2026 Youth Report: Lead with youth

The 2026 Youth Report "Lead with youth" is the result of a partnership with the United Nations Youth Office to understand the leading role of youth and students in education decision-making around the world. Building on the momentum of the Youth Declaration adopted at the 2022 Transforming Education Summit- which recognized young people as active agents of systemic and long-term change- this report presents a first attempt to measure youth and student participation in education decision-making based on an analysis of the data collected through surveys to governments and nation-wide youth and student organizations. 

This report serves a dual purpose at a critical juncture for global education. It concludes the 2024/5 GEM Report cycle of reports on leadership with a focus on the importance of youth and student leaders in education, while simultaneously acting as the first in a new Countdown to 2030 series by the GEM Report that will examine the shape of education beyond the current SDG framework. By documenting the diverse mechanisms nations employ to frame youth and student participation, this report aims to empower young people in the dissemination of and debates around these findings. More fundamentally, it advocates for the essential inclusion of youth and student voices as we enter the final years of SDG 4 and begin conceptualizing a new global education agenda—one that must be shaped not for youth, but with them. 

Accompanying this report will be a mapping of more than 500 nation-wide youth and student organizations involved in education decision-making globally and a series of advocacy and communication outputs co-designed with youth. 

The report will be launched on 23 January 2026 during a high-level event to celebrate International Day of Education at UNESCO's headquarters in Paris.