Recently, UNFPA, the United Nations agency for sexual and reproductive health, in partnership with the Mediterranean Forum for Youth and the World Organization of the Scout Movement and other stakeholders convened the first edition of the Youth Forum in the Arab Region, which was held in Assilah, Kingdom of Morocco from 19-21 December 2018. The Forum was attended by more than 250 participants from 20 Arab countries. More than half of the attendees being adolescents and youth (aged 10-29), participants also included high-level representatives of Arab Governments including Ministers, Secretary Generals and Director Generals as well as members of parliament, youth networks and association and other civil society organizations, representatives from the private sector and academia, UN agencies and other international and regional development partners, plus experts and influencers among them actors, musicians and social media bloggers.

The forum’s main objective was to set and advance the youth agenda while and promoting youth, peace and development in the Arab States. The aim was to create a dynamic, rights-based and representative regional platform that consults, engages and proposes actionable and innovative solutions on youth issues and challenges by bringing together representatives of all relevant stakeholders. The Forum, designed to be the first in a series of regular (annual or biannual) forum that constitute “The Youth Space” in the Arab region, is intended to open horizon for dialogue, debate and tracking development and implementation of a dynamic youth agenda in the Arab region.

As a result, the 2018 forum sessions and proceedings focused on defining elements of a new paradigm and narrative on adolescents and youth in the region. Themes and topics discussed within the forum included Innovation, Youth, Peace and Security with the objective of ensuring a strong foundation for subsequent editions of the Forum. Participants agreed on several key messages summarized in the forum’s final report that included the Forum outcome statement -- The Assilah’s Call for Action. 

During the forum, the youth participants suggested that the future editions of the fora would focus on a main theme as well as include a dedicated part/day on the previous edition theme/outcomes to follow up on the previous commitments. Thus the 2019 Youth Forum in the Arab Region will review the progress on the 2018 topics of Youth, Peace and Security, Innovation at the service of youth and envisioning a new narrative on young people in the region.

To select the 2019 theme for the 2019 Youth Forum in the Arab Region, and in line with UNFPA's commitment to empower youth to set their own priorities, UNFPA is seeking the input of youth from across the region through an online poll. To fill the survey, please follow the below form before 31 March 2019 at 15:00 GMT.