Young Women Leading Change: Shaping the Future of Peace and Governance (CSW Side Event)

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Dear colleagues, let's get started. We have limited time and many speakers, plus we would like to keep an interactive part to this meeting. Good morning everyone. I am Luca Frattini.

I'm the Italian coordinator for the Women Peace and Security and the Youth Peace and Security agendas, and I'm delighted to welcome you to this joint side event on the occasion of CSW 70. As you know, CSW this year focuses on strengthening access to justice and advancing women's full, meaningful and effective participation in decision making. Those priorities are directly linked to the goals of of the Women Peace and Security agenda and on the Youth Peace and Security agenda and to broader efforts to build inclusive and accountable governance in conflict affected contexts. 2025 has been an intense year in terms of multilateral milestones addressing women and youth's participation in peace building. The two anniversaries, of course, 25 years since the WPS agenda, 10 years since the Youth Peace and Security Agenda and also the Peace Building architecture review resolutions by both the Security Council and the General assembly, and I'm happy that ASG powdier is here.

So I will also recall resolution 2807 adopted unanimously by the Security Council in December last year. Together, these decisions reaffirm that the full, equal, meaningful and safe participation of women and the effective participation of youth are central to sustaining peace, and they create new entry points for advancing these priorities through peace building institutions, financing mechanisms and national strategies. At the same time, ongoing global processes, such as the second Independent Progress Study on Youth Peace and Security and the Secretary General's forthcoming report on Youth Peace and Security are drawing attention to a persistent gap between global commitments and the practical support available to young peace builders. In this context, strengthening the connections between the WPS and the YPS agendas has become increasingly relevant, particularly when it comes to supporting the leadership of young women who are already contributing to conflict prevention, dialogue and community resilience. Today's event brings together member states, regional organizations, the UN and civil society to reflect on how these commitments can translate into practical support, partnerships and investment to enable young women peacebuilders to shape peace building and governance processes.

The format of the discussion today is a roundtable conversation and I think this very table is helping us in that with brief interventions from speakers followed by an interactive dialogue with participants. Each speaker will respond briefly to a guiding question and he or she will have approximately four to five minutes. This will be followed, as I said, by approximately 15 minutes for open questions. Now I have the pleasure and the honor to give the floor to my Boss, Deputy Secretary General and Political Director Cecilia Piccioni of the Ministry of Foreign affairs and the International Cooperation of Italy. The question I would like to address to you, Cecilia, is the following.

Italy has adopted its fifth WPS National Action Plan and is about to launch its first Youth Peace and Security National Action Plan. Why is it important to strengthen the links between these agendas, particularly when it comes to supporting the leadership of young women in peace building and governance? Over to you, dear Cecilia.

Thank you. Thank you, Luca. And since you pointed out that I'm your boss, I'm aware of the age divide. That's the thing, right? So I'm very, very humbled to be here today.

For me, it's the first time back in New York since 2015, when I left after my tenure as second committee Italian Rep. And it's truly moving. So I hope you will forgive a bit of emotion in my few lines speech, also because I think that this kind of gatherings really benefits from interaction and informality. So, although Luca prepared me a wonderful speech, I'll try to be quite direct and maybe shorter than he wanted me to be.

But I want to begin with a simple observation. At a time when the world seems to move from one crisis to another, I don't have to single out one of the many that are actually devastating our days. Speaking about hope may almost sound ambitious, yet hope in international cooperation is not naive. I see it as a choice, and often a very practical one.

I really am thankful to the organizer today, and I want to thank in particular our partners, the Kyrgyzst Republic, the osce, UN women, obviously, and the UN Youth Office, together with the Global Network of Women Peace Builders, for bringing us together around such an important conversation. As I said, I think informality is important, and that's why I want to start this conversation with a brief personal reflection throughout my career, and as I said, unfortunately enough, it's a long one in terms of time, time span. Working on peace and security issues from different angles in different contexts taught me one lesson. When women, and especially young women, are meaningfully involved, peace processes become stronger, more inclusive and more sustainable. And I also look at this from another perspective, the one of an Italian single mother of a young man of 30, my only child.

Like many parents, I often think about the kind of world his generation will inherit, a world marked today by war, geopolitical tensions and growing polarization, but also by extraordinary energy and determination among young people who want to build something better here. Yesterday I was having dinner with my son and two of his university mates, and Truly, I felt relieved after so many days stuck in my office since February 28, working around the clock. Eventually, I ended up having a wonderful Indian dinner with three guys in their 30s, American by birth, the three of them who were talking enthusiastically about the future. It was relieving, I have to tell you.

So this is why listening to young voices and supporting their leadership is not only a matter of fairness nowadays. I think it's a matter of responsibility. And as Luca most probably has already told you in a very thorough way and definitely much better than I can do, Italy nowadays has tried to translate this conviction into action more than ever. Maybe we are a bit.

Counter trend, but we have recently adopted our fifth national Action plan on Women, Peace and security. And we are about to launch our first national Action plan on Youth Peace and Security. This is a moment for reflection. In 2025, the international community marked the two events. LUCA has already mentioned two important milestones.

The 25th anniversary of Women Peace and Security Agenda and the 10th anniversary of Youth Peace and Security Agenda. These anniversaries, these milestones, invite us to ask a simple question. What have we learned and what should we do differently? Because the reality is that despite the important efforts of many stakeholders, despite, despite all of us working together and trying to get a sense out of this more and more complex world, women, girls and young people continue to suffer disproportionately from the many conflicts we see today. And they just mentioned the last one, one of them.

the same time, women and youth remain underrepresented in the spaces where decisions about peace and security are made.

