As International Youth Day approaches, GPE youth leaders remain inspired by the commitments and conversations from the annual Futures Festival they hosted on July 22.

The Festival brought together powerful youth voices and decision makers through fireside chats, creative performances (view a powerful spoken word performance by Hafsat Abdullahi) and storytelling, all centered on reimagining education systems to unlock a brighter future for all.

It also marked the launch of the “Education Multiplies Possibility” Youth Statement, calling for urgent action to prioritize education financing.

Now as we celebrate youth leadership, here are their reflections and vision for what comes next.

Farida Ally, Kenya

I remember sitting in front of my screen co-leading the Youth Consultation on Education Investment for Africa, watching over 160 young people speak their truth. It was emotional, grounding and empowering all at once.

The sharing of education realities like the lack of school fees, overcrowded classrooms, girls dropping out due to pregnancy or lack of sanitary pads… The stories were raw and painfully familiar.

Those conversations and those of other continents became the backbone of something powerful: our youth statement to finance education. When it was launched at the Futures Festival, it was a bold, united call to world leaders: fund what matters. Fund education.

As a young person from Mombasa, Kenya, who’s lived through the struggle of delayed education due to poverty, this work is personal. I know how education can multiply possibility. I've seen it in my own life. But possibility must be supported by policy, with financing and political will.

This International Youth Day, I’m reminded that young people aren’t the leaders of tomorrow. We’re leading now. We’re leading today. We’ve done the work, raised our voices and laid out the vision.

What we need is for world leaders to move from promises to action. Because the future isn’t something we wait for, it's something we’re already building. And it begins with bold investment in education. Not later. Not someday. Now.

Mehedi Hasan Shanto, Bangladesh

As the world faces potential reductions in education funding amid global power shifts, I was really inspired by the strong messages from the Futures Festival to increase and reimagine education funding worldwide.

I found the Festival really insightful, especially when learning about how education inequity exists in different parts of the world in different forms. I came to understand that this inequity may look different in each country, but it requires a shared commitment to change these realities for the better.

To me, this year’s Futures Festival was a powerful event that reaffirmed our commitment to an equitable and just future for every child globally, by allocating and mobilizing more funds and resources to the countries that need them most.

Dorcas Delali Lotsu, Ghana

The Futures Festival created a powerful momentum around the GPE youth statement: “Education multiplies possibilities.” It was inspiring to witness young leaders from around the world unite in demanding quality, inclusive and equitable education for every learner.

However, our work is far from over.

Many children, especially those living in conflict zones like Bawku and Nalerigu in Ghana, children with disabilities and those from marginalized communities, are still being left behind.

As a GPE youth leader, my commitment is to amplify our voices and push for systems that recognize all learners, from every corner and background.

This means creating platforms for youth to speak (for example, we have a podcast called the “Youth Circle Series”), including them in decision-making spaces, and pushing for youth-led emergency preparedness in education (which can be done through trauma-informed training for peer mentors in schools that are affected by conflict for example).

This quality education that we are asking for must be reinforced with systemwide emergency preparedness, including student and teacher support that is trauma sensitive, remote learning alternatives when students can’t access school in person, and recovery strategies led by youth.

Only then can every single child realize their possibilities.

#EducationMultipliesPossibility

Young people are not just envisioning the future, they are shaping it. But turning possibility into reality requires urgent action from world leaders to invest in education now.

The “Education Multiplies Possibility” Youth Statement is our united call for bold, equitable and sustained financing for education everywhere.

Add your voice and stand with youth leaders around the world by signing the youth statement because a future where every child can learn starts with the choices we make today.

Meet the 2025 cohort of GPE youth leaders