Youth at the centre. Across everything we do. The UfM Youth Mainstreaming Plan (2026–2030) is a commitment to make youth perspectives a permanent feature of Euro-Mediterranean cooperation — not an add-on, but a foundation.
Young people make up a significant share of the Euro-Mediterranean population. They are among the most affected by the region’s most pressing challenges: economic precarity, climate change, limited mobility, and persistent barriers to participation in decision-making. Yet their voices, experience, and energy remain underutilised in the policies and programmes meant to serve them.
The UfM Youth Mainstreaming Plan responds to this gap. It moves youth considerations from the margins to the mainstream — embedding them in how UfM designs programmes, shapes policy, builds partnerships, and measures results.
What is the Youth Mainstreaming Plan?
A roadmap
Concrete actions, clear owners, and measurable indicators across five outcome areas, covering the period 2026–2030.
Built with young people
Co-developed with a Youth Taskforce of eight representatives from across the region, whose inputs shaped the Plan’s priorities, structure, and accountability framework.
Anchored in regional commitments
Aligned with the New Pact for the Mediterranean, the UN Youth 2030 Strategy, and UfM’s New Vision.
What the Youth Mainstreaming Plan sets out to do
Youth mainstreaming is not a stand-alone workstream. It is a way of working. The YMP translates that principle into three concrete objectives:
Operationalise youth mainstreaming through clear priorities, minimum standards, and practical tools embedded in core business processes across the UfM Secretariat.
Institutionalise meaningful youth engagement by establishing consistent mechanisms that allow young people to shape decision-making, programming, and partnerships — not just be consulted.
Strengthen accountability and learning through a results-based framework, youth-sensitive indicators, and continuous feedback loops that track progress and drive improvement over time.
What guides us
Five areas. One direction.
The YMP is structured around five Outcome Areas, each with priority actions, indicators, and clear responsibilities.
01 Youth-responsive governance and decision-making
Ensuring that youth perspectives systematically inform UfM policies, strategies, and institutional processes.
Key actions include integrating youth-responsive language into ministerial declarations and action plans, and establishing formal mandates and feedback pathways for external youth advisory and consultative mechanisms.
02 Meaningful and structured youth participation across UfM platforms
Moving from ad-hoc youth engagement to predictable, influential participation across UfM platforms, initiatives, and policy processes.
Key actions include piloting cohort and delegate-style youth participation models adapted to the UfM context and Member State diversity, and introducing agenda co-design procedures with documented feedback to youth on how their inputs were used.
03 Inclusion, equity, and representation of diverse youth
Ensuring participation reflects the full diversity of young people across the Euro-Mediterranean region — including those most often left out.
Key actions include developing targeted outreach strategies to reach underrepresented youth groups such as rural youth, young women, youth with disabilities, and Arabic-speaking youth, and making youth engagement materials and events accessible in Arabic, English, and French at minimum.
04 Institutional capacity, culture, and tools for youth mainstreaming
Equipping the UfM Secretariat with the skills, tools, and culture needed to mainstream youth consistently across all functions and programmes.
Key actions include rolling out a practical Youth Mainstreaming Toolkit with guidance notes and checklists for staff, and integrating a standard Youth Engagement Plan into all UfM project and programme proposals from the design stage.
05 Accountability, learning, and visibility of youth mainstreaming
Making progress on youth mainstreaming measurable, transparent, and publicly reported.
Key actions include integrating youth mainstreaming into UfM annual reporting with periodic public-facing summaries, and systematically documenting and sharing good practices and lessons learned across the UfM ecosystem.
Co-created with young people from across the region
The YMP was developed alongside a Youth Taskforce of eight members representing Algeria, Egypt, Italy, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, and Tunisia.
Nominated through UfM, partners, and youth councils, Taskforce members served as a strategic sounding board throughout the process — reviewing the methodology, facilitating focus group discussions with youth-led civil society organisations, and shaping the Plan’s final architecture.
Grounded in regional and international frameworks
The YMP aligns with and operationalises three key frameworks:
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