2021 YOUNG ACTIVISTS SUMMIT
The 2021 edition honoured six young individuals and their solutions to some of the world’s biggest challenges. Through their ground-breaking initiatives, innovations, or inventions, the 2021 laureates demonstrated that young people are paving the way for a more sustainable and equal world.
#YAS21 brought together youngsters from at least 140 countries and gave them a platform to discuss, rally and act together – thus fostering peace, cultural tolerance and international cooperation.


ACTIVISTS
VISIBILITY
- • The #YAS21 hashtag reached over 16 million people around the world (65M impressions) on social media.
- • The online session gathered around 7,000 people live from 140 countries, including Bangladesh, Chile, Gambia, Libya, Malawi, Maldives, Mozambique, Pakistan, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Trinidad and Tobago, Yemen etc.
- • The Young Activists Summit was covered by prominent media, i.e. The Guardian, TV5MONDE, SkyNews, FranceInfo, Agencia EFE, ARD, Radio Télévision Suisse (RTS), Le Temps, swissinfo.ch, UN News, etc. #YAS21 laureate Titouan Bernicot was invited to take part in the 19.30 TV news programme which is followed by over 300,000 people every day.
- • The teaching kit was downloaded by 201 educational actors from 59 countries including Canada, DRC, Haiti, India, Ireland, Kenya, Morocco, Niger, Pakistan, South Sudan, USA, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
KEY ACHIEVEMENTS
- • Driving concrete impact through the One Right, One Action, One Tree initiative: 2,000 trees and corals were planted through this initiative which invited the audience to advance the laureates’ causes in concrete ways. For each commitment received, a tree or coral was planted either in Switzerland, or in Brazil, French Polynesia, Kenya or in the Philippines.
- • Empowering the activists through significant media coverage, capacity-building, training, fundraising & networking: Many positive outcomes were reported following the strategic meetups and the VIP dinner with the activists and decision-makers/experts. Lual Mayen was invited to take part in President Joe Biden’s Summit for Democracy following his #YAS21 award. Angelina Jolie offered Gitanjali Rao to organize workshops in Cambodia.
- • Fostering intergenerational dialogue & building bridges
- • Reaching millions of young people all around the world
DONATIONS
A donation was granted to each of the 2021 Activists to carry out a field project, thus enabling the Young Activists Summit to have a concrete and long-lasting impact on the ground.
CO-ORGANIZED BY
dev.tv, non-profit NGO of media professionals
United Nations Office at Geneva
Radio Télévision Suisse and its GenèveVision label
Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies
MEDIA
TV5MONDE
Swissinfo
GenèveVision
FOUNDATIONS
Fondation Hélène & Victor Barbour
Fondation Botnar
Fondation pour Genève
Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung
Switzerland for UNHCR
GOVERNMENTS & PUBLIC ENTITIES
Swiss Confederation, Republic and State of Geneva, City of Geneva
Permanent Mission of the United States of America
European Union
Permanent Mission of Canada
Permanent Mission of the United Kingdom
Institute of Genetics and Genomics, University of Geneva (iGE3)
NGOS & ASSOCIATIONS
Loterie Romande
Global Citizen
International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights (FIFDH)
NORDESTA Reforestation & Education
Geneva Youth Call (GYC)
Eduki
Step into Action
RightsTech Women
OneAction
UN AGENCIES
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
UNESCO’s International Bureau of Education (UNESCO-IBE)
United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
UN Women
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR)
International Trade Centre (ITC)
UNESCO Green Citizens
PRIVATE SECTOR
Almighty Tree
Fred Didon Créations
OS Objectif Sécurité SA