Co-Creating the Continent’s Future: UNDP Opens Applications for the African Youth Co-Creators Council
Africa is structurally the youngest continent on the planet, with over 60 percent of its population under the age of 25. Across the region, a generation of more than 226 million young people is already executing at the frontlines—building grassroots enterprises, pioneering digital solutions, leading climate adaptation campaigns, and creating informal accountability frameworks long before formal institutions create space for them.
Recognizing that top-down development models are no longer sufficient to match this speed of innovation, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), through its Regional Service Centre for Africa (RSCA), is establishing the African Youth Co-Creators Council. This newly formed continental advisory body will select 11 exceptional young leaders to collaborate directly with UNDP regional hubs and country offices to shape, monitor, and iterate the continent’s youth portfolio.
The Strategic Core: The Triple-A Mandate
The Council is designed to move beyond passive tokenism or temporary focus groups. Instead, its operational mandate is built upon a functional Triple-A Framework embedded directly within UNDP’s regional programming across 46 African countries:
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Advise: Guide the design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of UNDP’s flagship initiatives, ensuring projects match the actual on-the-ground realities of African youth.
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Anticipate: Act as an early-warning network by scanning local ecosystems to surface emerging trends, systemic risks, and cross-border opportunities affecting young people.
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Amplify: Receive targeted institutional capacity building, leadership mentoring, and strategic tools to effectively carry acquired institutional knowledge back into localized communities.
The Council Architecture & Framework
The structure of the body balances deep regional representation with the practical agility required to influence multi-layered development portfolios over a fixed lifecycle.
| Operational Parameter | Specification & Structural Design |
| Council Size | 11 members selected across the continent and the diaspora |
| Geographic Balance | Distributed across Africa’s 5 geographic regions (with a maximum of 2 slots reserved exclusively for the diaspora) |
| Mandate Term | 2 Years (Fixed-term, non-renewable advisory cycle) |
| Collaboration Hubs | Directly attached to regional teams in Addis Ababa, Dakar, Nairobi, and Pretoria |
| Engagement Model | Primarily virtual operations, with select funded in-person sessions (Onboarding, Mid-term review, Closing) |
| Comp & Commitment | Voluntary role requiring a minimum 75% activity attendance rate; UNDP covers all digital connectivity, travel, and accommodation expenses |
The Candidate Evaluation Profile
To ensure the council infuses fresh, un-bureaucratic insights into continental programming, the selection committee enforces strict baseline entry barriers.
Selection Matrix and Inclusion Priorities
The evaluation process operates through a decentralized, multi-tiered pipeline involving initial longlist screening by localized UNDP Country Offices, followed by shortlist validation by the RSCA team. The final interview panels prioritize gender parity, linguistic balance, and deep representation for persons with disabilities (PWDs) and individuals coming from rural or underserved communities.
Selected members will participate in high-level policy dialogues with the African Union Commission (AUC) and various Regional Economic Communities (RECs), culminating in a co-authored, consolidated regional report highlighting emerging youth priorities across the continent.
How to Apply:
Application Deadline: 31 July 2026
Submission Form: Access the portal directly via the UNDP Portal Application Link
Language Tracks: Submissions are accepted in either English or French.
Official Inquiries: For technical or programmatic questions, contact the secretariat at ana.dju@undp.org.
