World Urban Youth Assembly

The World Urban Youth Assembly was launched on March 19, 2010 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, three days prior to the beginning of the Fifth session of the World Urban Forum.

The World Urban Youth Assembly came at a key time for both urban youth and the global urban population. Cities have become the primary and fastest growing human settlements with over half of humanity living in cities and more notably, one out of every three city dwellers living in a slum. The world is facing an economic, environmental and social crisis not seen in almost a century. The World Urban Youth Assembly is ideally placed to facilitate the meaningful participation of youth in deliberating and determining key actions and policies on such issues as the increase in urban poverty, the growth of slums, unemployment, economic and natural disasters and climate change.

The World Urban Youth Assembly in Rio de Janeiro continued the momentum brought about by UN-HABITAT and its partners' work in the area of youth led development. UN-HABITAT has had great success both at the normative and programmatic level in regards to youth, with the successful establishment of the One Stop Youth Resource and We are the Future Centre model pilot projects, and the launch of the multi-year Opportunities Fund for Urban Youth-Led Development. These projects have both improved the lives of the youth involved as well as given local authorities, national governments and Habitat agenda partners tested models of urban youth development.

For more information on the World Urban Youth Assembly in Rio de Janeiro, please visit the UN-HABITAT website.