Reversing this trend requires renewed and more focused efforts. And I think that we have

like three guiding lights orienting our efforts. Three guiding lights that I tried following a path that I usually refer to when it comes to speaking in public, tried to summarize in three key words that I think capture the real meaning of these three Cohesion, innovation and impact. Why cohesion? Because cohesion matters both at national and international level.

At home, our national action plans are the results of close cooperation between government, academia, civil society. And in this, I should praise Lucas work because he has done an incredible job along these years trying to put together all these different souls of our society. In this case, in the case of the new Youth Peace and security plan for 2026, 2029, this collaboration has gone even further. The entire actions chapter indeed was drafted directly by youth organizations themselves. An exercise in genuine intergenerational co creation that we really fostered and promoted in big time.

I'd say so that it's easier. At the multilateral level, cohesion means making the best possible use of the frameworks that already exist. One example is the Network of National Focal Points on Women, Peace and Security, which Italy will co chair this year with the support of UN Women as a secretariat. We did mark more improvements and we must continue to rely on the convening power of the United nations and all the stakeholders, especially in these difficult times. The second keyword is innovation.

Innovation means finding new ways to address complex challenges. And young people, especially young women, are often the ones who bring the most creative and forward looking perspectives. Younger generations are also expanding the way we think about peace and security. And God only knows if nowadays we do have need of this. They remind us that issues such as climate change, food insecurity and digital threats are not separated from security Security.

In this sense, one of the most meaningful innovations is precisely what we are discussing today. Bringing the women peace and security and youth peace and security agendas closer together. Supporting the leadership of young women may sound obvious, but in many contexts it still represents a real step forward. And finally, the third key word I picked is impact. Because over the years both agendas have generated important commitments.

But translating these commitments into real change, especially at the local and grassroots level, remains essential. Many of the most important effective peace building efforts actually start in community through dialogue, mediation, education and social initiatives. And very often young women are at the core of these efforts, bringing ideas, energy and new way of addressing conflicts and inequalities. Supporting them means investing in concrete work on the ground, creating safe spaces for participation, strengthening local networks and ensuring that young women's voices are heard in decision making processes. So I think these are the 32 cents I wanted to share with you and I want to conclude with a message to all of us and the young women that are gathered here today.

Because I think that your ideas, your engagement and your leadership are already helping to shape more inclusive and more resilient societies. The role of institutions is to support you, to listen to you and to work alongside you. Because in a world like ours, like today's world, too often defined by conflict, and I hate to use this word again, starting from the beginning and closing up with this word, but this is our reality nowadays. Empowering young women to lead in peace and security is not only the right thing to do, but it may well be one of the smartest investment we can make in our collective efforts future. So I really thank you very much for your attention and I hope

we can work a bit around these three keywords. Thank you.

Thank you very much. And now without further ado, I'm handing the floor to Her Excellency the Ambassador Permanent Representative of Kyrgyzstan to the UN Ambassador Aida Kasimalieva. Please, you have the floor.

Thank you. Dear Moderator, Dear Luca, Distinguished colleagues, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, it is a great pleasure for the Kyrgyz Republic to co organize this important discussion together with the Italy oic, UN Women and UN Youth Office and our partners.

I would like to thank everyone present today for joining us to reflect on how young women are shaping the future of peace and governance. I am particularly pleased that in this anniversary year of csw, Kyrgyzstan is represented by a high level delegation led by the Deputy Prime Minister, including a Member of Parliament, the Ombudsperson, the Deputy Chair of the Supreme Court, the Deputy Prosecutor General, as well as Deputy Ministers of Labor, justice and Finance. Welcome. Their presence reflects the strong political commitment of Kyrgyzstan to advancing gender equality and women empowerment. At a time when the international community is marking important milestones for both the Women Peace and Security and Youth Peace and security agendas, this conversation is especially timely.

Sustainable peace cannot be achieved without dismantling structural barriers that limit participation and leadership. Peace and security institutions must be inclusive, gender responsive and open to use leadership, particularly the leadership of young women. In my capacity of Vice Chair of the Executive Board of UN Women, I have the opportunity to closely follow global policy discussions related to gender equality and the YPS agenda. This experience further reinforces my conviction that the Women Peace and Security framework remains one of the most important international instruments which for advancing inclusive governance, strengthening institutions and ensuring that women's voices are fully represented in decision making. Kyrgyzstan continues to actively support this mandate and contribute to its implementation through both national initiatives and multilateral engagement.

At the national level, Kyrgyzstan has been steadily strengthening institutional pathways for women and young women participation in in public life. Women today represent 42% of local council members and 33% of the national parliament, reflecting steady progress in women's political participation. Legislative reforms have also strengthened protections against domestic and sexual violence, expanding survivor centered mechanisms that are essential for ensuring women's safety and participation, and economic empowerment remains another key priority. Through initiatives such as the President's Social Contract Program, thousands of women from rural areas, including many young women, have been able to establish small businesses and improve their livelihoods. These programs not only strengthen economic resilience, but also expand women's leadership within communities.

