On August 28, 2025, NetMission youth leaders Bea Guevarra (Head of Program Development) and Socheata Sokhachan (Head of Community Engagement) presented their insights on youth priorities in global digital governance at the fourth webinar of the IGF MAG Working Group on Strategy. Their remarks drew from the written input NetMission alumni submitted to the WSIS+20 Elements Paper and young leaders from at least 17 economies engaged through the APAC Youth WSIS+20 Webinar Series, highlighting both points of alignment and areas where the youth perspective calls for stronger emphasis.
Centering Youth as Present Stakeholders
Bea reflected on the APAC Youth WSIS+20 Webinar Series and the resulting APAC Youth WSIS+20 Statement, underscoring that the process itself demonstrated youth can connect across borders and meaningfully shape the digital future.
On the WSIS+20 Elements Paper, Bea affirmed alignment with its points on inclusivity and digital rights but emphasized that the youth lens must be more clearly and concretely amplified.
The key messages:
- Recognition of youth as a distinct stakeholder group is crucial, given their unique lived experiences of growing up entirely online.
- Youth participation should be mainstreamed into all Internet governance processes—not treated as side activities.
- Capacity building must go beyond one-off capacity building training, with more sustainable programs for underserved youth in APAC.
- Funding mechanisms are essential to support youth initiatives.
- Trust in digital spaces must prioritize safety, accessibility, and accountability for young users, who are both creators and vulnerable participants online.
Trust, Data, and Localized Connectivity
Building on Bea’s remarks, Socheata expanded the discussion on trust and data governance, warning that opaque practices around data harvesting and AI training undermine youth confidence online. While welcoming the Elements Paper’s focus on trust and cybersecurity, Socheata stressed the lack of specific focus on youth concerns around data and AI as a key divergence.
The key messages:
- A rights-based approach to data governance is needed, with ethical safeguards and youth involvement throughout the data lifecycle.
- Monitoring must embed youth as co-creators of evidence, combining quantitative metrics with participatory tools like surveys and storytelling.
- Connectivity must be redefined—not just infrastructure, but speed, affordability, fair competition, and cultural relevance.
- Localization of content is key, enabling youth to innovate in areas like healthcare, agriculture, and education through local-language tools and community-led digital hubs.
Imagining the IGF in 2030
Both leaders closed by envisioning what the IGF could look like by 2030 if it receives a renewed mandate:
- Youth as co-creators, not consultants—sitting at decision-making tables at all levels equally with other stakeholders, not only inside events.
- Creating a Youth Advisory Council to feed directly into IGF and WSIS processes.
- Establishing a Youth Connectivity Fund to overcome barriers like travel and participation costs.
- Embedding inclusive representation for marginalized youth, including Indigenous, LGBTQIA+, and disabled communities.
- Expanding online safety discussions to include privacy, agency, and mental health.
- By 2030, youth sections in outcome documents, standing advisory groups, and sustained resources for youth-led initiatives should be the norm.
As Bea concluded during the webinar: “The challenge is not whether youth can participate, but whether the broader community will continue to open the door, listen, and make space.”
(Note: The webinar took place before the WSIS+20 Zero Draft was released. The published draft now includes in paragraph 115 the decision that the Internet Governance Forum shall be made a permanent forum of the United Nations.)
Join the Asia-Pacific Zero Draft Consultation
With the Zero Draft now published, NetMission.Asia has now launched a commenting period through September 15 for the Asia-Pacific youth community. We will consolidate these contributions into a written input for the WSIS+20 Zero Draft before the official deadline.
To make this process more open and collaborative, we’ll also host a Live Discussion & Editing Session on September 24 (Wednesday) at 13:00–14:00 UTC. Stay tuned for registration details.
Watch the Recording
For those who want to hear the full discussion, including Bea and Chika’s interventions alongside other stakeholder perspectives, you can watch the recording of the IGF MAG WG on Strategy Webinar 4 HERE.
Written by Jenna Manhau Fung