Francisco Alvarado, Karla Ambrosio and Emilia Ramirez 

JuventudES Platform, Advocacy Committee,

 Global Youth Opportunity Network in Mexico City

GOYN CDMX

On March 4, 2023, in Mexico City, we held the meeting “Youth opportunity of the city; our voice, our work, our impact”, which brought together 83 people, including 18 young opportunity , 11 young people from social service, 35 representatives of civil society organizations, six government representatives (one from the national executive, two from the local executive, three from the state executive, one from the national legislature), 10 business representatives and five representatives from academia.

The young opportunity, defined as people between 15 and 29 years old, resilient, creative and capable of solving problems, from disadvantaged backgrounds, met to outline a public policy agenda for employability, education linked to decent work and entrepreneurship.and young people opportunity in Mexico City that addresses common challenges and offers decent employment opportunities. 

The plural dialogue meeting was made possible thanks to the collaborative work of the GOYN CDMX Advocacy Committee, made up of the Alliance of Young People with Decent Work, Alternatives and Capabilities AC, Citizen Action Against Poverty AC, Prepa In, Youth Services AC, YouthBuild Mexico AC and the Citizen Initiative for the Promotion of the Culture of Dialogue AC. 

After a rich process of dialogue and agreement, four priority axes were defined to frame the key messages of the collaborative agenda. Within each of these axes, a rigorous diagnosis and a series of initial public policy proposals were incorporated in an exercise coordinated by the Alianza Jóvenes con Trabajo Digno and the GOYN CDMX network, including the main structural and systemic barriers faced by youth. young opportunity, with the aim of prioritizing the key elements and messages that make up a public agenda aimed at the implementation of effective solutions in Mexico City:

• Care System: Ensure a comprehensive care system that addresses the needs of both caregivers and care recipients.
• Technical and Vocational Education and Second Chances in Upper Secondary Education: Promote technical and vocational training, as well as provide second opportunities for higher secondary education to those young people who were unable to continue their studies for various reasons.
• Employability Policy: Implement strategies to improve the employability of young people, including labour policies and labour market linkage programmes.
• Social, Solidarity Economy and Entrepreneurship: Promote entrepreneurship and the social economy as tools for development and opportunities for decent work.

It is important to highlight that this agenda not only identifies problems, but also proposes alternative solutions. To this end, the collaboration of the Faculty of Sustainable Business and the young people of social service of the University of the Environment was essential, who contributed to the methodology and facilitation of the meeting, guaranteeing dialogue and agreement between the young opportunity and the different actors present at the meeting to prioritize solutions and improve working and living conditions. 

The contribution of the Human Rights Commission of Mexico City, which opened its doors for the meeting and provided all the necessary elements to guarantee a plural, safe and trustworthy dialogue, has also been of great value. 

On March 4th, the young opportunity They proved to be active agents in building their own future, to be recognised as such and to participate as central actors in the decision-making that affects them. Recognising the challenges they face, they showed resilience and creativity in working together to find innovative solutions and create a better future for all. 

To achieve this, support from governments, academia and civil society leaders is needed to implement effective and sustainable public policies in the long term. In this sense, it is essential that the voice of the young opportunity  be taken into account in the development, implementation and evaluation of public policies that respond to the proposals in this agenda. We will continue working to consolidate these proposals and materialize them in concrete actions.