Youth Leadership Programme 3
Building on the lessons learned and momentum generated during YLP1 and YLP2, YLP3 was launched in 2017 with the theme: Accelerating innovative solutions for sustainable development.
The objectives are to identify youth who are committed to contributing to the national and regional development agendas and to support them as they develop, implement and scale their own innovative solutions to sustainable development, be they social enterprises, non-profits, NGOs, advocacy campaigns or other initiatives. By enabling and empowering youth to contribute to achievement of national, regional and global sustainable development agendas, YLP3 looks to contribute to the overall knowledge-based economic transformation taking place across the region.
Fourteen countries across the Arab Region are participating, with UNDP Country Offices hosting national activities for over 1,000 youth that offer their YLP3 participants opportunities to learn about and access i) technical knowledge, ii) partnerships, iii) technology and iv) finance needed to accelerate their solutions.
YLP3 Regional Forum: Objectives, Format and Participants
Once the national-level phase is completed, each UNDP Country Office will select five young leaders from their programmes to join the YLP3 regional forum.
Objectives
The main objective of the regional forum is to support participating youth to refine their innovative solutions and help them prepare for implementation and ultimately scaling up of their solutions. Specifically, the YLP3 regional forum will:
i) Expand the knowledge of participating youth in areas related to sustainable development, leadership and social innovation;
ii) Introduce a variety of new and emerging technologies for supporting social innovations and enterprises;
iii) Develop the skills of participating youth to identify and forge partnerships needed to implement their solutions; and,
iv) Introduce strategies for youth to access finance for their innovative solutions.
In addition, the regional forum will be an opportunity for participating youth to expand their network of young leaders, innovators and change makers around the region, in order to exchange knowledge, stories, resources and skills.
During the regional forum we will document and capture youth efforts contributing to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda.
Following the regional event, YLP3 will continue its efforts to mobilize resources to provide access to mentoring services, technical expertise, networking and financing opportunities to all the participating youth from the national and regional events. Youth who participate in the regional forum are expected to share their learnings with national-level YLP3 participants. In this way, YLP3 aims to create a snowball effect, as youth help other youth, their communities, and their nations, potentially impacting thousands of people in the Arab world.
YLP sponsorship opportunities
UNDP will also count on the support of sponsors, from the private and public sector, to contribute financial resources for the overall implementation of the forum. For this purpose, a sponsorship package containing the different categories, contributions and benefits has been developed. By tapping into sponsorship opportunities, YLP aims to broaden its network of partners, resulting in further support to YLP3 participants.