Involving Youth to Build a Better World - UNOPS Latin America and the Caribbean

What would you consider when building a house? 

This seemingly simple question touches on deep aspects of our existence, past, present, and future. The answers vary as much as there are people in the world, based on individual knowledge and understanding of what ‘home’ means. If we expand the question to our schools, hospitals, roads, and public spaces, or ask how to build infrastructure that lasts through time and natural challenges, the answer becomes more complex.

In a rapidly changing world, these responses grow more complicated. The planet is currently threatened by a triple planetary crisis: extreme climate events, biodiversity loss at alarming rates, and pollution all over the world. Added to this are exacerbated inequalities, social and armed conflicts, unstable economies, shifts in the labor market due to new technologies like artificial intelligence, increased migration, anti-rights movements, and weakened democracies and institutions.

Youth are witnessing the cracks in systems that should be solving these issues but often fail to meet their needs. They are invited to share their ideas for their innovative thinking, idealism, and inclusive leadership, yet rarely involved in decision-making about their own future. They lack a seat at the table when discussing their present and future.

Following the recent Summit of the Future in 2024, which resulted in the adoption of the Pact for the Future by 193 UN Member States, outlining 56 actions to tackle the world’s greatest challenges, the Youth Network of the United Nations Office for Project Services for Latin America and the Caribbean (UNOPS)—a leading UN agency in infrastructure, procurement, and project management—sees it as essential to focus on the issues facing young people and the role infrastructure plays in solving or worsening these problems.

Inequalities that affect youth in Latin America and the Caribbean are closely linked to the lack of infrastructure. One example is that 36% of students in Latin America do not finish high school, and 50% of 15-year-olds cannot comprehend what they read. COVID-19 has deepened these gaps, leaving 13% of young people without access to digital learning. Youth unemployment has risen to 19.2%, three times the adult unemployment rate, reflecting a drop in tertiary education enrollment, now below 10% in the region. This highlights the educational disparities tied to the lack of adequate schools, libraries, and technological resources, especially in rural areas.

The United Nations has implemented numerous projects to address these inequalities. UNOPS has managed multiple projects that positively impact young people across the region. For example, the Human Development Park in Alajuelita, Costa Rica, where local youth were empowered and actively involved from planning to completion. In Argentina, more than 12 projects aim to integrate technology into public schools to promote digital and inclusive education. In Paraguay, two projects, in partnership with KOICA and ITAIPU Binacional, focused on improving the infrastructure of agricultural schools, impacting over 1,400 students. In Honduras, UNOPS provided technical assistance to UNFPA to improve the Youth-Friendly Health Services network, enhancing infrastructure in 34 health facilities nationwide.

While these initiatives help reduce inequalities, we must ask: What will happen as the triple planetary crisis worsens? How will we ensure youth participation in crisis contexts? How will we address these challenges if sufficient investment is not made to close these gaps? Ultimately, how will we build the world and the future we share?

The answer must involve both the expertise of professionals and the vision of young people, who have the right to a present and future that includes them. The world must be inclusive, resilient, and sustainable, making efficient and equitable use of technologies, with public resources used transparently, and framed by human rights.

Our present and common future must urgently include youth in more meaningful ways to address the inequalities faced by vulnerable populations. The Pact for the Future offers an opportunity for greater youth participation, ensuring that the UN’s mission to leave no one behind becomes a reality.

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Article collaboratively written by:

Erik J. Petterson / Senior Communications, Design, and Visual Identity Assistant - LCR Regional Office

Marie Peschke / Gender, Diversity, and Inclusion Specialist - LCR Regional Office UNOPS LCR Youth Network Coordination Team

Ana Itzel Lozano / Gender, Diversity, and Inclusion Intern - LCR Regional Office