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Contribution short abstract

Co-authored by a youth climate activist and global development practitioner, this work encourages critical reflection on youth activists' inclusion into the multilateral arena.

Contribution long abstract

This work confronts the barriers, assumptions and power dynamics that can affect youth inclusion in political processes, especially in multinational contexts.

Brazil is a focal point for youth climate activism, as its Amazon rainforest is “at a tipping point” and “sharp differences in race, history, culture, and industry manifest many ‘Brazils,’” each affected differently by changes in climate (World Bank, 2024). This research centres the perspectives of Brazilian youth activists on their participation in global climate governance and programming. To this end, a specific demographic was targeted for participation: (1) Brazilian citizens, (2) aged 18 to 29, extended to 35 for traditional and Indigenous groups, and (3) who are active in climate change initiatives and have engaged in international climate-related events. The authors surface gaps in current multinational platforms engaging youth activists in hopes of informing the co-creation of more equitable models of collaboration that effectively address crises.

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Contribution short abstract

The paper argues that post-war labour market inclusion reproduces economic and political marginality for youth in Mannar, northern Sri Lanka. Their chronic irrelevance to capital curtails job opportunities, and more tragically, youth’s aspirations and sense of future belonging at home.

Contribution long abstract

This paper problematizes established neoliberal and newer ‘green’ narratives of post-war inclusive development in Sri Lanka. Mannar District is historically peripheral to the Sinhala-majority state and also within the war-affected Tamil homelands. Politicians and policymakers explain youth underemployment in Mannar as the consequence of underdeveloped skills and natural resources. In the effort to integrate the region, the Sri Lankan state promotes skills training and public-private ventures to expand primary industry, including aquaculture, wind energy, and sand mining.

Drawing on ethnographic, economic, and archival data, this paper reveals that Mannar youth are being incorporated into capitalist production, yet paradoxically, their labour is rendered increasingly surplus to capital’s requirements. This is because emerging forms of production are more resource- than labour-intensive and actively erode existing rural livelihoods. Despite over a decade of post-war development integration, Mannar youth continue to experience limited relevance to capital, mirroring their marginalization in Sri Lanka’s political processes.

Manufactured irrelevance is approached not only as a structural condition but also as an everyday experience to be navigated. Through young people’s stories of school-to-work transitions, the study shows how irrelevance produces chronic economic insecurity, not visible in official statistics. More tragically, youth’s acknowledgement of irrelevance tends to dull their aspirations and make Mannar villages feel increasingly inhospitable as they age, leading to social breakdown and efforts to escape. The paper reveals how labour market interventions reproduce livelihood precarity for youth, particularly those living in sociopolitical and ecological margins. The data was collected and analyzed collaboratively with youth from Mannar.

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Contribution short abstract

This paper draws on longitudinal qualitative data (2019-2025) with Syrian young people displaced to Jordan and Lebanon to explore how macro-level volatility intersects with individual and collective political identity and agency, attending to age, gender, education, disability and marital status.

Contribution long abstract

In December 2024, 13 years of violent civil conflict in Syria was ended with the removal of Bashar Al-Assad after 24 years in power. In the year since, the futures of over 6 million Syrian refugees globally have been thrown into question. Many Syrian refugees are young people who have spent the majority of their lives in displacement, many in neighbouring countries such as Lebanon and Jordan where integration was possible to some degree - but must now navigate growing pressure at the national and global level to return to a precarious Syria that they have limited memories of.

Extant research has highlighted tensions between dominant representations of a linear path through time from displacement to integration on the one hand and refugees’ subjective experiences of integration, which are shaped by their socio-political environments. However, less attention has been paid to how these dynamics unfold during the transition through adolescence, how these intersect with gender norms and socialization, nor the broader impact of the global polycrisis on young people’s identities and expectations.

Attending to these concerns, this paper draws on ongoing longitudinal qualitative research with young Syrian refugees in Jordan and Lebanon since 2016. It explores how geopolitical shifts, including the fall of Assad, humanitarian funding cuts and changing global power relations, are shaping integration in each country. Findings explore how these shifts alongside the precarity and volatility of formal integration processes connect with male and female youth’s sense of belonging and anticipation of the future in each country.

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Contribution short abstract

Focusing on the Nepal GenZ movement, this paper discusses young people’s political agency and post-movement aspirations of young people and their parents, drawing on interviews with adolescent and parent cohorts involved in the Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE) longitudinal study.

