Youth Initiatives
Youth Initiatives of the IGF are created with a goal of encouraging and involving young people in a substantive discussion on Internet governance. These forms, as well as the national, sub-regional and regional IGFs (NRIs), are expected to follow the main IGF principles of being open, inclusive, non-commercial with multistakeholder participation during the whole preparatory phase and the event itself, all in line with a bottom-up decision-making process.
Besides these initiatives listed below, there are other examples of youth engagement at the IGF and in Internet governance, as described
this publication on Youth Engagement at the IGF
The publication outlines the Youth IGF initiatives established on national and/or regional levels; as well as some capacity development initiatives.
Regarding different forms of Youth engagement in the IGF processes, the IGF Secretariat recognizes the following practices:
- Youth IGF initiatives (that can be independently organized; or integrated into the NRIs). For these, a recognition process is conducted in the basis of the Youth IGFs adhering to the core IGF principles and procedures, just as the NRIs.
- Additional projects to build youth participation in Internet governance
Below table shows the current record of the existing Youth Initiatives.
The Youth IGF Afghanistan (YIGFA) is a youth-led and youth-focused initiative aiming to engage Afghan youth in Internet Governance debates and discussions.
YIGF Africa is an open platform for younger generation to express and interchange their ideas and thoughts on Internet governance.
The Albanian Youth IGF initiative was established in 2018. It aims to create a multistakeholder process through which the Albanian Youth community will have opportunity to engage in Internet Governance discussions on national, regional and international levels.
The Youth IGF of Argentina was established in 2018. It serves as a forum for discussion and exchange space that aims to expand the voices of young people between 18 and 30 who are interested in Internet governance.
The Armenian Youth IGF initiative was established in 2019. The forum provides an open platform for Armenian Youth to take part in Internet governance discussions, to get acquainted with Internet-related issues concerning Armenia.
With a dedication to raise the awareness of youth on Internet governance matters and encourage the young generations to participate in the policy discussion, the Youth IGF of the Asia Pacific region was initiated in 2010.
The Benin Youth IGF is a youth-led and youth-focused initiative that aims at establishing cooperation between and with youth from Benin regarding Internet governance.
The Burundi Youth IGF, established in 2024, aims to foster an inclusive and open platform for facilitating multistakeholder dialogue on Internet governance matters.
The Canada Youth IGF was established in 2024. This initiative serves as a platform to engage youth on issues related to the Internet.
The Caribbean Youth IGF was recognized in 2023. Its main goal is to create a platform for multistakeholder engagement with youth from the region and their capacity development in Internet governance.
The Youth IGF of Chad was recognised in 2020. Its main goal is to engage young people in the multistakeholder discussion on Internet governance and to develop capacity.
This Youth IGF initiative was established in 2017. Youth IGF initiative of China aims to engage voices of children and youth in the Internet Governance discourse.
The Colombian Youth IGF initiative was established in 2023. Its objective is to facilitate a multistakeholder process through which the youth from Colombia can engage in Internet governance discussions.
German Youth IGF was established in 2013 year, with the aim to introduce the idea of Internet governance amongst youth and bring young people from Germany into the relevant discussion on national, regional and global level.
Youth IGF of Hong Kong was establised in 2016 year. This Initiative aims to provide a platform for younger generation in Hong Kong to speak up on Internet Governance issues, build up sense of digital citizenship of students, raise awarenes on Internet givernance issues and to familiarize the community with the yIGF model, all in order to equip participants with skills and knowledge for future participation in actual Internet policy-making discussion
The India Youth IGF was established in 2018. Its goals are to raise awareness among India's youth of Internet governance issues, encourage younger generations to participate in public policy discussions, and eventually build a new cadre of Internet leaders motivated to learn, engage, and act within their region and beyond.
The Indonesia Youth IGF was established in 2018. It has the nature of an aggregator platform, and its main purpose is to ?gather youth movement having interest on internet governance issue.
The Italian Youth IGF initiative was established in early 2019. It aims to promote an open, transparent, inclusive and multistakeholder debate on Internet governance matters.
The Youth-IGF of Malaysia was established in 2019, with the main idea of engaging young people of Malaysia in the discussion on Internet Governance matters, as well as to raise awareness on Internet Governance and promote the youth participation in Internet policy discussion.
