The Global Opportunity Youth Network (GOYN) was created to mobilize stakeholders across multiple sectors to work collectively at the local level to address the complex set of factors – both challen...
The Global Opportunity Youth Network (GOYN) was created to mobilize stakeholders across multiple sectors to work collectively at the local level to address the complex set of factors – both challenges and opportunities – that affect young people in finding and thriving in dignified work. With 600 million young people – one-third of the total youth population worldwide – considered to be Opportunity Youth (OY), the urgency is real. The work of GOYN builds upon decades of positive youth development, which shifts focus away from “deficits” and toward “assets” – strengths, capabilities, and potential – that young people possess. Hosted at the Aspen Forum for Community Solutions, GOYN was inspired and informed by the work of the Opportunity Youth Forum, our sister network that reconnects OY in the United States to education and/or career pathways. Seeking to alleviate the challenges that OY face on a global scale, GOYN was founded on the belief that young people, recognized for their inherent talent and agency and with the support of adult ally institutions, can and will build a better present and future for themselves and their communities. That belief – reinforced by the Aspen institute’s prioritization of Rising Generations – undergirds all of GOYN’s work around the world. []