Register

youth assembly 2025

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This is your
moment.

The CIVICUS Youth Assembly is a global networking forum designed to bring together young leaders and youth-led civil society from diverse backgrounds to engage with international peers, discuss, co-create, and take action on some of the most pressing global challenges.
 
Held in conjunction with CIVICUS International Civil Society Week (ICSW), the Youth Assembly also provides a dedicated space for young delegates to prepare impactful engagements, collaborate across borders, and amplify youth voices within the broader civil society ecosystem.
The Youth Assembly will be held in partnership with Mahidol University in Bangkok, Thailand, on 31 October 2025.
Youth Manifesto
Programme
YAT
The CIVICUS Youth Assembly is a global networking forum designed to bring together young leaders and youth-led civil society from diverse backgrounds to engage with international peers, discuss, co-create, and take action on some of the most pressing global challenges.
 
Held in conjunction with CIVICUS International Civil Society Week (ICSW), the Youth Assembly also provides a dedicated space for young delegates to prepare impactful engagements, collaborate across borders, and amplify youth voices within the broader civil society ecosystem.
The Youth Assembly will be held in partnership with Mahidol University in Bangkok, Thailand, on 31 October 2025.

At the Youth Assembly 2025, young activists examined the challenges shaping civic space today from repression and misinformation to funding inequities and systemic discrimination, and proposed concrete, actionable strategies to defend human rights, strengthen intergenerational solidarity, and resource youth-led movements sustainably, and produced a Youth Manifesto that reflects the collective vision and advocacy priorities of youth civil society across five key pillars.

Click here to Read the Manifesto

What to Expect:

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Connect with fellow young activists and movement leaders from every corner of the globe
Engage in real conversations around civic space, human rights, and youth agency
Collaborate across generations to challenge power structures and build solutions
Strategize and spark ideas that turn into action
Co-create bold initiatives to tackle the biggest issues facing our communities
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Programme
Highlights

The Youth Assembly will be held in person and will welcome 60–100 youth participants. Participants are strongly encouraged to stay on for the full ICSW 2025 experience (1–5 November) — to ensure deeper engagement and lasting impact.
We’ll be focusing on three key themes:
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Defending Civic Space & Human Rights
What does youth resistance look like under pressure? We’ll spotlight organising in challenging contexts.
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Intergenerational Solidarity & Power-Sharing
Inclusion isn’t enough — we’re rethinking leadership to ensure true power-sharing.


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Resourcing Youth-Led Movements
Let’s break the cycle of underfunding. What does sustainable support really look like?
The Youth Assembly is built with youth leadership at its core – and that includes you. Have a session idea? Want to lead a dialogue or creative action? Bring your concept and voice to the table.

Contact the youth team at youth@civicus.org with subject line: YA Content Proposal. 

Co-Create the Assembly With Us

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Youth Assembly Registration 

& Participation Fees

The registration includes the following ticket options:
Date and location: 31 October 2025 – Bangkok, Thailand

Participants: 100+ youth leaders and changemakers from around the world
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Agenda overview

The Youth Assembly serves as the official youth opening of ICSW 2025 and acts as a launchpad for youth-led influence throughout the week. This one-day in-person convening will bring together young activists to build solidarity, dive deep into priority themes, and co-create a collective Youth Manifesto. The Assembly culminates in a vote to adopt the Manifesto, which will then anchor the Intergenerational Dialogue held during ICSW.

The three thematic breakout sessions (Defending Civic Space and Human Rights, Intergenerational Solidarity and Power-Sharing, and Resourcing Youth-Led Movements) are intentionally designed to mirror the central pillars of the ICSW 2025 Youth Manifesto. Each theme reflects a critical area where youth voices are not only underrepresented but urgently needed to reframe the global civil society agenda. By structuring the sessions around these pillars, the Assembly creates a focused yet diverse space for dialogue that is rooted in lived experiences and grassroots strategies.