In Kyrgyzstan, women, and particularly young women, also play an increasingly important role in sectors that shape national resilience. Due to labor migration, women are central to agriculture and local economies, contributing directly to food security and sustainable development in our mountainous country. This reality highlights the importance of ensuring women's participation participation in discussions on climate adaptation, natural resource management and environmental security. Recognizing this evolving challenge, Kyrgyzstan adopted its fifth National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security in January 2026. The new plan integrates climate and water security considerations, reflecting the everyday realities faced by women and young women in climate affected mountains communities.

At the same time, Kyrgyzstan continues to demonstrate regional leadership on youth inclusion. Our country is currently the only state in Central Asia with a standalone National Action Plan on Youth Peace and Security covering the period 2025 2027. This framework creates institutional entry points for youth participation and strengthen opportunities for young women to engage in peace building and civic leadership. Kyrgyzstan has also actively supported regional cooperation on the WPS agenda. During our chairmanship of the Central Asian Women leaders dialogue In 2024, we hosted the regional forum dedicated to women's and young women's role in peace and security across Central Asia and Afghanistan.

This initiative led to a collective call for the development of the first Regional Action Plan on Women, Women, Peace and Security for Central Asia, which is currently nearing completion. This regional efforts respond to shared challenges in our region, including climate change, water stress, socioeconomic pressures and evolving geopolitical dynamics. Importantly, the process itself created space for young women to contribute directly to agenda setting and policy development. Distinguished colleagues, Kyrgyzstan firmly believes that meaningful participation of women and youth strengthens peace, good governance and resilience at all levels. In this regard, Kyrgyzstan has put forward its candidacy for non permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council for 2728.

Our candidacy reflects our commitment to multilateralism and the core values of the United Nations. Finally, as we gathering during the CSW 70 and shortly after International Women's Day, Kyrgyzstan reaffirms its choice strong commitment to gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, accelerating the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and the Women Peace and Security agent that remains a shared responsibility. I thank you.

I think I'm in time.

Yeah, thank you very much, Ambassador. And now I move to the osce.

I'm very glad to do so, having served in Vienna for six years. And I give the floor to Lara Scarpitta, Senior Gender Advisor of the osce. And I want to ask Lara, from a regional perspective, what approaches have proven most effective in strengthening women's and young women's leadership in peace and security processes? Lara, over to you.

In this room full Even if it's Friday and so many things are happening, particularly happy because I'm doing this, we're doing this event with my own country, Italy, with Kyrgyzstan, another participating state of the OEC but also with a UN Women Global Network of Women peacebuilders and UN Youth Office which are long term partners of the wec. And I think this table really sends a clear message that partnership when we need to advance the youth peace and security agenda and the women peace and security agenda is key. So first of all, thank you to our partners for joining us for this event. Now, Luca, you asked about some reflections on what worked best for the oec. We have been investing extensively.

I will focus in particular on two important initiatives that we have launched in the OEC targeted to promote women leadership and inclusion, including young women. We have two flagship initiatives, the Young Women for Peace initiative which we launched in strong partnership with the European Union for the countries of for young women from Central Asia and Afghanistan as well as the Women Peace Leadership Program which is one of the flagship action of the OEC networking platform for women leaders. And both of these initiatives have been focused extensive extensively on promoting women leadership across all field of peace and security areas. And the way the programs have been designed, have been designed in order to deliver success on, I mean the success that was delivered and I will outline comes from a combined approach of fostering intergenerational dialogue, regional and cross border collaboration, extensive mentoring, safe spaces and networks, but also long term and medium term investments. Like I mentioned, the Young Women for Peace initiative targeted to 20 young women from Central Asia and from Afghanistan.

And one of the key elements was the regional and cross border collaboration. The participants of these initiatives formed four cross border teams to develop very, very practical initiatives on education, climate action, use of new technologies for peace and also tackling the situation of young Afghan women which were living in Central Asia. And by working together over two years it will allow them to develop collaborative problem solving but also develop cross border projects and programs. There are fundamental in the region to also diffuse local tensions and do a lot of cross border peace building. And this was initiatives that were launched by the young women.

So the very strong value added because it was coming directly from them. Of course, these initiatives also relied and promoted new networks among the young women and most importantly intergenerational exchanges. We integrated the possibility of working with experienced women from different areas, from different regions. And this truly allowed them to benefit from the experience of of other women leaders. But all this was possible also because relied on two key aspects.

One of them, there was a lot of investment being made by the OEC and our partners to ensure that we had eye level visibility. So we actively promoted their participation in international fora, for example csw, the Women Peace and Security, the Munich Security Conference. So as an international organization, we provided them opportunities for engagement externally. But secondly, and I think this is very important also in the context of today's discussion, is that these were all long term investments. So we need to invest in the long term with the two, three years program.

So these were some of the successes and tools that we used to ensure success. But of course, partnership with our civil society, with the national authorities and also with our international partners was also very important. Thank you.

Thank you, Lara. And now we are not going in strict protocol order. We wanted to have a perspective of young women peace builders at this point. And I'm very glad to hand over the floor to Sofia Dayan Garcia, Program Coordinator for Asia and the Pacific of the Global Network of Women peacebuilders and to Diane, I'm asking the following question based on your role and the role of young women already played in advancing peace and resilience from their communities, what kinds of partnerships or support are helping to strengthen that work? Over to you.

