International Girls in ICT Day 2025 was celebrated on 24 April under the theme “Girls in ICT for inclusive digital transformation”. See the highlights from the various celebrations held by the International Telecommunication Union and stakeholders across the world
The ITU Global Youth Summit 2025 outcomes underscore the importance of youth involvement in discussions on shaping the future of the digital world and the global technology landscape. Read the outcome report here.
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The MISK Global Forum [MGF] welcomed a Generation Connect delegation to the Forum in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from 9-10 November 2022. Under the theme of ‘Generation Transformation’, the Forum hosted more than 120 different events, activities, and dialogues over a two-day programme, encouraging transformative sustainable impact on an individual basis, on the community level, and for the world at large.
Members of the Generation Connect Visionaries Board and Generation Connect Youth Envoys had the opportunity to actively engage and participate in this intergenerational Forum. On the final day of the Forum, the Generation Connect delegation had the opportunity to meet with ITU Secretary General Doreen Bogdan-Martin and share their experiences with her, underscoring the importance of meaningful youth engagement for digital development. Read the highlights and reflections of the Generation Connect delegation to learn more about the impact of this event.
Generation Connect Youth Envoys, Visionaries Board Member, and ITU staff with ITU Secretary General Doreen Bogdan-MartinGeneration Connect – Americas Youth Envoy Shergaun Roserie engaged in discussion with ITU Secretary General Doreen Bogdan-MartinGeneration Connect Visionaries Board Member Juliana Novaes discusses her engagement at the MISK Global Forum 2022
Check out this blog to find out about the expectations and motivations of the young delegates who participated in the Generation Connect Global Youth Summit 2022
Generation Connect encourages global youth to participate as equal partners alongside the leaders of today’s digital change. Led by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the initiative empowers young people with skills and opportunities to advance their vision of a connected future.
The Generation Connect Video Pitch competition was launched as part of the ITU Innovation Challenges 2021 to encourage diverse young people to share their ideas about connecting the unconnected to close the digital divide. ITU received video pitches from youth around the world, each of which presented innovative solutions towards closing the digital divide. A selection committee of ITU experts was convened to review the submissions based on the pre-set evaluation criteria.
Youth and Media’s new report focuses on youth engagement — from co-design to participatory research. The paper, inspired by results from ITU 2020 Youth Engagement Survey and informed by different implementation pilots, highlights four youth participation models.
The ITU Generation Connect is a new initiative that catalyses youth action for digital transformation, gives young people a voice & opportunity to be empowered, engaged & to participate to advance the digital development agenda for present & future generations.
As part of the design phase for the ITU International Centre of Digital Innovation (I-CoDI), a challenge use case focused on Youth. During the I-CoDI Youth Challenge week (Nov. 16-21, 2020) 7 hybrid teams of internal ITU staff and external youth experts came together across 10+ time-zones to develop solutions to the challenge question: ‘How can the ITU communicate effectively with and for youth?’
The Connect 2030 Agenda supports ITU’s role in facilitating progress towards the achievement of the SDGs by 2030, ensuring that technology serves humanity and the planet. The Agenda aims to achieve five bold goals: Growth, Inclusiveness, Sustainability, Innovation and Partnerships.
For a century and a half since 1865, ITU has been at the center of advances in communications − from telegraphy through to the modern world of satellites, mobile phones and the Internet. Take a look at ITU’s history over the past 150 years.
The Futurecasters Global Young Visionaries Summit (Geneva, 8-10 January 2020) was hosted and co- organized by ITU and the Model UN programme of Ferney-Voltaire, France.
In February 2020 we consulted youth around the world on how ITU can engage with them as an international organization.
The youth consultation was created and led by the “Youth and Media, Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society”, Harvard University.
The findings of this survey have informed and will serve to support the implementation of the youth strategy.
English, French, and Spanish.
February 29 to April 19, 2020.
1,138 participants, ages 10 to 25.
58 countries (86% from the developing world)
Gender identification representation:
Girls (56%) Boys (40%), around 4% self-identifying
or preferring not to say.
Five High-Level Takeaways
1
Youth want to acquire domain-specific and transferable skills
2
Youth seek long-term engagement relevant to their long-term goals
3
Youth have unique perspectives to contribute and expect equal partnership
4
Global issues that impact young people’s lives are diverse, and so are their interests
5
Course and program designs should be sensitive to young people’s context
The Youth Strategy aims to improve and have a real impact on the lives of young people around the world and to ensure meaningful participation of youth in ITU as key stakeholders in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The unprecedented global health crisis we are facing is affecting all parts of society and changing lives and livelihoods. In all types of crises and times of need, from climate change to armed conflict or political unrest, young people and youth-led organizations have been quick to take action and respond to the needs of others. The same is happening now during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Futurecasters Global Young Visionaries Summit (Geneva, 8-10 January 2020) was hosted and co- organized by ITU and the Model UN programme of Ferney-Voltaire, France.
As the United Nations turns 75, and with only 10 years left to make the 2030 Agenda a reality for all, a global call for action for and with youth is needed now more than ever.