Global Convening 2023
4th Annual GOYN Global Convening 2023
The Future is NOW! Accelerating Inclusive Pathways to Economic Resilience
This past November, the Global Opportunity Youth Network (GOYN) convened its Global and Community Partners, and Opportunity Youth (OY) Leaders from across the world in Mombasa, Kenya (and virtually) at the 4th Annual GOYN Global Convening, in partnership with its local GOYN Mombasa community partner, Swahilipot Hub Foundation.
Over the course of four days and 158 presenters across plenaries, breakouts, and performances our global network shared their unique learnings and perspectives on the power of place-based collaboration and tapping into one’s resilience and innovative spirit to build and accelerate sustainable livelihood pathways and opportunities for OY across the world. This year’s convening theme “Accelerating Inclusive Pathways to Economic Resilience”, uplifted stories, practices and impactful learnings that build societal and economic resilience within our network, with youth voice at the center.
Over 350+ attendees, representing over 15 countries and 23 cities joined us in-person and via Zoom, with simultaneous language interpretation in English, French, Hindi, Portuguese, and Spanish. We were proud to be joined by many of our critical global partners and would like to thank, especially, the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation for their role and partnership in supporting the convening along with our local convening host and GOYN Mombasa community partner – Swahilipot Hub Foundation, whose support made this global convening a great success.
Youth leadership and influence was infused throughout the convening with youth-led performances and plenary speaking moments capturing the true spirit of youth power and the vibrant energy of Mombasa’s young leaders. Approximately 65% GOYN’s total convening participants were young leaders, many of whom traveled from across the world to gather in community to center youth voice and leadership at the GOYN convening. For many of them, this was their first time traveling out of their local communities to participate at a global platform – they shared that this experience was a transformational moment and experience in their youth journey.
“We youth are the change, we are the present and we are the future.”
– Randy Marquez (YAG GOYN Barranquilla)
Featured Plenaries I 4th Annual GOYN Global Convening 2023
Below we reflect back on featured plenaries from the convening to share the wisdom and vision of our young leaders, local partners, and global allies as we together envision resilience as a key driver in the future of OY movement building and catalyze the call to action for all to play a purposeful role in advancing local systemic change to facilitate access to equitable economic and livelihood opportunities for OY in our network and across the world.
“Don’t just adapt to the digital world; shape it with your vision, creativity, and innovation. With data and technology as our allies, we can script a future thats inclusive, empowering and truly equal for everyone.”
Luisa Franco Machado (UN Young Leader – Digital Activist)
Watch Plenary I Building Community Resilience through Authentic Youth Partnership
The plenary explores how intentional youth engagement and partnership inform GOYN’s design and implementation and the critical role of OY in global exploration and piloting of strategies and local efforts to build a collaborative infrastructure.
*The plenary begins at the 11′ mark in the video recording.
Watch Plenary I Cross-Network Learning and Collaboration
This plenary reflects on the role of network and collaborative builders, in light of research on why and how to build powerful, effective and resilient networks in communities.
Watch Plenary I The Power of Place: How Local Context Matters for Development
This plenary explores the power of place-based solutions and localization in addressing development challenges, discussing the benefits of taking a place-based approach, the challenges of localization, and the role of enablers, such as physical spaces (hubs) & technology in supporting these approaches.
Watch Plenary I Movement Building: Resilience for the Future
In this plenary, GOYN youth leaders, community members, and global allies reflect on 5 years of progress and impact, and envision what we can accomplish together over the next five years to accelerate a global movement to connect millions of Opportunity Youth to decent work.
*The plenary begins at the 14′ mark of the video recording.
“Leadership is not about papers and degrees, it’s about skills and opportunities, giving chances and believing in young people.”
Mahmoud Noor (Director Swahilipot Hub Foundation)
Visit our Learning Lab for more content from the Convening.
We hope to see you at our 2024 GOYN Global Convening! Stay tuned for more information.