Thank you very much Luca, Excellencies, colleagues, fellow civil society leaders, thank you for the opportunity to be part of this important discussion on the role of young women. Youth are not merely beneficiaries of peace building efforts, nor are they only the leaders of tomorrow. They are leaders today, active agents, partners and innovators shaping the peaceful futures they seek to live in. The Global Network of Women peacebuilders has witnessed this firsthand through its many years of working with women and young women from conflict affected areas around the world to advance the Women Peace and Security and youth peace and security agendas across Africa. GNWP works to advance the implementation of Resolution 1325 on WPS and related resolutions.

We work hand in hand with local women's organizations, youth groups and governments to ensure that the WPS agenda does not remain a commitment on paper but becomes a lived reality for women and young people in conflict affected and fragile context. Our work focuses on two key priorities. First, supporting the development and implementation of national action plans and local action plans and second, amplifying the voices, leadership and meaningful participation of youth in peace building. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, we support the Gender Responsive Budgeting Workshop for North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri National Action Plan and local action plan implementation and also facilitated provincial action plan monitoring with government and civil society. In Nigeria, we conducted WPS localization workshops that supported state action plan development and steering committee establishment.

In Uganda, we supported district level WPS implementation and women's peace committees, facilitated cross regional learning exchanges on NAP localization and strengthened young women's leadership in conflict mediation. In Colombia, GNWP has supported the integration of the WPS and YPS agendas across Bogota, Cauca, La Guajira, Swacha and Tolima. Through these efforts, young women have strengthened their leadership by leading peace building initiatives that range from awareness raising on all forms of violence against women and girls to theater and arts based peace building, environmental action and education reaching more than 700 people in their communities. More recently, in partnership with Fundacion Escuelas de Paz and UNFPA Colombia, GNWP supported the drafting of Colombia's national action plan on UNSCR 2250, facilitating consultations with young women to ensure their experiences and expertise are meaningfully reflected in the development of the plan. During the third Civil Society and UN Dialogue on Peacebuilding convened in Geneva, Switzerland in December 2025, the focus session on WPS and YPS co organized with fellow civil society and UN agencies such as UN Women, underscore the key message everyone has a role to play and youth are indispensable to that role.

Across focused discussions between civil society actors and UN representatives, participants emphasize that peace building cannot succeed without the leadership, innovation and lived experience of young people. In a peace workshop consultation also co organized with fellow civil society, UN agencies and member states, the Group on Climate and Economic Recovery underscored the importance of ensuring that young women have access to resources, funding, knowledge and capacity building opportunities. The examples above represent just some of many essential pathways to amplify young women's voices and shape decision making processes. Investing the time, resources and energy to cultivate these spaces strengthens the work led by young women towards sustainable peace. I can give myself an example.

As a young woman from the Philippines years ago, my mentors in GNWP and institutions such as UN Women invested in me, believing in my potential, guiding me in opening doors, speaking, speaking at the un, I didn't even know existed. Their support didn't just change my path, it shaped the work I am able to do today. And now, years later, more than 10 years later, I am here using what I learned to mentor others, to lift up new generations of women and young women peace builders, and to create spaces where their voices are heard. This is the power of investing in young women. One act of support creates waves that reach far beyond the individual.

It grows into movements, communities and into policies. Every woman we invest in becomes a Catalyst. And every story of resilience and leadership inspires countless others to believe that change is possible even when the system says otherwise. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much, Sophia. And now we have an extra reason to support the empowerment of young women. I mean, beside the very substantial words you gave us, you were the only one keeping the time. So, well done on the five minutes. Now I'm happy to move on to Assistant Secretary General for Youth Affairs, Felipe Pougliet.

Dear Felipe, dear friend, you're getting probably the worst question from me, which is how can the UN system better support young peace builders, particularly young women, and translate commitments under the YPS agenda into practical action? Floor is yours.

Thank you, Luca. And good morning everyone. I'm very pleased to be here.

Thank you to the permanent missions of Italy, Kyrgyzstan and to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, UNI Women and the Global Network of Women peacebuilders for convening us today. And allow me to start also by recognizing also Kyrgyzstan and Italy, of leading by example in terms of not only having for many years frameworks to work on the WPS agenda, but also most recently in the case of Italy and Kyrgyzen last year, launching their national action plans. And I believe that's what we need. What we need more. We need more member states, we need more governments that are willing really to partner with youth and especially with young women when it's about peace building efforts and stability.

So I think this discussion today comes in an important moment not only because of anniversaries or moments to recognize policy frameworks. It comes at a very critical moment in terms of what is happening for young people and young women across regions. We're facing the highest amount of conflicts ever since the Second World War, with more wars starting a few weeks ago. We are also living in a global narrative where we are accepting that the only way forward is increasing military expenditures. And we know that nothing conducts when we go into those very vicious cycles of, of investments.

And that's why it's so critical that we have, within the heart of the global multilateral system, discussions in relation of how we put young people and young women at the center of peace and security. As LUCA highlighted, in December last year, the Security Council adopted a new resolution on youth peace and security. And this institutional commitment is important, but definitely is not enough. And Luca, you were asking what is the way forward in how the UN can really support for more young people and young peace builders to be part of these decision making spaces? And the answer?

I believe it's quite simple in terms of the compass, but of course extremely complex in terms of implementation. It's really about participation. There's no other way. It's really about being more inclusive when it's about partnering with the civil society, when it's about partnering with young leaders and community leaders themselves.

