In a Changing World, Keep Young People In Focus
A scan of the world in 2025 tells us that young people are rapidly falling off of global and domestic agendas.
In lieu of foreign aid, education, training or global health, we see a rise in defense spending, and a fracturing of support networks and services for those who need it most.
For those shaping global, national, or community level policy, putting children and youth at the center is a multi-generational investment that builds strong foundations, and benefits young people, society and the planet.
Prioritizing young people is needed now, more than ever.
The start of 2025 marked an abrupt halt to nearly two decades of United States Government (USG) support and progress on child and youth policy and programming across all sectors. Globally, the U.S. government was the single-largest provider of foreign aid in the world, accounting for more than 40% of all humanitarian aid the UN tracked in 2024. Young people under the age of 29 represented nearly 90% of the populations in Low and Middle Income Countries (LIMCs) where the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) operated. As a result, the dismantling of the agency and the cancellation of thousands of programs will harm the must vulnerable - young people, especially girls, refugees, and marginalized communities. The disruption has also delivered structural and economic shocks to the USG partner ecosystem that has for decades driven global child and youth policy, research, evidence, and practice. Long-term, gender gaps will widen alongside economic instability and youth unemployment with the loss of education, training and workforce readiness programs. In the meantime, other actors like China will and have already expanded their influence and aid investments where USAID once led.
In the United States at the federal and state level, deep cuts hurt our kids.
Across the US government, there have been abrupt budget cuts, staff layoffs, and closures to child and youth relevant offices, programs and services supported by the Department of Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), the Center for Disease Control (CDC), the Department of Education, and more. The cuts also impact Congressionally mandated USG-wide policies such as The Global Child Thrive Act and the US Global Strategy to Empower Adolescent Girls - important legislation that has powered awareness and coordination, research, resource mobilization, and US leadership on these topics. The dismantling of child and youth supportive infrastructure - at the policy and the programmatic level - exponentially harms young people and their families, especially in the country’s most vulnerable communities.
The de-prioritization of children and youth at home and abroad will have a generational impact, if we let it.
Alongside the harms to young people, Increasingly limited resources, fewer “anchor” organizations, and a dearth of USG-wide policy implementation for children and youth may drive more siloed, short-term responses at precisely the time when creative collaboration, comparative learning, and resource mobilization in the United States and around the world is essential.
Emerging needs (and opportunities) include:
Diverse anchor spaces and champions to convene and support continued collaboration and information sharing among sectors and actors who prioritize young peoples’ rights, well being, and opportunity.
Documentation of learning and evidence to-date, alongside opportunities to build new evidence and ways of working for, and with, young people.
A clear vision for local and global child and youth development and inclusive youth engagement that is responsive to a changed landscape, and that can inform or influence policy, funders, and the broader child and youth development community in the near and long-term.
Committed local and state level government partners who prioritize the well being of children and youth in their budgets, policies, and governing structures, alongside the continued engagement of Congressional champions for young people.
Stronger coordination among domestic and global funders - foundations, multilaterals, the private sector, and other governments - to align near and long-term efforts, and promote continued investments in young people.
New approaches to partnering with private industry (beyond CSR) to mobilize resources and more integrated approaches to support child and youth well being, and youth economic opportunity.
A doubling down on our commitment to engaging young people as partners, promoting their agency, leadership and innovation to advance community development, and promote peace and security.