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Outside the Box: Amplifying youth voices and views on YPS policy and practice

Youth as Guardians of the Future – Sustaining Climate, Peace and Security in an Urbanizing World

This brief, co-authored by a young analyst and a colleague from UN Habitat, addresses the nexus of the YPS, climate change, and rapid urbanization. The paper pays special attention to the gendered impacts of climate change on urbanization and on young women in urban centers in particular and draws attention to both the importance and the prevailing deficits of young people’s inclusion in urban planning and governance, including the implications for youth resilience in relation to climate related conflict and potential violence. The brief concludes by stressing the need to involve youth as “inheritors of the future” in answering these challenges and includes recommendations for Member States, multilateral institutions and other political bodies.

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Authors

Sharmaarke Abdullahi
Sharmaarke Abdullahi is the Officer in Charge of the Donor Relations and Strategic Resource Partnership Unit at the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), where he is responsible for overall strategic donor partnerships with member states, foundations and the private sector. During his time at UN-Habitat, Sharmaarke has also managed UN-Habitat’s Global Youth programmes where he managed Youth Programmes on governance, migration, and youth, peace and security. Sharmaarke has over 15 years of experience in policy development, evaluation, fundraising, programme management and community development. His results-driven reputation and commitment to community development has been recognized on the global stage at the United Nations and locally in his hometown of Ottawa where he was awarded the Black History Ottawa Community Builder Award in 2016 and the United Way Ottawa Community Builder Award in 2018. Sharmaarke is committed to community-based work, believing that this is how and where real change happens. Sharmaarke has authored and co-authored research and policy papers on migration, youth peace and security, and the blue economy. He also contributed to UN Security Council Resolution 2250-mandated Progress Study on Youth, Peace and Security. Sharmaarke holds a Master of Research in Public Policy from the Queen Mary University of London and a Bachelor of Honours in History from Carleton University, Ottawa.
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Mathieu Lohr
Mathieu Lohr is an independent researcher and consultant on Youth, Peace, and Security. He has previously worked as a consultant to the United Nations Human Settlement Programme, supporting policy development on YPS at the intersection of youth, urbanisation, and climate change. Likewise, he has supported youth-centered programs in Somalia through the UN and grassroots organisations, as well as humanitarian responses to Covid19 and climate shocks. Previously, he organised and chaired youth-conferences on European Union policy across Europe. Mathieu holds a MSc in Violence, Conflict and Development from SOAS, University of London. Mathieu is 28 years old and originally from Luxembourg.
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