This Tuesday, this week, I had a very productive discussion and an opportunity to brief Security Council elected members on youth peace and security and convened by Colombia by the Ministry of Foreign affairs herself. We had a two hours discussion in terms of this agenda and I brought to them four concrete points. The first one, as I mentioned and as that broader compass is the institutionalization of meaningful youth participation. Analysis that were launched a few years ago show that only 12% of peace agreements between 1990 and 2022 even referenced young people in their text. And of course these are frameworks, these are policies, but they are reflecting the substantive commitment we have or we don't have when it's about inclusion.

The second is the investment we need to invest in youth led peace building. Yet after almost 11 years since the first institutional commitment at the Security Council about the inclusion of young people and their participation as partners, youth led peace initiatives receive less than 1% of global peace and security funding. And I think this is a number that needs to wake up all of us. The third, as it was highlighted by colleagues, we need to strengthen partnerships. The only way to implement national action plans is through partnerships.

And currently we're seeing growing momentum, but we're far behind. I mentioned Italy and Kyrgyzstan, but they are only two of a very small bunch of countries that have national action plans on youth peace and security. We are seeing momentum, but still in 2026, it's less than 20 countries that have a national action plan on youth peace and security. The fourth point wrapping up is really highlighting that women peace and security and youth peace and security are not competing frameworks. They're actually mutually reinforcing.

Half of the world's young people are girls and young women and supporting their leadership, it's advancing both agendas and advancing the heart of the issues we are fighting for. It is really about intergenerational fairness and solidarity. As Sophia emphasized in first person, young women are builders of peace at their communities. In so many countries, as she highlighted where they are working together, they are not waiting for peace to be delivered. They are actually agents of transformation.

So again, I hope that these spaces are about ensuring that that leadership is recognized by institutions and also that we protect young peacebuilders and we resource young peacebuilders. Thank you Very much, Luca.

Thank you, Felipe. And on the mutually reinforcing agendas, I encourage everyone to use this double hashtag which is on the screen screens wps yps. I think it pictures it very, very nicely. Now I turn to another key partner in this event and beyond UN Women, represented by Ms. Sarah Hendricks, the Director for Policy Program and Intergovernmental Division. And dear Sarah, good to see you here.

I have a straight question. What are the key gaps that still prevent young women from fully participating in peace building and decision making? And how can these two agendas reinforce each other in practice? Thank you,

Luca. And indeed, it's good to be here on this final day of week one of CSW 70 and at this important conversation. And a note of thanks to the member states and partners who have joined together to ensure that today's conversation happens. And I'm grateful, Luca, to follow Felipe, because in fact, Felipe set out a lot of the data that is part of the response to your question. And over the last two decades, the women peace and security agenda and the youth peace and security agenda really have challenged very traditional assumptions about who builds peace, but also who holds authority in peace and security processes.

And yet in practice, these frameworks, as you've heard, often still operate quite on parallel tracks rather than integrated tracks, rather than reinforcing each other. Young women work at the intersection indeed of both agendas and across conflict affected countries. Young women indeed are mediators, they are organizers, they are leaders who are preventing violence and who are sustaining dialogue. And yet their leadership continues to face structural barriers that limit participation, that limit their influence within formal peace and security processes. And through consultations with young women peace builders right across various regions, as well as analytical work on the WPS YPS linkages, UN women has been working together with partners to try to unpack and better understand these challenges, these structural challenges.

And right across the conversations that have been held, one message really bubbles up to the surface and it's quite consistent in its emphasis. And that message is that participation does not always translate into influence and participation does not always translate actually into decision making power. Participation, in fact, too often remains symbolic. Young women may be present in consultations, which is very good, but they are rarely included, where their priorities and resources are actually being defined. And that's what we need to better understand and unpack.

Many young women peacebuilders operate in contexts where civic space itself is shrinking, where democratic principles are eroding, where they are themselves facing harassment and or facing political backlash, or facing the growing threats of digital online violence. Simply for engaging in peace work or in human rights work. Their work, as Felipe has highlighted, remains dramatically underfunded, receiving only a very small share of peace building financing. Despite the critical role they play in conflict prevention, in mediation, and certainly also in community resilience. And despite responding to emerging risks, whether that is the climate related insecurity risks or whether it is the risks of digital harms and displacement, that leadership of young people, and particularly of young women remains under recognized, under resourced, and frankly under prioritized.

Across UN Women programs, young women contribute to mediation and to dialogue and prevention efforts. In 2024 alone, UN Women Support supported 32 peace building processes that included the voice and the participation of young women right across very diverse contexts and really strengthening those connections. Those connections between the WPS agenda and the YPS agenda is therefore absolutely essential. When these frameworks evolve separately on parallel tracks, young women risk falling between those institutional mandates. They risk falling between the funding streams that supports them.

But bringing them together helps address structural barriers and supports more inclusive peace building. And really to bridge this gap between global commitments and practical support, support UN Women launch something that's called the Young Women peacebuilders Initiative. The Young Women peacebuilders Initiative led by UN Women together with unfpa, UNICEF and unaoc. The platform strengthens the leadership, the participation, but also the protection of young women of young women peacebuilders through Victoria, various efforts through mentorship, through networks, but also through direct support to young women's peace building initiatives directly. The pilot program received an overwhelming level of response, 4,500 applications, really demonstrating that scale of demand, but also the urgency of investing into this leadership.

