18 February 2014: The Office of the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Youth has launched a new initiative to “crowd-source” youth priorities for the post-2015 development agenda. The initiative, part of the Special Envoy’s Global Partnership for Youth (GPY2015), seeks to identify the goals and opinions of youth for post-2015 and advocate for their inclusion in the new agenda.

The crowd-sourcing initiative and the Global Partnership for Youth are being conducted in partnership with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), the UN Millennium Campaign (UNMC), and the Major Group for Children and Youth. Since its launch on 31 January 2014, the GPY2015 has registered more than 1,000 organizations to join the partnership of groups advocating for youth priorities in the post-2015 development agenda. The more recent launch of the crowd-sourcing initiative offers these groups a platform to communicate online, share ideas, and express their priorities.

Ahmad Alhendawi, the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Youth, said he hopes the crowd-sourcing will feed into the formal intergovernmental negotiations surrounding the post-2015 development agenda: “It presents an opportunity for young people to help move the post-2015 development debate from consultation to consolidation.” John Ashe, President of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) also welcomed the initiative and, speaking in a video message to youth, gave them his full support and expressed his hopes for their “partnership to grow even bigger.” [GPY2015 Crowdsourcing Website] [UN Press Release on Crowd-sourcing Initiative] [UN Press Release on GPY2015] [UNGA President’s Video Message]