Online Lab: July, 14 to 16, 2022 (online)

Organised by Global Diplomacy Lab (GDL) members Ghada Zribi, Theresa Carrington, Fabrice Muchiga, Nurana Mammadova and Elsa Marie D’Silva, the Lab “Bringing Youth Voices into 21st Century Policies” gathered young people and traditional and non-traditional diplomats around the table, providing a platform for youth voices to be heard. The purpose was to discuss, deliberate and design policy recommendations on the future of work, capitalising on the demographic dividend and addressing the aspirations of youth. 42 youth and 18 diplomats from 23 countries attended this virtual 3-day Lab.

At the beginning of the Lab, all participants stated how they were committed to supporting youth. Each youth participant was required to do the pre-work of having a clear policy idea or clarity of a policy they wanted to influence. During the Lab, they further elaborated upon it with support from the diplomats, for which they worked together for three days.

Youth and diplomats learned each other’s language, built trust, and implemented new tools for policy creation. Knowledge was shared, relationships were formed, and 40 youth outlined ideas to improve or create policies.