By supporting young women's engagement at community, national and global levels. This initiative really aims to translate WPS and YPS commitments really into concrete greater influence for young women in peace and security decision making. And that's really the emphasis here, that concrete influence into actual decision making. As I close, allow me just to say that at a time of rising conflict, of democratic backsliding, and certainly of significant and growing pressure on civic space, young women peace builders continue to show up. They continue to show up to prevent violence, to sustain dialogue, and really to hold the faith fabric of communities together, often at very significant personal risk, the question is no longer whether their leadership matters, but really whether the international community will ensure that that leadership, that that participation translates into real concrete influence.

Meeting this moment really requires stronger coherence between the WPS and the YPS agendas, require sustained political leadership, requires greater investment into young women led peace building initiatives. And through this new initiative, through the Young Women peacebuilders initiative, UN Women seeks to work really collaboratively with partners to translate these commitments into concrete support. We really look forward to forward to working with member states, with partners to strengthen and resource this effort to ensure that young women peacebuilders have the protection, the resources, but also the platforms that are needed to shape the future of peace and security right at all levels with this. Thank you so much.

Thank you very much Sarah. And apologies from Deputy Secretary General Piccioni. She had to rush to a bilateral meeting that she has in five minutes. I'm now happy to hand the floor to another fellow national, Francesca Passudetti from the Young Ambassador Society of Italy. They participate in several multilateral processes such as the G7, the G20 and that's how we met back two years ago.

And I'm very happy to hand you the floor with the following question. Youth led initiatives are increasingly engaging with peace, governance and international policy discussions. How can platforms that bring together young leaders, youth policymakers and civil society help strengthen the participation and leadership of young women? Thank you.

Thank you so much Luca, for the question and for the opportunity of being here.

As you said, I'm here today representing the Young Ambassador Society, a youth led nonprofit that aims to empower young people globally. For more than a decade we've collaborated with institutions including Italian Ministry of Foreign affairs, international organizations, the private sector, civil society, to reassure that the youth voices influence international policy and global decision making. As discussed today, over the past two decades the international community has been made important progress in recognizing the role of women and young people in building peace. Advancing these agendas, however, requires moving beyond SILAS and strengthening the multi stakeholders partnerships like we were discussing earlier because this helps expand the ecosystem of support for young women leaders. In my remarks I will briefly focus on three key elements that multicellular platforms can help strength.

Firstly, access to decision making spaces. Secondly, skills and capacity building and lastly, sustainable funding. When talking about access to decision making spaces and networks, we too often young people see that young people are invited into policy discussions only symbolically or for one off consultations. To truly strengthen leadership, this plus we're must create structured and continuous pathways for engagement. These platforms also help build supportive networks that can sustain engagement beyond individual events and forums.

And such networks really allow young women to share best practices, spark the innovation that we've been talking about and also collectively advocate for more inclusive governance structures. This year we selected a wonderful group of young delegates that are present here at the CSW 70 and just in less than A week. It's inspiring to see how many bridges have been built and we hope that this continues throughout the years. We talked secondly about skills and capacity building and here across many of these global agendas that we've been discussing today, there is a shared recognition of the need of systemic C safe and meaningful inclusion of young people in building and governance. This really means equipping young people early with the skills and opportunities that they need to lead.

Organizations such as the Young Ambassador Society in collaboration with international organizations, expert groups and the private sector can really help translate these commitments into concrete initiatives through e.g. mentorship programs, leadership training and and professional networks. This includes, for example training in negotiation, mediation, public speaking, policy advocacy and with the Young Ambassador to Charity. We're proud to have trained more than 1,000 young leaders and will continue to do so. Thirdly, and lastly, the sustainable and flexible funding is something that we have addressed.

There's a persistent gap in long term financing for young women, pillsbuilders especially and we've highlighted this throughout the week. Unfortunately, platforms, multi stakeholder platforms like these can really help unlock sustained investment not only through grants but also by allowing to access partnerships with the private sector that can help fund these providing really the resources that are needed for young women to succeed in their work. We've heard great examples of multi stakeholder programs today and long term investment and we hope that this will continue in growing year over year. Ultimately, if we want more peace and more resilient societies, we must invest in the leadership of young women by providing them with networks, skills and sustained resources. Multistakeholder platforms are essential to making this happen and to ensuring that young women are not unincluded but actively shaping peace building and decision making processes moving from participation to words influence.

So thank you so much for supporting and for listening to us.

And you will agree that Francesca gets EXECO Gold Medal with Sophia on Time Management alongside content. Final speaker for today is Ms. Avazkan Armanova from the Public Foundation Dia of K. Kyrgyzstan. And my question to you will be drawing from your experience working to strengthen women's participation and dialogue in Kyrgyzstan. How can collaboration between youth, civil society and policymakers help bridge the gap between global commitments on the two agendas and realities on the ground? Over to you.

Thank you for the question. Good morning ladies and gentlemen. Dear friends, it is a great honor for me to speak on behalf of the civil society of my country, the Kyzen Republic and share our opinion on how we move forward the WPS and YPS agenda. We just approved the fifth action plan on promoting resolution 1325 and a new plan on how to promote the youth Peace and Security plan. These documents are an important step in strengthening the national mechanism for the participation of women and youth in the processes for peace, security and sustainable development.

And they're mutually strengthening. It's important to note here that as we were working on the agenda, civil society played a great role, including women's organizations and local initiatives. In 2025, we conducted consultation meetings with representatives of government bodies, international organizations and civil societies. And the opinions of participants were included in the final draft on the national plans on the implementation of the two Security Council resolutions. Recently, we who are working on gender equality issues in our government authorities at all levels, women and youth are becoming key partners in prevention conflicts, building trust, in particular in border and rural areas where they participate in initiatives to promote the culture of peace, dialogue and nonviolence.

