About :: Our World 2050

ABOUT US

Young people should not only inherit the future. They should help shape it.

Our World 2050 is a global initiative working to engage and empower young people to imagine the future they want - and help turn their ideas into meaningful action.

Young people bring creativity, curiosity, lived experience and the ability to see possibilities that adults may overlook. And because they will live longest with the decisions we make today, their perspectives are essential to building a future that is sustainable, just, safe and inspiring.

Our ambition is to engage

- one million young people worldwide -

in imagining and helping create the world they want to live in by 2050.

Our vision

We are working to create a sustainable, just, safe, and inspiring future, shaped by the hopes, ideas, and actions of young people – for the benefit of themselves, the planet, and future generations.

Our mission

To engage, connect and empower young people globally to imagine the future they want to create, help turn their visions into meaningful action, and amplify their voices for global impact.

From imagination to action

We believe imagination is more than dreaming about the future. It is the starting point for creating it.

That is why Our World 2050 goes beyond simply asking young people what they think. We create opportunities for them to imagine possibilities, express their ideas, develop the skills and confidence to act - and connect their perspectives with communities and decision-makers around the world.

Imagine & Elevate

Listen to young people – and learn from what they tell us.

We collect young people's visions for 2050 through surveys, drawings, essays, film, audio, poetry, music, photography and other forms of expression - in any language.

Our ambition is to build the world's largest multilingual evidence base of young people's hopes, concerns, priorities, ideas and solutions for the future.

We then bring these voices together and analyze what they can teach us - combining scientific expertise and careful analysis to turn individual perspectives into insights that can inspire learning and action.

Equip & Activate

Give young people - and the adults around them - the tools to turn ideas into action.

We equip teachers, youth workers, community leaders and Youth Ambassadors with methods and tools that enable meaningful youth participation, future thinking and changemaking.

Young people are supported in taking their ideas further: exploring what could work in their own communities, developing solutions and putting them into practice.

Mobilize & Influence

Connect local ideas - and amplify young voices globally.

We connect young people and partners across countries so they can exchange ideas, learn from one another and adapt promising solutions to different local contexts.

And we bring young people's perspectives into the wider world through storytelling, exhibitions, research, advocacy, social media, presentations and direct engagement with decision-makers.

The aim is not for young people to shape the future alone, but for their imagination and lived experience to become part of the decisions that shape our shared future.

Global ambition. Local ownership.

Our World 2050 is global by design and local by nature.

We work through a growing network of young people, educators, community organizations, Country Leads, advisors and partners. Our small international Secretariat provides a shared mission, methodology, tools, data standards, communication and learning infrastructure, while local partners bring the relationships, cultural understanding and expertise needed to make the work meaningful in their communities.

This allows ideas and approaches to travel across borders without assuming that one solution fits every community.

Young people as partners - not participants

One principle runs through everything we do:

Nothing for young people without young people.

Young people are not simply beneficiaries of Our World 2050. They are contributors, collaborators and co-creators.

We believe meaningful participation means more than asking young people for their opinions. It means creating safe and inclusive opportunities for them to influence, experiment, learn and act – while working alongside adults who bring experience, resources, institutional knowledge and cultural memory.

Building a global movement

Our World 2050 began in 2025 with a simple idea:

What if we listened seriously to how young people imagine the future – and helped them do something about it?

Since then, we have built an international Secretariat and network, established a growing Youth Ambassador Corps, developed partnerships and pilot programmes, collected voices from young people around the world and begun turning those insights into tools, learning and action.

1,000+ young people have already contributed their perspectives

Again and again, they tell us about their hopes for peace, equality, a healthy planet, technology used wisely, trusted leadership and access to the basic things every person needs to thrive.

And we are only getting started.