World programme of action for youth

by the UN Department of International Economic and Social Affairs

Source: United Nations

Author: United Nations

From the document:

The World Programme of Action for Youth (WPAY) provides a policy framework and practical guidelines for national action and international support to improve the situation of young people. It contains proposals for action, aiming at fostering conditions and mechanisms to promote improved well-being and livelihoods among young people. The WPAY focuses in particular on measures to strengthen national capacities in the field of youth and to increase the quality and quantity of opportunities available to young people for full, effective and constructive participation in society.

In its original form, the World Programme of Action for Youth outlined 10 priority areas to be addressed; however, at the ten-year review of the implementation of the World Programme of Action for Youth, Member States agreed to the addition of five additional issue areas. These were expanded upon in a Supplement, which was adopted in 2007. Together these 15 issue areas and their related plans of action are what is understood to comprise the World Programme of Action for Youth, which guides policy and action in the area of youth development.

This publication was prepared in response to numerous requests by youth non-governmental organizations, youth policy practitioners and young people for a ready reference to the WPAY, its 15 priority areas and their corresponding proposals for action. It also includes the means for implementation at the national, regional and international levels.

The text of the World Programme of Action for Youth is presented in this publication as it appears in United Nations resolutions 50/81 of 13 March 1996, in its annex containing the World Programme of Action for Youth to the Year 2000 and Beyond, and 62/126 of 5 February 2008, in its annex containing the Supplement to the WPAY (2007).

For more information on the World Programme of Action for Youth and the Guide to the Implementation of the World Programme of Action for Youth, as well as information on the work of the United Nations on youth issues, please visit our website at: www.un.org/youth.