IGF Regional and National Initiatives

Youth Initiatives

Youth Initiatives of the IGF are created with a goal of encouraging and involving young people in a substantive discussion on Internet governance. These forms, as well as the national, sub-regional and regional IGFs (NRIs), are expected to follow the main IGF principles of being open, inclusive, non-commercial with multistakeholder participation during the whole preparatory phase and the event itself, all in line with a bottom-up decision-making process.



Besides these initiatives listed below, there are other examples of youth engagement at the IGF and in Internet governance, as described

this publication on Youth Engagement at the IGF

The publication outlines the Youth IGF initiatives established on national and/or regional levels; as well as some capacity development initiatives.



Regarding different forms of Youth engagement in the IGF processes, the IGF Secretariat recognizes the following practices:

  • Youth IGF initiatives (that can be independently organized; or integrated into the NRIs). For these, a recognition process is conducted in the basis of the Youth IGFs adhering to the core IGF principles and procedures, just as the NRIs.
  • Additional projects to build youth participation in Internet governance


Below table shows the current record of the existing Youth Initiatives.

The Youth IGF Afghanistan (YIGFA) is a youth-led and youth-focused initiative aiming to engage Afghan youth in Internet Governance debates and discussions.

Annual meeting Information
To be confirmed.
Name of Coordinator
Elaaha Noorza

YIGF Africa is an open platform for younger generation to express and interchange their ideas and thoughts on Internet governance.

Annual meeting Information
18 September 2023, Abuja
Name of Coordinator
Keith Andere

The Albanian Youth IGF initiative was established in 2018. It aims to create a multistakeholder process through which the Albanian Youth community will have opportunity to engage in Internet Governance discussions on national, regional and international levels.

Name of Coordinator
Dajana Mulaj
Primary Email address

The Youth IGF of Argentina was established in 2018. It serves as a forum for discussion and exchange space that aims to expand the voices of young people between 18 and 30 who are interested in Internet governance.

Annual meeting Information
4 December 2021, hosted online
Name of Coordinator
Eileen Cejas

The Armenian Youth IGF initiative was established in 2019. The forum provides an open platform for Armenian Youth to take part in Internet governance discussions, to get acquainted with Internet-related issues concerning Armenia.

Annual meeting Information
11 October 2019, Yerevan, Armenia
Name of Coordinator
Ani Dallakian

With a dedication to raise the awareness of youth on Internet governance matters and encourage the young generations to participate in the policy discussion, the Youth IGF of the Asia Pacific region was initiated in 2010.

Annual meeting Information
28-30 August 2023, Brisbane, Australia
Name of Coordinator
Jenna Fung
Primary Email address

The Benin Youth IGF is a youth-led and youth-focused initiative that aims at establishing cooperation between and with youth from Benin regarding Internet governance.

Annual meeting Information
27 July 2024, Cotonou and Parakou
Name of Coordinator
Sossou Yao ‎Amevi A.‎
Primary Email address

The Youth IGF of Chad was recognised in 2020. Its main goal is to engage young people in the multistakeholder discussion on Internet governance and to develop capacity.

Annual meeting Information
19 November 2022 in N’Djamena
Name of Coordinator
Khouzeifi Issakha Doud-bane
Primary Email address

This Youth IGF initiative was established in 2017. Youth IGF initiative of China aims to engage voices of children and youth in the Internet Governance discourse.

Annual meeting Information
To be confirmed.
Name of Coordinator
David Ng

The Colombian Youth IGF initiative was established in 2023. Its objective is to facilitate a multistakeholder process through which the youth from Colombia can engage in Internet governance discussions.

Annual meeting Information
2023 meeting dates to be confirmed
Name of Coordinator
Umut Pajaro
Primary Email address

German Youth IGF was established in 2013 year, with the aim to introduce the idea of Internet governance amongst youth and bring young people from Germany into the relevant discussion on national, regional and global level.

