Georgetown Senior Presents Youth Engagement Policy Recommendations at Y20 Event for G20 Summit Communiqué

International Politics major Khushboo Shah (SFS’22) recently presented her policy recommendations for engaging youth in decision-making for a more just and inclusive future at the virtual Y20 International Consultation. The event was held by the Young Ambassadors Society (YAS) in the lead up to the G20 Leaders Summit 2021 in Rome, Italy.

YAS, the event host, is responsible for the Youth 20 (Y20), the official G20 engagement group dedicated to young people, in collaboration with the Sherpa office of the Prime Minister’s Office and in coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Italy. Khushboo’s proposals were included in a final report covering all sessions, and presented to the Y20 Summit to assist with drafting the final communiqué for the G20 Summit.

In her presentation, Khushboo spoke as a representative of the Youth, Peace, and Security (YPS) Fund, which she helped cofound as part of an internship with Search for Common Ground, one of the largest dedicated peacebuilding organizations and a 2018 Nobel Peace Prize nominee. Her proposal urged G20 members to see young people as peace-building partners, and stressed that supporting youth leaders who work on peace and security issues in conflict settings is an opportunity for G20 leaders to strengthen inclusivity in local communities, and aligns with the G20 Leaders Summit 2021 pillars of “People and Prosperity.”

In particular, she called on G20 member states to adopt and support the YPS agenda at the local, regional, and national level and to adopt youth protection policies. She also urged G20 states to appoint youth leaders as advisors at the national level to shape youth policies, and to especially include them “in crafting economic and social policies to recover from the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic, as youth leaders are often the closest to the issues G20 countries are trying to address.”

For the Youth, Peace and Security Fund, Khushboo is currently co-leading a grant giving process to distribute pilot grants among the first cohort of the YPS Ambassadors. As part of the Fund, she works collaboratively with senior professionals and youth leaders to transform the way the world deals with conflict, away from adversarial approaches and toward more cooperative and collaborative solutions.