Programme

Time Activity Description
08:00 – 9:30
Arrival & Registration & Welcome Coffee
Check-in, materials, and networking over refreshments
09:30 – 10:00
Ice breaker
Intro activity to connect participants
10:00 – 11:00
Opening Plenary
Welcome, goals overview, keynote panel on democracy & inclusion, group guidelines.
11:00 – 12:00
Thematic Discussions (Round 1)
Three parallel sessions: Civic Space, Intergenerational Solidarity, Youth Resourcing. Draft inputs for Youth Manifesto.
12:00 – 13:00
Thematic Discussions (Round 2)
Summarize and present key points for Manifesto.
13:00 – 14:00
Lunch Break
Lunch
14:00 – 15:00
Thematic Discussions (Round 3)
Summarize and present key points for Manifesto.
15:00 – 15:30
Coffee & Connection Break
Refreshments break.
15:30 – 17:30
Manifesto Adoption
Present draft, discuss, amend, and vote on Youth Manifesto.
17:30 – 18:30
Solidarity Soirée
Cultural exchange, and celebration.
  • 08:00 – 09:30 | Arrival and registration + Welcome Coffee

    Participants check in, receive materials, and network over morning refreshments.

  • 9:30 – 10:00 | Icebreaker

    - Brief introductory activity to help participants get to know each other.

  • 10:00 – 11:00 | Opening plenary:

    - Welcome by the organisers and the Youth Action Team, including an introduction to ICSW 2025, Assembly goals, an overview of the day’s process and the role of the Youth Manifesto and expected outcomes.
    -Keynote speeches: youth multisector panel of contrasting but complementary experiences on democracy and inclusion (government, networks, academia)
    -Group guidelines discussion (to establish how participants want to engage with each other throughout the day)

  • 11:00 – 12:00 | Parallel thematic open discussions (Round 1)

    With a core pillar of the ICSW 2025 Youth Manifesto.

    1. Defending civic space and human rights
    2. Intergenerational solidarity and power-sharing
    3. Resourcing youth-led movements
    These sessions will:
    • Employ participatory facilitation methods including open discussions, small group rotations, creative expression opportunities, and consensus-building techniques
    • Explore lived experiences and ideas from participants
    • Generate draft inputs for the Youth Manifesto
    • Identify urgent calls to action and collective demands

    1rst presentation of discussion points

  • 12:00 – 13:00 | Parallel thematic open discussions (Round 2)

    With a core pillar of the ICSW 2025 Youth Manifesto.

    2nd presentation of discussion points

  • 13:00 – 14:00 | Lunch break

  • 14:00 – 15:00 | Parallel thematic open discussions (Round 3)

    With a core pillar of the ICSW 2025 Youth Manifesto.

    3rd presentation of discussion points.

  • 15:00 – 15:30 | Coffee and connection Break

    Light snacks and refreshments served.

  • 15:30 – 17:30 | Youth Assembly: Manifesto adoption

    - Presentation of the draft Youth Manifesto
    - Open floor for comments and final amendments, using structured consensus-building process with clear time boundaries
    - Small group consultation period allowing thorough discussion of proposed changes
    - Collective vote for adoption

  • 17:30 – 18:30 | Solidarity soirée

    Youth Assembly Celebration An evening of informal networking, cultural exchange, and artistic expression — featuring music, spoken word, and refreshments to close the day in unity and joy.

  • Outputs and outcomes

    - The Youth Manifesto, finalised and adopted during the Assembly, will be presented during the ICSW 2025 Intergenerational Dialogue.
    - Outputs will feed into broader civil society discussions, ensuring youth-led priorities shape ICSW and its legacy.

Speakers

 

Youth Manifesto

 

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Youth Action Team (YAT)

The YAT is the action body of CIVICUS on youth and youth-related issues. It is a diverse, multicultural and multidisciplinary international team of up to 15 CIVICUS voting members under 32 years old, working remotely with the CIVICUS Youth team. Its mandate is to co-design, advocate for, and implement youth-led initiatives that mainstream youth perspectives into CIVICUS’s strategies, policies, and practices. It also aims to champion youth engagement initiatives and promote the enabling of civic space for young activists worldwide.
Meet the new YAT here

Note: Youth participants are strongly encouraged to stay for the full ICSW 2025 to maximise engagement and impact.

Ready to join us
at the Youth
Assembly
2025 in Bangkok?

Click here to Register
Still have some questions? Please don’t hesitate to contact us!
 
Get in touch:
youth@civicus.org
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Let’s build something powerful - together.