Intergenerational youth programmes bring young people and adults together to learn, make decisions and work on shared problems. They can strengthen youth leadership when young people have genuine influence, responsibility and access to experienced mentors. They are much less useful when adults retain all authority and youth participation is mainly symbolic.<\/p>\n
The design principle is therefore not \u201cpair a young person with an older mentor\u201d. It is to create a structure in which experience and youth perspectives can both shape decisions and action.<\/p>\n
UNESCO’s 2026 Youth Report, Lead with youth<\/em>, examines youth and student participation in education decision-making. It highlights a recurring gap: formal consultation mechanisms may exist without giving young people meaningful influence over the policies and systems that affect them.<\/p>\n Source: UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report, 2026 Youth Report<\/a><\/p>\n That distinction applies to youth programmes more broadly. Asking for opinions is not the same as sharing decisions, budgets, project ownership or evaluation.<\/p>\n Useful roles can include:<\/p>\n The level of responsibility should fit the participants’ age, safeguarding requirements, experience and the consequences of the decision.<\/p>\n The UNICEF Innocenti Youth Fellowship is part of UNICEF’s intergenerational governance and youth-participation work. It describes a model in which young people are engaged as partners through collaborative learning, mentorship, peer exchange, research and strategic convening.<\/p>\n Source: UNICEF Innocenti Youth Fellowship<\/a><\/p>\n The 2026\u20132027 fellowship includes 12 youth fellows from countries across UNICEF regions and focuses on youth-led research, foresight and climate-education practice. This is a current example of intergenerational programme design, not proof that every mentorship model will produce the same outcomes.<\/p>\n UNICEF’s UPSHIFT programme describes mentors as part of the \u201chuman infrastructure\u201d that helps young people move ideas into action. UPSHIFT operates across many countries and combines mentorship with youth-led innovation and practical problem-solving.<\/p>\n Source: UNICEF Office of Innovation, Leadership without authority, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n A mentor should therefore do more than give advice. Useful mentoring can help a young participant:<\/p>\n UNICEF Innocenti’s 2025 Beyond Being Heard<\/em> paper is based on intergenerational consultations with 120 children and young people aged 12\u201323, UNICEF staff and civil-society experts across four regions. It highlights barriers that make youth participation unequal, unrepresentative or tokenistic and argues for genuine partnership.<\/p>\n Source: UNICEF Innocenti, Beyond Being Heard, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n Warning signs of tokenism include:<\/p>\n Young participants may face barriers involving transport, school or work schedules, disability, language, internet access, family responsibilities or safeguarding concerns.<\/p>\n Programme design can include:<\/p>\n Not every decision can or should be delegated to youth participants. The important step is to make decision authority explicit.<\/p>\nIntergenerational programmes should create real roles for young people<\/h2>\n
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UNICEF’s current work treats youth as partners, not only beneficiaries<\/h2>\n
Mentorship works best when it supports agency<\/h2>\n
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Avoid tokenism<\/h2>\n
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Build safe and accessible participation<\/h2>\n
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Share power deliberately<\/h2>\n