“Youth Voice” Regional Campaign aimed to ensure a broad consultation and coordination with the youth constituencies in the region and to collect youth views, experiences and expectations related to the post-2015 development framework. Since 2014, the campaign fostered a strategic alliance of almost 80 organizations from 23 countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia who engaged in communication and advocacy activities highlighting youth priorities for the development agenda, at national, regional and international levels.

The Regional Youth Leadership Group (composed of representatives of the following youth networks/institutions: ASTRA Youth, PETRI Center Sofia, YouAct, Youth Coalition, Y-PEER and YSAFE) engaged in the overall design and implementation of the campaign by defining, planning and coordinating various youth-led communication and advocacy actions in the region and support in reaching out to youth networks and members from the region.The implementation of the campaign was done in coordination and with the support of the UNFPA Eastern Europe and Central Asia Regional Office and UNFPA Country Offices. The open call for was launched in October 2014, and 80 organizations from 23 countries in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia have signed up to join the “Youth Voice” Regional Campaign.The national youth-led advocacy campaigns that aimed to ensure young people’s voices were heard in the development of the post-2015 agenda process were supported by UNFPA in its Eastern Europe and Central Asia Programme Countries. This included national consultations and dialogues involving youth representatives and relevant government representatives and key stakeholders.

At the regional level, specialized advocacy training was organized by PETRI – Sofia in November 2014 and young people together with the youth specialists of UNFPA Country Offices were equipped with specific knowledge and skills on advocacy and policy dialogue. In May 2015, a second training hosted by PETRI – Sofia strengthened the capacity of young people to plan, implement, monitor and evaluate advocacy campaigns in their countries, aiming at improving the situation of young people and ensuring their issues are reflected in the post-2015 agenda through specific targets and indicators.

The coordination of the campaign was carried out by a Regional Youth Leadership Group composed of representatives of the following youth networks/institutions: ASTRA Youth, PETRI Center Sofia, YouAct, Youth Coalition, Y-PEER and YSAFE, in close collaboration with the Adolescents and Youth Cluster in the UNFPA Eastern Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (EECARO) and UNFPA Country Offices.Following an open call launched in October 2014, 80 organizations from 23 countries in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia signed up to join the “Youth Voice” Regional Campaign. Youth-led or youth-serving organizations expressed their interest in contributing to the Campaign by: 1) Writing articles for publication on the regional online advocacy platform, 2) Sharing resources in the Library on the regional online advocacy platform, 3) Making the case for investing in youth, by taking and sharing a selfie with a message, 4) Organizing national advocacy campaigns. The full list of participating organizations can be found at http://eecayouthvoice.org/

ASTRA Youth, PETRI Center Sofia, YouAct, Youth Coalition, Y-PEER and YSAFE, in close collaboration with the Adolescents and Youth Cluster in the UNFPA Eastern Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (EECARO) and UNFPA Country Offices.