Arab region, engaged more than 30,000 young women and men, and created a network of more than 80 youth-serving organizations working with youth on the ground. 

YLP is part of a broader framework of UNDP SHABABEEK – Youth Empowerment, Engagement and Knowledge Project, which provides holistic support to youth by building partnerships and creating an enabling environment for youth to thrive and take an active role in their societies. 


YLP for youth 

The Youth Leadership Programme supports young men and women across the Arab region throughout their journey first as participants and then as YLP alumni. 

1. Build capacities and network 

YLP offers extensive capacity-building such as trainings, workshops, innovation camps, hackathons and other activities at the national level. Young men and women are provided with the needed support to develop their ideas and social initiatives from planning to implementation. Some of the youth also participate in regional YLP activities, such as Regional Forums and workshops. 

2. Become part of the community 

YLP alumni form a community that extends beyond their home countries. Youth participants become trainers, mentors and national advisory group members. This group of innovative and engaged youth guides new youth participants in developing their skills and building impact-oriented careers and social innovations, They also help UNDP develop projects and initiatives that respond to the needs of youth across the region. 

3. Reach global opportunities 

Through YLP, youth access global opportunities. Our alumni have travelled to UNLEASH Innovation Summit in China, Empower conference in Doha, ECOSOC Youth Forum in New York, and Expo2020 in Dubai. They have taken part in and won international competitions, became politically active in their communities and visited other countries in the region representing UNDP and YLP. Some have become part of other UNDP initiatives, such as Youth Development Delegates in the Arab Region, and Generation17 young leaders. 

YLP for partners 

Over the years, YLP has worked with over 80 youth-serving organizations across 18 Arab countries. We support partner organizations to expand their knowledge to better serve youth-led initiatives and changemakers at the national level, especially when it comes to innovative leadership, civic and political participation and the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals. 

The programme also facilitates the exchange of expertise and good practices between partner organizations to ensure peer to peer learning and continuous improvement of YLP’s offer to young people. To enhance the collective knowledge and build the capacity of its participants, partnering youth-serving organizations have access to newly developed online materials, toolkits and curricula to support the planning and implementation of YLP and youth activities at the national level. 

 

 

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