Between November 21st and December 8, we launched the #YouthLeadChange Social Media Campaign. The Campaign highlighted the 6 recommendations of the Global Youth Declaration on Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery. The Declaration, designed after input by over 1145 youth from around the world, reiterates the importance of including youth in programme and policy design of issues that directly impact them, including prevention, treatment and recovery. It was officially launched during the 68th CND in March earlier this year.

Nonetheless, the launch was only the beginning. This Campaign intends to remind all of us to integrate the various recommendations in our work and build towards inclusive societies that provide opportunities to our youth. It is a reminder that prevention, treatment, and recovery only work when youth are part of the process.

The recommendations include:

1. Actively Listen to Youth: Youth call for real participation — not tokenism. They want to be heard, included, and trusted to co-create prevention policies that affect them. Governments and organisations can act by 1) Creating youth councils, 2) Holding regular consultations, and 3) Involving youth in every stage of policy and program design
2. Enhance Research and Modernise Risk Awareness Campaigns: Youth urge governments to use data that reflects their realities: diverse, gender-responsive, and current. They call for awareness campaigns that speak their language, use their platforms, and reject stigma. Modern prevention means meeting youth where they are, online and offline, with truth, empathy, and relevance.
3. Implement Gender-Responsive Approaches to Address Substance Use Challenges: Young people call for prevention and treatment that understands their realities, from mental health struggles to economic challenges and social pressures. Gender matters in how we design, deliver, and support prevention efforts.
4. Ensure Increased Provision of Improved and Accessible Youth Sensitised Services: Youth demand services that are accessible, affordable, and designed with their input. That means shorter waiting times, 24-hour support, and a focus on recovery that includes family and community.
5. Empower Youth through Economic Independence and Leadership Opportunities: Empowerment must include all young people. Economic independence and leadership aren’t extras; they’re prevention tools. Young people worldwide are calling for job opportunities, mentorship, and youth-led initiatives that build resilience and strengthen communities. Today reminds us that an inclusive society is a safer society. For prevention to work, every young person, including youth with disabilities, must have equal access to opportunities, support, and the chance to lead. When young people thrive, all young people thrive.
6. Strengthen Community Support and Policy Enforcement: Youth highlight that prevention starts with the environments they grow up in, communities that care, protect, and believe in them. They call for community-based programmes, understanding, support, comprehensive policies, destigmatisation, and alternatives to incarceration.

The Global Youth Declaration is more than words; it’s a roadmap for a healthier, more equitable future. The youth have spoken clearly. Now it’s time for all of us: policymakers, practitioners, and communities – to listen, partner, and act.