I was thirteen years old when UNICEF’s “Retorno a la Alegría” strategy arrived in my neighborhood, training adolescent volunteers to accompany children and mitigate the emotional impact they experienced in challenging contexts.
I didn’t know it then, but that day marked the beginning of a path that would lead me, years later, to open spaces for youth participation from Colombia to cross-border initiatives.
That first encounter not only gave me a safe space and opportunities; it gave me something far more valuable: the certainty that my voice mattered. I discovered skills I didn’t know I had, leading, communicating assertively, working as a team, creating alongside other children, and I understood that my own story could be part of a bigger one.
That moment planted a conviction in me, young people are at the heart of both local and global action, actively shaping and implementing initiatives. I realized that if I had received support in my childhood, I had a responsibility to give it back, multiplied.
Today, as UNV Youth Engagement Associate at the Joint SDG Fund, I live that mission every day: promoting youth voices as a key to unlocking action, connection, and transformation. It means inhabiting the space between dialogue and action to build a fairer, more inclusive, and more meaningful world.
Lessons from the Field: Catatumbo’s Youth in Action
One of the most significant chapters of my journey took place in Catatumbo (The house of thunder), Colombia, through the project: “Impulso Juvenil: Transformando el Territorio”, an inter-agency initiative between UNICEF, UNODC, and FAO.
There, as FAO’s Focal Point with the COL, I worked alongside young people in processes of empowerment, advocacy, and access to the right to land and territory.
I learned that land it is identity, livelihood, and the gateway to fundamental rights such as food, housing, and work, it is life itself. I observed that when young people engage meaningfully, they both strengthen social cohesion and drive solutions to complex problems themselves.
I came to understand something essential: youth leadership is cultivated. And that cultivation requires listening, recognizing, and connecting young people with real opportunities, locally, nationally, and internationally.
The youth of Catatumbo reminded me that peace and sustainable development begins when those who live the challenges also become active builders of the solutions.
Impact That Flows Both Ways
The United Nations’ influence on my life has been transformative, but also reciprocal. What I received as a child thanks to UNICEF taught me to build partnerships and think globally while acting locally.
Today, every project I lead seeks to connect young people with institutions, agencies, organizations, and communities to create sustainable and collaborative solutions.
I have seen firsthand that the most lasting changes occur when youth are involved in the design, implementation, and evaluation of the policies and programmes that affect them. Youth do not need others to speak for them, they need spaces to speak and act for themselves.
The Road Forward
At the Joint SDG Fund, my goal is to strengthen sustainable, effective youth participation mechanisms, co-created with young people from diverse realities, ensuring their leadership is present in the design, implementation, and evaluation of the solutions financed by the Fund. Through initiatives like Youth Corner, a digital platform that amplifies youth voices and connects change-makers across regions, I work to mobilize participation beyond geographical boundaries, laying the groundwork for a truly global movement.
My focus is on ensuring that youth participation moves beyond symbolism, becoming a continuous, transformative process with measurable impact—where young voices are genuinely heard and actively shape decisions. My purpose is to open doors and build bridges that position youth participation as a driving force for change.
A Call on International Youth Day
16% of the world’s population are young people (15-24 years), and nearly 90% live in developing countries. Yet, in a world marked by conflicts, forced displacement, and humanitarian crises, where even today we painfully witness tragedies claiming thousands of lives across the globe, millions of young people still lack safe spaces to participate, influence decisions, and exercise their rights.
In such contexts, youth leadership is no longer optional; it is a moral and strategic urgency.
My story is just one of many proving that when young people are given real opportunities, they respond with creativity, commitment, and leadership. The United Nations Youth Strategy (Youth 2030) and the Youth, Peace and Security Agenda recognize young people as essential agents for a more peaceful, just, and sustainable world.
That is why, on this International Youth Day, I invite organizations, leaders, governments, UN agencies, and youth networks to open real spaces of power and decision-making, so that young people have a seat at the table, a role in shaping decisions, and the ability to transform their communities.
Youth participation is a smart strategy to build the present and ensure a fairer future.
This is the path toward the 2030 Agenda. And that is where I want to keep meeting, working with and for young people, in spaces where their voices are not just heard but become the driving force for action.
