{"id":20389,"date":"2025-11-30T18:28:15","date_gmt":"2025-11-30T17:28:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/?p=20389"},"modified":"2025-12-07T18:01:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T17:01:10","slug":"the-road-to-the-youth-declaration-mobilizing-a-global-youth-movement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/2025\/11\/the-road-to-the-youth-declaration-mobilizing-a-global-youth-movement\/","title":{"rendered":"The Road to the Youth Declaration: Mobilizing a Global Youth Movement"},"content":{"rendered":"

by DFAF – November 26, 2025<\/span><\/p>\n

YOUTH DECLARATION – NOTES FROM THE PROCEEDINGS:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

In this episode of\u00a0Pathways to Prevention<\/em>, host\u00a0Dave Closson<\/strong>\u00a0spotlights a powerful youth-led global effort: the\u00a0Youth Declaration on Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

What began as a spark at a CND side event in Vienna grew into a global core youth group, a multi-country survey, and a declaration that centers one clear message:\u00a0nothing about us without us<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dave is joined by youth leaders and organizers from across the world, including\u00a0Cressida<\/strong>\u00a0(World Federation Against Drugs),\u00a0Sana<\/strong>,\u00a0Fuhaira<\/strong>, and\u00a0Muhammad<\/strong> (Pakistan Youth Organization). Together, they unpack how this declaration came to life, what they learned from youth in 60+ countries, and why meaningful youth participation must be treated as a design principle\u2014not a box to tick.<\/span><\/p>\n

In This Episode:<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
    \n
  • How it all started<\/strong><\/span>\n
      \n
    • The side event at CND that sparked the idea for a\u00a0global youth declaration<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n
    • How WFAD, Drug Free America Foundation, and Pakistan Youth Organization partnered to form a\u00a0global core youth group<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
    • Mobilizing a global youth survey<\/strong><\/span>\n
        \n
      • How youth leaders reached respondents in\u00a0Pakistan, Kenya, the U.S., Colombia, Macau, China<\/strong>, and beyond<\/span><\/li>\n
      • The practical challenges of mobilizing youth across time zones, cultures, and contexts<\/span><\/li>\n
      • Why open-ended questions were essential to capturing\u00a0authentic youth voices<\/strong>, even when they made participation harder<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
      • What the data revealed<\/strong><\/span>\n
          \n
        • Key themes that showed up again and again across regions:<\/span>\n
            \n
          • \u201cListen to us and involve us<\/strong>\u201d \u2013 youth want real seats at the table, not symbolic roles<\/span><\/li>\n
          • The importance of\u00a0education, jobs, and opportunities<\/strong>\u00a0as prevention factors<\/span><\/li>\n
          • The need for\u00a0youth-sensitive, timely, and accessible services<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
          • Early takeaways from both the\u00a0quantitative<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0qualitative<\/strong>\u00a0analysis<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
          • From survey results to a Youth Declaration<\/strong><\/span>\n
              \n
            • How the team analyzed thousands of responses and distilled them into\u00a0six core recommendations<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n
            • Why the declaration is best understood as\u00a0youth empowerment in its truest form<\/strong>\u2014moving beyond paper commitments to real participation in:<\/span>\n
                \n
              • Prevention<\/span><\/li>\n
              • Treatment<\/span><\/li>\n
              • Recovery<\/span><\/li>\n
              • Policy formulation<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
              • What didn\u2019t work (and what they changed)<\/strong><\/span>\n
                  \n
                • Initial struggles with low response rates<\/span><\/li>\n
                • How youth coordinators used\u00a0WhatsApp, campus focal persons, and in-person conversations<\/strong>\u00a0to increase participation<\/span><\/li>\n
                • Lessons learned about communication, trust, and making youth feel their contribution matters<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
                • Why this matters now<\/strong><\/span>\n
                    \n
                  • How global recognition of the Youth Declaration signals a\u00a0powerful shift toward taking youth expertise seriously<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n
                  • The \u201ctriangle\u201d of\u00a0government, community, and youth<\/strong>\u00a0and why all three must be engaged for prevention to work<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                    Key Themes<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
                      \n
                    • Youth participation is\u00a0not<\/strong>\u00a0a token gesture. It is a\u00a0design principle<\/strong>.<\/span><\/li>\n
                    • Prevention and recovery efforts must be:<\/span>\n
                        \n
                      • Co-created with youth<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n
                      • Modern in outreach<\/strong>, including social platforms and mobile-first content<\/span><\/li>\n
                      • Non-stigmatizing<\/strong>\u00a0and grounded in real lived experience<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
                      • When youth are trusted and given\u00a0real space to contribute<\/strong>, they bring innovative ideas, energy, and solutions that adults alone will never generate.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                        Call to Action<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

                        If you are a\u00a0youth leader<\/strong>\u00a0or work with\u00a0youth-serving organizations<\/strong>, this episode is your invitation to:<\/span><\/p>\n

                          \n
                        1. Read the Youth Declaration<\/strong>\u00a0and its full report to see where your current work already aligns with the six recommendations.<\/span><\/li>\n
                        2. Share your story<\/strong>: If you\u2019re already taking action that reflects the declaration\u2014programs, policies, campaigns, or peer-led initiatives\u2014send your activities and outcomes to\u00a0info@wfad.se<\/strong>\u00a0for possible inclusion in an upcoming\u00a0global youth declaration web magazine<\/strong>.<\/span><\/li>\n
                        3. Create real seats at the table<\/strong>: In your organization, community, or network, ask where youth are currently\u00a0informed<\/em>\u00a0versus where they are\u00a0truly involved<\/strong>\u00a0in decision-making.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n

                          Source: https:\/\/www.dfaf.org\/the-road-to-youth-declaration-mobilizing-a-global-youth-movement\/<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                          by DFAF – November 26, 2025 YOUTH DECLARATION – NOTES FROM THE PROCEEDINGS: In this episode of\u00a0Pathways to Prevention, host\u00a0Dave Closson\u00a0spotlights a powerful youth-led global effort: the\u00a0Youth Declaration on Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery. What began as a spark at a CND side event in Vienna grew into a global core youth group, a multi-country survey, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[129,40,143,19,61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-prevention-research","category-social-media","category-usa","category-youth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20389"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20389\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20390,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20389\/revisions\/20390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}