Youth Participation at the Internet Governance Forum

The term youth encompasses many different forms based on self-identification and community-designated identification which impacts their engagement with the IGF. In essence, how do you perceive yourself, and how does the community perceive youth?

We addressed five themes of engagement that elaborate on how youth are being empowered and what barriers they face at the IGF: accessing the IGF, the youth voice, availability of resources, integration of youth activities, facilitators, and encouraging youth participation.

We propose six recommendations which will support a growing youth community at the IGF: autonomy within IGF spaces, integrating youth ideas, programmes for returning participants, educator and student participation, establishing an IGF database of resources, and changing funding barriers.