But we need to underscore that in order to get sustainable results, we need to continue strengthening cooperation between government bodies and civil societies, ensuring that there is funding for WPS agenda and ensuring that women, especially young women, are participants in decision making.

So this is our experience. Our Fund of Public Foundation DIA in the southern areas of our country are implementing an initiative for making sure that women young women participate in decision making in post conflict societies. 3000 women participated in various dialogues and forums as to increase civil society and mental health. And they this allowed the young people not to just participate in programs, but to become an active agent of change in their societies. We trained 127 young leaders who are currently actively cooperating with local authorities and pushed forward the interests and initiatives to strengthen peace, build dialogue and deal with urgent issues for the young people.

Locally, 63 people, people who specialize in working with youth, were trained on trauma sensitive approaches. And this is very useful in working with the young people in post conflict regions. To ensure that the results of these initiatives are sustainable. We have developed a network of young civilian activists who also support mental health. And this is where experiences be being exchanged.

Now in 2025, the Istanbul office of UN Women is conducting consultations and initiated the development of a regional plan of action on WPAs in Central Asia. And we are convinced that this regional plan will be an instrument to organize civil society. It will help strengthen the participation of women and young people in building sustainable peace, especially locally and in border areas where the issues of trust, dialogue, conflict prevention are of special importance. Youth consultations in Central Asian countries have shown that the young people, especially young women, stand ready to actively participate in peace building. But they encounter barriers when it comes to access to information and funding.

The young people are underscoring that peace is not just the absence of conflict, but also dignity, safety, equal opportunities, non violence in everyday life. Participants in consultations called on the creation of regional platforms for regular dialogue, access to justice, fighting, gender and sexual violence and mental health of the young people. And they say that broadening and supporting youth initiatives is a key precondition of sustainable peace and security. Our experience shows that women are not just victims of conflict, but also a major agent for peace. When women participate in dialogue, in management, in decision making, community becomes more sustainable and conflict is peacefully resolved.

The civil society of my my country Kyrgyzstan, stands ready to move this agenda further. Through work with communities, supporting women leaders and the development of a culture of peaceful dialogue, we are convinced that it's only through partnership with states, international organizations and civil society we can ensure sustainable and inclusive peace. I thank you.

We have now time for three questions or comments from the floor and I have been pre alerted that the delegate of Uzbekistan would take the floor. So please introduce yourself and go ahead. Maximum two minutes per person, please.

Good morning. My name is Otobek Hojimatov. I represent the Permanent Mission of Uzbekistan Pakistan to the United Nations. Thank you so much, Mr. Moderator for giving me the floor and I wish to thank all stakeholders for convening this timely discussion. Today's topic is vital to the implementation of WPS and YPS agendas.

We recognize a fundamental truth. Sustainable peace is unattainable without the full, meaningful participation of women and youth in conflict prevention and decision making. In recent years, Uzbekistan has elevated gender equality to a pillar of state policy. Our consistent reforms are not merely about representation. They are essential to deepening our democratic processes and ensuring sustainable development.

Uzbekistan's commitment is best reflected in our following strategic National Action plans. Following our first National Action Plan for UN Security Council Resolution 1325, we have developed second draft NAP through 2030. This roadmap specifically aims to amplify the role of women UN young women in peace building and security. The Security Sector we are actively transforming our justice and security institutions. Since 2018, the share of women in internal affairs has doubled, rising from 5 to 10%.

To sustain this, we established a specialized unit for women issues within the Ministry of Internal affairs and introduced senior Inspector positions for women's affairs nationwide. Through the Academy of Public Administration's Women's Leadership School, we are systematically preparing the next generation of female leaders for the public sector. Mr. Moderator, Uzbekistan remains committed to fostering synergy between the government agencies, international Partners and civil society. By empowering young women leaders and sharing global best practices, we can collectively build a future defined by peace and justice. I thank you.

I thank you.

Thank you very much for your remarks. I saw two ladies there on the left. I'm not sure it's the same request or two separate requests. Two separate requests. So the lady at the back, please, if you can find the microphone.

Baha' I International Community Office in Addis Ababa. Thank you for the panelists for their remarks. This idea of influence really resonated and my question in response to that is what is the role of communities? And how does international and regional institutions nurture the role of communities? Because from experiences of Baha' I communities and their friends from across the world, and in my context, the African region particularly, there are a number of examples from the region, specifically in DRC and in South Kivu, where groups of young women and men are coming together to

translate principles such as justice and dignity and agency into practice in response to social needs. So there's a lot of grassroots insight. And how does this feed into international and regional decision making processes? Because influence is also apparent at that level.

So I just to want. Wanted to bring that question up. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Before answering your question, I think your neighbor wanted to take the floor.

Is that right? No. Okay. Yes, please. And this will be the final question.

Ali Chapume from Suroptomist International. And thank you for all the speakers. We have talked today about the relevance of training more women, young women and girls to be involved and consequently to translate the commitments for peace and security into actions. However, I was wondering where the investments are coming from.

So how would we involve and ensure the involvement of other strategic stakeholders that can fuel also in economic terms, maybe this leadership and mentorship programs such as the private sector and the other industries. Thank you.