Contribution long abstract

Young people in Nepal are growing up amidst poly-crisis: rapid digital transformation, globalisation, unemployment, and political instability. Drawing on the Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE) longitudinal study, this paper explores interconnections between political crisis, young people’s future aspirations and political agency.

The analysis draws on qualitative data, including in-depth interviews with 42 adolescents and 25 parents participating in the longitudinal study and 35 new participants included to ensure geographical and ethnic diversity.

The Nepal Gen Z movement (8–13 September 2025) began as a student-led protest against corruption and nepotism, demanding transparency and accountability. Protesters highlighted stark inequalities between children of politicians—often referred to as “nepo babies”—with the lived realities of young Nepalis. State violence against the protesters, including the killing of 19 students, led to widespread unrest and ultimately the overthrow of the government.

The study finds that, for young people, this was their first engagement with political affairs driven by alignment of political agendas with their lived realities, exclusion from policymaking processes, and uncertainty about the future. Findings also highlight that perceptions of change differ inter-generationally: parents remain largely pessimistic, while young people place cautious hope in post-election leadership and expect vigilance from Gen Z leaders. Employment generation, transparency, and fairness are key expectations, though neither group anticipates a near-term decline in youth migration abroad.

The study concludes that crisis can foster youth political agency by catalyzing informal, youth-friendly mobilization, that may gradually reshape political structures to include youth voice and agency in state affairs.

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Contribution short abstract

Ethiopia experienced a devastating conflict in the Tigray region between 2020 and 2022, killing up to 600,000 people and displacing 1.6 million. This paper presents qualitative and quantitative longitudinal findings of the Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE) study in the Tigray region.

Contribution long abstract

Conflict and climate change in Ethiopia: longitudinal evidence on the gendered impacts of polycrisis on adolescents

Ethiopia experienced a devastating conflict in the Tigray region between 2020 and 2022, which killed up to 600,000 people and displaced 1.6 million. Alongside conflict-related crop and livestock destruction, climate change have exacerbated household poverty.

While the deleterious effects of such events on young people’s well-being are acknowledged, limited attention has been given to the interlocking, compounding, and gendered impacts of these multiple crises during the pivotal life-course stage of adolescence. Addressing this lacuna, our paper presents qualitative and quantitative longitudinal findings from research with 750 adolescents, 500 caregivers, and key stakeholders as part of the Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE) study in four conflict-affected communities across the Tigray region.

While most young people were accessing school services before 2020, the conflict led to protracted school closures and attrition. In the post conflict period, the trauma of war, destruction of school infrastructure, and limited resources for catch-up programming have resulted in low enrollment rates and limited confidence in the returns on education. Climate change has exacerbated household poverty, compelling many young people to pursue illegal migration to the Middle East. Gender inequalities are being exacerbated; child marriage has increased, FGM has re-emerged in some communities, and ongoing insecurity is compounding sexual violence risks.

Analysing young people’s experiences in Tigray through a polycrisis lens draws attention to the gendered impacts of structural shocks and the urgency of holistic, interconnected efforts to address these.

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Contribution short abstract

Findings of a recent study conducted in Gaza underscore intersecting economic, physical, psychological and social challenges, including widespread food and water insecurity and low access to WASH resources. Improving living conditions for IDPs, livelihood support, WASH and food are top priorities.

Contribution long abstract

Accounting for around one third of Gaza’s population, young people, who are at a crucial stage of their development, have experienced unparalleled traumatic events over the past two years. While essential for informing an urgently needed adolescent- and youth-centred humanitarian response, there has been limited robust evidence on the impact of the conflict on young people’s capabilities.

This paper explores the challenges facing young people in Gaza, examining how the intersecting impacts of the genocide have affected young people’s capability outcomes. It draws on mixed methods research in 2024-2025 with 1380 young people aged 10-24 years in Gaza as a part of the Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE) longitudinal study.

Findings underscore severe and intersecting economic, physical, psychological and social challenges, including widespread food and water insecurity, lack of safe shelter, and low access to sanitary supplies for girls. Only half of young participants who had experienced serious injuries or illness had access to healthcare, and household and community violence had escalated. High rates of trauma and low coping and resilience scores were recorded. Females (especially married adolescents), orphans and young people with disabilities had the poorest capability outcomes.

These findings highlight the urgency of addressing the disproportionate impact of the genocide on young people. Improving living conditions for IDPs, livelihood support, WASH and food aid may address some of the underlying stressors young people and their families are facing, and investments in school- and community-based psychosocial support must be core components of emergency response and recovery.