It has now been 10 years since I first visited the United Nations (UN) Headquarters for the National High School Model United Nations. I remember stepping into the General Assembly, amazed at its size, and seeing in the hallways a real-time transmission of negotiations at the ECOSOC (UN Economic and Social Council) Chamber, wondering if I would ever get the chance to say something of value in such spaces. At that time, the UN felt like a space reserved for older people.
This year, I was invited to be the Youth Lead Discussant in the “Way forward to 2030” session of the 2026 ECOSOC High-level Segment in the morning of July 16th. With only five years left until the 2030 target year to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the President of ECOSOC wanted to hear my perspective on how the UN could better prepare for the 2027 SDG Summit and its outcome. As someone who works at the intersection of intergenerational justice (or justice across generations) and international development cooperation from a Global South lens, I felt a deep responsibility to convey a message grounded on evidence and collective intelligence from my decade long journey as an advocate.
My message was simple: the 2027 SDG Summit must make the final three years to 2030 count and begin preparing for what follows 2030. The Summit needs to create meaningful pathways for young people to participate as strategic components of decision-making, and drive further investments for implementation mechanisms. As I said in the ECOSOC Chamber, Girl Up is already living up to its commitment to intergenerational fairness by implementing an intergenerational leadership model that meaningfully integrates youth at the highest level of decision-making. Girl Up’s Chief Youth Advisors, Rym Badran and myself, work hand-in-hand with the Co-CEOs to integrate youth perspectives into the organization’s global strategy. That same level of commitment to fairness, solidarity, justice, and representation is needed in the 2027 SDG Summit if the UN wants to reach SDG targets on time with support from the global majority.
I hope that UN Member States seriously consider supporting innovative pathways like intergenerational leadership models. In such models, young people’s participation is not only a matter of fairer representation, but also a strategy to partner with young experts on their own subject-matter. As a result, by 2030 it might be possible that younger generations visit the UN—just like I did a decade ago—knowing that they have an equal footing to say something of value to the world, regardless of their age.
You can watch Valeria’s remarks at the 2026 ECOSOC High-level Segment here.