Okay, we have five minutes for this round of replies and to close this meeting. So I will suggest, if you allow me, fellow speakers, first question on the role of communities, I suggest that Sarah and Sophia takes it. You agree with that?

You go first or you go first.

I'll keep it short and simple, but I do agree that when we talk about influence, the realities of the community should be at the heart of it. In gnwp, we have a localization strategy, and when we advance the women, peace and security agendas, we work closely with the grassroots communities in the conflict affected areas that we are working at. And it is through that collaboration that we can influence down from the community up to the international level. And what are the needs of the people that we are working with. So I believe that it does play an important role that should inform.

And at the end of the day, the reason why we're here in this room is that we're finding solutions to fit each of the realities that apparently the world we're facing is chaotic right now. And as I know, this is like a. It's very, this is very repetitive that we always hear in rooms that one solution does not fit all, even if it's a simple phrase. Sometimes even the donors, even member states, forget that there are different realities that should be taken into consideration. And the only way that we can inform and make sure that it's inclusive, it's intergenerational, is when we listen to the people on the ground.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for your thoughtful question. I think the imperative of communities and community dialogue, particularly led by young people and young women, is key. And where we see this taking place more often is through mediation networks and through peace building, but also prevention at community level. In terms of the UN system support to young women's organizations that operate at a grass grassroots level in communities.

This is often through the Women Peace and Humanitarian fund, where over 90% of the fund funding that streams through that fund actually goes to grassroots organizations led by young women as well as women. And really engaging in local, national and global peace building processes is really important to link that local, that grassroots all the way up. And I think in my intervention, that's what I was emphasizing, needs more support to happen more effectively, effectively. More work needs to be done to ensure that young women who are engaging at community level have access also to the peace processes at a national level and even at a regional and global level. And currently those spaces are dominated by older women, just to be frank, as peace tables often are perceived to require political weight.

So you have older women who have a long political trajectory behind them. Young women, however, are leading on innovative solutions, whether it's climate action or digital violence or cyber security or prevention of hate speech. And so it's that leadership at a community level, those dialogues on those critical justice issues that need to be connected to regional and global peace building tables. So thank you so much for your point.

Thank you, Sarah.

And on Alice's question, I will, since it's such a crucial one, I will ask all the remaining speakers to answer for 30 seconds each on how the investments can be fostered in order to achieve these goals, starting with Francesca.

So this is a very relevant question, and I think there's two main ways I think system. So in the private sector there's very strong talent pipelines, for example. So for skills building we could take some of the approaches that are applied in the private sector and then apply them to these situations. And then of course, from a funding perspective, I think there's some examples. You could do partnerships with businesses and for example, create some innovation funds.

You could do some fellowships. I also think that impacted investors could help, for example, young women leaders to work on youth led enterprises. So in brief, thanks a lot, well done, Sara. Sorry Lara,

Just a comment on intergenerational exchanges and transfer knowledge. I think we, it's usually important to continue encouraging these kind of programs also in support of, of young women. And I think there are, I mean the private sector is of course a very important venue, but also international organizations that are also receiving support from member countries are, you know, more and more, and certainly it's a case for the OEC more and more looking into the investment that needs to be done in the, in the young generation.

Not necessarily and exclusively on issues related to peace building, because this is one area which is, as we know, shrinking. But we have to look at leadership of young people and security building and peace building across all areas. So I think it's still very important to look into all the different areas of youth engagement. Thank you very much, Felipe.

So on the funding issue, which I believe it's the most critical part, the first one is maybe highlighting what works. And the Secretary General's Peace Building Fund is a very good example of a structure that is delivering and that has a target of annual funding of 25% of the peace building fight to support empowerment of women and young people. And with that structure, we were able to fund 166 projects in 48 countries. That's 300 more than 300 million investments in the implementation of the youth peace and security in a period of more than five years. But, but clearly those types of funds are being reduced.

And that's why I think that the second reflection here to share within the UN what we are trying to do is to be more consistent and to work more coherently on this YPS framework. So since last year, our office with dppa, with UNFPA has brought together a new coordination mechanism frame under the topic of a YPS secretariat, trying to bring the UN together, but also anchoring these efforts on broader visions like the Pact for the Future and the call for a global youth investment platform. And what we're trying to move in terms of moving the needle is trying to have more youth focused investments across different platforms. It's not creating a new trust fund, not creating a small grant fund, but trying to embed these principles on the bigger and larger financing mechanism, including with international financing institutions, but also with the private sector. So this is an ongoing process, still a long way to go.

But I think the vision is let's embed this funding and financing critical topics at the structural level and not creating small solutions or good things that deliver, but that are not impactful in scale.

Thank you, Felipe. I've eaten my own closing remarks. So the final words of this event will be for Aida, please. Thank you very much.

I think we all know that all young people, mostly they are in private sector and with the very creative mood, with full of energy and with funds. And I think that all over the world, all governments, decision makers and also people should understand that we can't separate private sector and young people from peace processors. We should admit that we have this kind of vision, that they are not involved. And also I agree with ASG that it should be structural. Today we have all government representatives and civil society representatives from Kyrgyzstan and we are implementing it's how to involve private sector to these processes.

It's startups, it's fellowships, it's engagement, it should be engagement and maybe training for private sector also explaining that how we can engage and how we can work together. Thank you all very much for this wonderful conversation this morning. Thank you and have a great weekend. Bye bye.