On 28 July 2020, the Ban Ki-moon Centre along with UNICEF and Generation Unlimited  featured in a Y20 working meeting on global citizenship, speaking to 45 youth delegates, who represent the young generation of the G20 countries.

The Y20 Youth Summit is a youth-led event that convenes young leaders from all G20 countries to discuss and debate the G20 Leaders’ agenda. The Group of 20, also known as G20, is the premier forum for international economic cooperation and brings together the leaders of both developed and developing countries from every continent to discuss financial and socioeconomic issues.

In an effort to include the voices of civil society and the scientific community, the forum receives input from various engagement groups, who meet in tandem with the G20 and keep up a dialogue with policymakers.

Monika Froehler, CEO of the BKMC, was invited to provide input on the topic of Global Citizenship Education during the Y20 virtual working meeting on Global Citizenship. Froehler emphasized that “The principles of GCED should be interwoven into every level of education.” highlighting that “Only 7% of humankind knows about the SDGs”. Representatives from UNICEF stressed the urgency to invest in adolescents to bring about sustainable development and exemplified their work on youth engagement all around the world.

This year’s Y20 engagement group focuses on the areas of Future Fit, Youth Empowerment, and Global Citizens, digging into the topics of future skills, future of work, entrepreneurship, decision-making inclusion, leadership development, multiculturalism, and sustainable development.

With the newly acquired knowledge during the meeting, it is now up to the Y20 delegates to interweave lessons learned about Global Citizenship into their Y20 Communiqué, which will serve to inform G20 decision-makers at the summit in Fall 2020.