The first mid-term High Level Officials Meeting (HLOM), which is the midterm stocktake of the Global Refugee Forum (GRF) will be convened in December 2021. It is imperative that the voices of refugee and host community youth will be heard, both in the lead up to and during the event – to ensure systemic and sustainable inclusion and meaningful participation of youth.
While the first ever GRF was unprecedented and witnessed the participation of a variety of stakeholders in coming together to operationalize the international agreement the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) adopted in 2018 which set out to enhance international cooperation around refugee protection and solutions through concrete commitments (so called pledges), youth was not a visible stakeholder group, despite the fact that young people are a growing part of displacement-affected populations globally.
To ensure that youth are properly involved in the GCR and GRF processes, looking forward, a group of youth led organizations and networks together with DRC, UNHCR, and the Compact for Youth in Humanitarian Action will be organising a series of regional youth dialogues: organising five workshops over the course of November. The youth dialogues will focus on programming related to young people and the systemic inclusion of young people in the related policy processes.
Due to limited number of seats, a selection process will take place, based on motivation, geography, anchorage in a communal or organizational structure, and diversity. You don’t have to be very familiar with the GCR and the GRF to be accepted, but you need to be motivated to familiarize yourself more with these concepts during the consultation – but don’t worry, there are plenty of resources available to guide you!
Please submit your application no later than 22 October 2021.