Youth-led Action in East Asia and the Pacific

The East Asia and the Pacific region is home to 421 million young people ages 10 – 24 years old. In a region where civic spaces have been shrinking and countries have historically been categorized as repressed and obstructed, adolescent girls and boys are struggling to raise their voices, inform policies and decisions affecting their lives, and be change-makers. Girls and young women continue to be disproportionately affected and have even less space than their male counterparts to realize the change they aim to achieve. 

This shrinking of civic space threatens all children and young people, as their exclusion leads to less accountability of policy makers, less responsive policies and programmes, and a less empowered future generation of decision-makers, caregivers, and workforce.