Annual meeting Information
11-12 September 2021, hosted online
Name of Coordinator
David Krystof
Primary Email address

Youth IGF of Hong Kong was establised in 2016 year. This Initiative aims to provide a platform for younger generation in Hong Kong to speak up on Internet Governance issues, build up sense of digital citizenship of students, raise awarenes on Internet givernance issues and to familiarize the community with the yIGF model, all in order to equip participants with skills and knowledge for future participation in actual Internet policy-making discussion

Annual meeting Information
22 December 2021, hosted online
Name of Coordinator
Jenna Fung
Primary Email address

The India Youth IGF was established in 2018. Its goals are to raise awareness among India's youth of Internet governance issues, encourage younger generations to participate in public policy discussions, and eventually build a new cadre of Internet leaders motivated to learn, engage, and act within their region and beyond.

Annual meeting Information
28 September 2023, Guwahati
Name of Coordinator
Ihita Gangavarapu
Primary Email address

The Indonesia Youth IGF was established in 2018. It has the nature of an aggregator platform, and its main purpose is to ?gather youth movement having interest on internet governance issue.

Annual meeting Information
Multiple events throughout the year

The Italian Youth IGF initiative was established in early 2019. It aims to promote an open, transparent, inclusive and multistakeholder debate on Internet governance matters.

Annual meeting Information
8 November 2021, Cosenza, Italy
Name of Coordinator
Veronica Birindelli

The Youth-IGF of Malaysia was established in 2019, with the main idea of engaging young people of Malaysia in the discussion on Internet Governance matters, as well as to raise awareness on Internet Governance and promote the youth participation in Internet policy discussion.

Annual meeting Information
To be confirmed.
Name of Coordinator
Stella Teoh

The Mauritius Youth IGF initiative was established in 2022. The forum provides an open platform for youth to take part in Internet governance discussions on matters of relevance.

Annual meeting Information
9 July 2022, Port Louis, Mauritius
Name of Coordinator
Taran Boodhoo
Primary Email address

Mynamar Youth IGF was recognized in 2022. It is an open, bottom-up, inclusive, multistakeholder platform where youth can discuss Internet governance and engage with all stakeholders in the country, region and globally. 

Annual meeting Information
10-11 June April 2023, hosted online
Name of Coordinator
Phyo Thiri L. and Zin Myo Htet
Primary Email address

Nepal Youth IGF was established in 2021. The main goal is to encourage and involve young people in the substantive discussion on Internet governance.

Annual meeting Information
29 May 2023, Kathmandu
Name of Coordinator
Ananda Gautam
Primary Email address

Youth IGF of Netherlands was established in 2011 year, with the main idea of engaging young people of Netherlands in the discussion on Internet governance and bringing their voices to the global IGF discussion agenda.

Annual meeting Information
2023 dates TBC
Name of Coordinator
Dorijn Boogaard
Primary Email address

The Nicaragua Youth IGF was established in 2019. It aims at creating a multistakeholder platform for channelling the inputs from young people in Nicaragua on Internet governance matters of priority to the wider Internet governance ecosystem in the country, region and world.

Annual meeting Information
To be confirmed.
Name of Coordinator
Cristina Morales

The Youth IGF of Nigeria was established in 2019. This initiative serves as a platform to empower young people to be part of public policy Internet discussions which affect the lives of us all.

Annual meeting Information
14 September 2022 at The Zone Centre, Gbagada
Name of Coordinator
Joshua Josh

Polish Youth IGF was established in 2022. It serves as an open platform for exchanging experiences and views on Internet governance at national, regional and international levels.

Annual meeting Information
Series of online events in 2021
Name of Coordinator
Emilia Zalewska
Primary Email address

The Swiss Youth IGF was recognized in 2023. Its main aim is to create a platform to foster the  engagement of youth from Switzerland in Internet governance processes.

Annual meeting Information
13 June 2023, online
Name of Coordinator
Yulia Morenets and Fabio Monnet

Youth IGF of Turkey is focused on gathering inputs on the Internet governance related matters from young people in Turkey, and on creating a unique forum for the youth to discuss these matters.