The Mauritius Youth IGF initiative was established in 2022. The forum provides an open platform for youth to take part in Internet governance discussions on matters of relevance.
Mynamar Youth IGF was recognized in 2022. It is an open, bottom-up, inclusive, multistakeholder platform where youth can discuss Internet governance and engage with all stakeholders in the country, region and globally.
Nepal Youth IGF was established in 2021. The main goal is to encourage and involve young people in the substantive discussion on Internet governance.
Youth IGF of Netherlands was established in 2011 year, with the main idea of engaging young people of Netherlands in the discussion on Internet governance and bringing their voices to the global IGF discussion agenda.
The Nicaragua Youth IGF was established in 2019. It aims at creating a multistakeholder platform for channelling the inputs from young people in Nicaragua on Internet governance matters of priority to the wider Internet governance ecosystem in the country, region and world.
The Youth IGF of Nigeria was established in 2019. This initiative serves as a platform to empower young people to be part of public policy Internet discussions which affect the lives of us all.
Polish Youth IGF was established in 2022. It serves as an open platform for exchanging experiences and views on Internet governance at national, regional and international levels.
The Southeast Asia Youth IGF was recognized in 2024. Its main goal is to create an open, inclusive platform for all young people from the region to participate in Internet governance discussions.
The Swiss Youth IGF was recognized in 2023. Its main aim is to create a platform to foster the engagement of youth from Switzerland in Internet governance processes.
Youth IGF of Turkey is focused on gathering inputs on the Internet governance related matters from young people in Turkey, and on creating a unique forum for the youth to discuss these matters.
The Youth IGF-UA was established in 2017 and aims to provide a platform for young people in Ukraine to engage in Internet governance discussions.
The Youth IGF of Vietnam was recognized in 2021. It serves as an inclusive platform for all stakeholders to discuss Internet governance issues of youth priority in Vietnam.
The Youth IGF Initiative for West African community was established in 2019. It aims at channeling youth voices on Internet governance to the wider multistakeholder community.
The youth IGF of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) was recognized in 2023. This multistakeholder initiatives aims to foster dialogue, digital capacity development and cooperation with and for youth of the country regarding public digital policy.
Youth IGF of Latin America and Caribbean (YouthLACIGF) was established in 2016 year, in order to increase the participation of young people in Internet Governance related discussion in this respective region.
The Youth Panama IGF was established in 2024. It is a multistakeholder inclusive platform for discussion of Internet governance issues with and for youth.
Youth Russian Internet Governance Forum (Youth RIGF) - is a multistakeholder platform aimed at empowerment of the Russian youth and facilitation of discussion between representatives of public, academia and business sectors.
Youth IGF Initiatives integrated into the national, subregional and regional IGF inititives (NRIs)
The Azerbaijan Youth IGF initiative is established in 2019 with a main objective to provide an open platform to the youth community to discuss Internet Governance issues.
Youth Internet Governance Forum (YIGF) Bangladesh is an initiative under the umbrella of Bangladesh Internet Governance Forum (BIGF). It is a multi-stakeholder, youth-led platform to engage youth in Internet governance-related processes.
Since 2019, the multistakeholder organizing committee of the Belarus national IGF stated to facilitate a set of focused programme activities on youth engagement at the national IGF processes.
Ghana Youth IGF is an integrated Youth-led initiative of the national Ghana IGF. It aims at engaging young people in Internet governance discussions.
Additional projects to build youth participation in Internet Governance (1)
The YCIG is one of the IGF Dynamic Coalitions focused on supporting youth participation in local, regional and international Internet governance discussion and processes.
The Youth IGF Movement, established in 2011, is a capacity development initiative with an international scope. Its main objective is to support a new generation of Internet leaders dedicated to civic progress in line with the goals outlined in the Roadmap for Digital Cooperation, promoting global sustainable development. Additionally, it aims to advance the vision of the Global Digital Compact by generating impactful youth-driven ideas to facilitate the local integration of global digital cooperation principles.
The Youth Observatory aims to connect youth from various countries and regions in Latin America. It is focused on knowledge-sharing and enhancing youth engagement in Internet governance-related processes.