International Youth Day 2026
The Theme for International Youth Day 2026 is Different Contexts, Common Aspirations.
This day recognises and celebrates the diversity of youth experiences around the world, while promoting global solidarity, shared challenges, and youth innovation.
World Vision works in multiple contexts across the humanitarian and development nexus. And everywhere we work, we see the resilience, hope, and innovation of young people at work.
DID YOU KNOW?
- World Vision's education programmes reached 5.7 million children and adolescents in 2025, while training more than 21,000 teachers and mobilising 200,000 parents and caregivers to support learning.
- IMPACT+, World Vision's adolescent life skills and active citizenship programme, is implemented in more than 30 countries and reached over 60,000 adolescents in 2023–2024.
- World Vision’s RISE program in Central America has helped 570+ youth secure jobs and 590+ launch businesses.
- World Vision recently launched BLOOM, a new program in Rwanda, Tanzania, and Somalia, which will accompany adolescent girls and young women in their journey to safe and meaningful employment.
2025 Global Child Participation in World Vision Decision-Making Report: Executive Summary
Young people’s meaningful participation in all decisions that affect their lives, including and especially in World Vision’s own decision-making processes that affect children at local, national, regional and global levels. Across different contexts around the world, children from rural, urban, stable, conflict, and fragile contexts are influencing decisions and taking action in big and small ways to make their communities safer and stronger for young people.
This report highlights the common and emerging trends on how child participation takes places across various environments, showing that context is key in shaping the pathway and scope of participation, not the possibility of whether participation happens or not. In all contexts, including children and young people in decisions that affect their lives has provided a triple, positive impact – on children and young people’s own development, on improving community resources, and ensuring more relevant programming through World Vision.
World Vision Foundation of Thailand Empowers Thai Youth to Take the Regional Stage
For the third-year running, World Vision East Asia has hosted the Young Minds Camp, to bring together adolescent innovators from 7 countries to nurture and equip the next generation of leaders and promote solidarity and innovation for children’s rights.
Different Contexts, Common Aspirations: 10 Ways Adolescents in Zambia are Helping Build Safer Schools
World Vision Zambia has been implementing the IMPACT+ approach in more than 300 schools to equip adolescents with the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values needed to thrive while contributing to safer and more inclusive learning environments. IMPACT+ offers a practical example of what it looks like when an education programme treats adolescents not only as learners to be supported and protected, but as partners who can exercise agency and leadership in making their own schools safer and more enabling learning environments.
Impact Stories
World Vision is committed to engaging adolescents and youth in meaningful participation in programming, decision-making, and advocacy. We seek to include young people across diverse contexts, elevate their voices, and draw attention to the incredible acts of service, community projects, and advocacy initiatives they are leading and participating in across the world. These are just a few examples of young changemakers having an impact in their communities, countries, and regions.
From Uncertainty to Purpose: Kongmee's Journey of Hope and Leadership
Kongmee's story demonstrates how investing in young people can transform lives. From a young woman with no direction or hope, she has become a confident, motivated, and engaged youth leader with a clear dream for the future.
"Dream big and keep moving forward until you reach your destination."
A Father Opens His Home to Help Children Read
After World Vision conducted community mobilisation and awareness creation on the impact of literacy on children's learning in the village, kifle quickly made a groundbreaking decision, taking the lead in mobilising the community to break the hurdle, while opening his own house for children to read in their spare time. Now, every weekend, around ten children flock to Kifle’s house to read storybooks. "I am happy to see children in my compound gathered to learn, making it a centre of change," Kifle explains proudly.
From Shy to Shining: How One Girl’s Journey Shows the Power of Early Education
In Habro District, Oromia, six-year-old Kalkidan was once shy and struggled with socialisation when she joined one of the 35 ECD centres established by World Vision and the local community. Within three months, she transformed into a confident, happy learner who enjoys letters, numbers, stories, games, and playing with friends on swings and slides. She now reads, writes, adds and subtracts, and dreams of becoming a doctor. Supported by Korean child sponsors, these centres are giving over 5,000 children a strong foundation for success.