Annual meeting Information
23 December 2021, hosted online
Name of Coordinator
Sonia Hering

The Youth IGF-UA was established in 2017 and aims to provide a platform for young people in Ukraine to engage in Internet governance discussions.

 

Annual meeting Information
15 November 2023, hosted online
Name of Coordinator
Kateryna Bovsunovska and Valeriia Dubytska
Primary Email address

The Youth IGF of Vietnam was recognized in 2021. It serves as an inclusive platform for all stakeholders to discuss Internet governance issues of youth priority in Vietnam. 

Annual meeting Information
23-24 September 2023, Hanoi
Name of Coordinator
Lê Hoàng Diệu Anh
Primary Email address

The Youth IGF Initiative for West African community was established in 2019. It aims at channeling youth voices on Internet governance to the wider multistakeholder community.

Annual meeting Information
24 May 2023, hosted online
Name of Coordinator
Joshua Josh

The youth IGF of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) was recognized in 2023. This multistakeholder initiatives aims to foster dialogue, digital capacity development and cooperation with and for youth of the country regarding public digital policy.

Annual meeting Information
11 August 2023, Kinshasa
Name of Coordinator
Athanase Bahizire and Kevin Mukendi
Primary Email address

Youth IGF of Latin America and Caribbean (YouthLACIGF) was established in 2016 year, in order to increase the participation of young people in Internet Governance related discussion in this respective region.

Annual meeting Information
28-30 August 2023, Cartagena, Colombia
Name of Coordinator
Pedro de Perdigao Lana
Primary Email address

The Youth Panama IGF was established in 2024. It is a multistakeholder inclusive platform for discussion of Internet governance issues with and for youth. 

Annual meeting Information
TBC June 2024, Panama City
Name of Coordinator
Abdias Zambrano

Youth Russian Internet Governance Forum (Youth RIGF) - is a multistakeholder platform aimed at empowerment of the Russian youth and facilitation of discussion between representatives of ‎public, academia and business sectors.‎

Annual meeting Information
12 May 2023, Moscow, Russia ‎
Name of Coordinator
Vadim Glushchenko
Primary Email address

Youth IGF Initiatives integrated into the national, subregional and regional IGF inititives (NRIs)

The Azerbaijan Youth IGF initiative is established in 2019 with a main objective to provide an open platform to the youth community to discuss Internet Governance issues.

Annual meeting Information
4 March 2020, Baku, Azerbaijan

Youth Internet Governance Forum (YIGF) Bangladesh is an initiative under the umbrella of Bangladesh Internet Governance Forum (BIGF). It is a multi-stakeholder, youth-led platform to engage youth in Internet governance-related processes.

Annual meeting Information
25-27 May 2023, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Name of Coordinator
Bhubon Faisal Ahmed
Primary Email address

Since 2019, the multistakeholder organizing committee of the Belarus national IGF stated to facilitate a set of focused programme activities on youth engagement at the national IGF processes.

Annual meeting Information
18 November 2019, Minsk, Belarus
Name of Coordinator
Helen Belskaya
Primary Email address

Ghana Youth IGF is an integrated Youth-led initiative of the national Ghana IGF. It aims at engaging young people in Internet governance discussions.

Annual meeting Information
5-6 July 2023, Accra, Ghana
Name of Coordinator
Lily Edinam Botsyoe

Additional projects to build youth participation in Internet Governance (1)

The YCIG is one of the IGF Dynamic Coalitions focused on supporting youth participation in local, regional and international Internet governance discussion and processes.

Annual meeting Information
The group hosts substantive sessions at larger Internet governance events.

Youth IGF Movement aims to give the opportunity of equal multistakeholder participation in the building process of the Information Society to teenagers and young people from different countries of the world. It was created in 2011.

Annual meeting Information
Multiple meetings. Details here.

The Youth Observatory aims to connect youth from various countries and regions in Latin America. It is focused on knowledge-sharing and enhancing youth engagement in Internet governance-related processes.

Annual meeting Information
Multiple meetings hosted throughout the year.