FAQ
Your questions about the event
1. What kind of event is the Global Forum?
The Global Forum for Children and Youth is a gathering of leaders, experts, change makers and influencers together with children and youth to brainstorm and accelerate proven and new solutions, inspire commitments to create change, and mobilize resources to advance child rights to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. UNICEF is teaming up its global convening power with the Governments of Botswana and Sweden to initiate, co-host and galvanize support for such an ambitious and much needed initiative to bring children and youth back on the global agenda. The vision is for the Forum to become a global thought-leadership and partnership-building platform available to all stakeholders interested in improving the lives of children and young people.
2. Why is the Global Forum taking place?
The Forum aims to become the annual opportunity for all like-minded, leading child-and-youth-focused individuals, organizations and change makers to place children and youth at the centre of the global agenda, to:
- Focus the world’s attention on children’s and young people’s rights and urgent needs
- Identify and celebrate proven and new solutions to address their rights and needs
- Take action and make bold financial, policy and advocacy commitments to scale up solutions globally, thus advancing child rights and meet the SDG targets
3. When will the Global Forum for Children and Youth take place?
The first Global Forum for Children and Youth (Global Forum) will be held from 7 to 9 December 2021. The vision is for the Global Forum to become a recurring annual event.
4. Where will the Global Forum take place?
This year, the event will be fully virtual. Registered participants can attend all online sessions that interest them.
5. Who can attend the Global Forum?
The Forum is open to everyone who has registered to attend. The Forum aims to bring together leaders in government, business, philanthropy, the United Nations and civil society and children and young people themselves to focus the world’s attention on the rights and urgent needs of children and young people and take bold policy and financial commitments. The primary audiences of the Forum are:
- International and national policymakers for children and young people
- Public-sector and private-sector investors in and for children and young people
The secondary audiences are children and young people, parents, caregivers and teachers.
6. What is the role of partners?
We urge partners in the United Nations, government, business, philanthropy and civil society and all others with a stake in the future of childhood to join us at this critical moment to bring their expertise, propose solutions and share commitments for action. Partnership roles can include organizing side meetings called ‘community sessions’ on geographic or thematic topics of their choice. Certain individuals and organizations will also be honoured for their bold contribution for children and young people: individuals will be distinguished as ‘Champions’, and organizations as ‘Partners’ of the 2021 Global Forum for Children and Youth.
7. How are children and young people involved?
In addition to children and young people being invited to take part in the Forum’s sessions, youth leaders from 26 countries are advising on the design and content of the Forum. Furthermore, the event team is seeking nominations from UNICEF offices and partners of children and young people as speakers and panellists. UNICEF offices and civil society organizations are also invited to submit session proposals that engage children and youth in their regions. A youth engagement toolkit will support children and young people’s participation and their online engagement during the event.
Generation Unlimited (GenU) is one of the partners of the Global Forum for Children and Youth. The partnership is contributing to the design and implementation of effective ways for children and young people to engage and influence the Forum's programme and to meaningfully participate during the event. GenU is organizing one of the Forum’s spotlight sessions on education, digital learning and skills for the 21st century.
8. Are the commitments and solutions intended to be for children or for UNICEF?
The Forum seeks to inspire commitments for children and young people. Those commitments may be financial, policy, programmatic or other. Some commitments may be directed through UNICEF but not all will be, and support for UNICEF is welcome but not a requirement.
9. What is on the agenda?
The event is divided into three tracks:
- The world at Large: The global forces shaping children’s lives and futures, from climate change to humanitarian crises
- The world around the Child: The systems that work with and for children, young people and families, such as education, social protection and care
- The world of the Child: The circumstances that govern children and young people’s daily lives, including mental health
10. Which topics will the event focus on?
In 2021, the event will feature issues that matter most to children and young people and that require urgent action to meet the ambitions of global goals and commitments. These include:
- Taking effective action on climate change and responding to humanitarian crises
- Recouping COVID-related learning losses and reimagining education
- Supporting families living in or at increased risk of poverty and strengthening care systems, including family-friendly policies
- Supporting the mental health of children, young people, parents and caretakers.
- Supporting children in emergencies
From 2022, the thematic focus of future Forums will be determined each year by a Steering Committee composed of UNICEF and Forum co-hosts and partners.
11. Where can I see the programme?
The programme will be available on the official website and announced on our social media channels.
12. What are the types of sessions and how are speakers and participants selected?
The event will feature a range of sessions such as ‘plenary sessions’ and thematic sessions called ‘spotlight sessions’. Additionally, the Forum provides the opportunity for any partner to organize side meetings called ‘community sessions’ on geographic or thematic topics of their choice. Finally, the Forum will offer strategic networking opportunities. All plenary and spotlight sessions and networking opportunities will be open to registered participants.
Speakers will be diverse in terms of gender, ethnicity, culture and geographic origin, and will be from various backgrounds – private sector, public sector and civil society.
13. Will the event be on the record/open to media?
The event will feature a range of sessions, from plenaries to interactive working sessions and strategic networking opportunities. All plenaries will be on the record; some other sessions will be on the record as well.
14. Is the Global Forum free and how can I register?
Yes, the Global Forum for Children and Youth is free, but registration is required. To register, please contact the team.
15. How can I contact the Global Forum team for more information?
For more information or questions about the Global Forum for Children and Youth, please contact the team.
16. What technical information do I need to know?
The Global Forum will be web-based, so all you will need is a computer and an internet connection. Additional information will be provided prior to the event.
The platform should be accessed via Google Chrome and Firefox. Apple Safari, Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer are not recommended.
We also recommend the use of headphones to avoid echo when participating in any session.
If you have difficulty joining the Hopin.com platform due to your company / organisation firewall and security settings, we suggest you connect outside of your corporate VPN, using a personal device on an alternative connection.
If joining via your mobile phone, whilst access is possible via one of the recommended web browsers, the best experience is via the Hopin app, which can be downloaded via the app store here
17. How will networking work?
One-to-one speed networking will be available during the event for adult participants.
18. Are sessions localized into languages other than English?
All content will be presented in English only.
19. Is closed captioning available for the sessions?
All sessions taking place on Hopin will offer closed-captioning in English with translated captions available in French, Spanish, Arabic, Russian and Chinese.
20. Will sessions be recorded and available to view after the online event?
You can view each session on this website following the event.
21. How can I register and how to I attend?
Invitations to take part in the Forum will be sent in early November 2021. The sessions will also be available to view on this website.
22. What time zone will the event be scheduled in?
All times will be local to you, based on your device settings and IP address.
23. I am having difficulty registering, who do I contact?
The registration team can be contacted via email registration@childrenyouthforum.org. We aim to respond within two business days.
24. Can I get access to the speaker presentations?
Further information on accessing the presentations will be provided before the event.
25. Can I add sessions to my Outlook calendar or iCalendar?
Yes, your registration confirmation email will include an add to calendar option for the duration of the event. You may then add specific stage and session calendar entries from the Hopin platform. The Hopin platform also has an “My Agenda” tab next to the chat functionality which will show those stage / sessions you have diarised.
26. Participants’ age restriction
Attendees must be 13 years old or over to take part in the Forum. Attendees who are under 18 years of age will be asked to confirm their age on registration for child safeguarding purposes.
27. Accessibility
UNICEF is striving to be an inclusive and accessible organization by creating an enabling environment for each participant to interact on an equal basis. For the Global Forum real time captioning (CART) will be provided in 6 languages, including English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Russian and Chinese.
During the registration process you will be able to indicate if you require any reasonable accommodation (e.g. materials in electronic format, sign language interpretation and other accessibility services). After registration is completed a member of the team will contact you directly with further information.