Date: 07/22/2025 – 07/25/2025

Location Name: Bali, Indonesia

Co-hosts: RRI, the Barisan Pemuda Adat Nusantara (BPAN), and the Aliansi Masyarakat Adat Nusantara (AMAN)

Let’s explore and reclaim the meaning of youth leadership anchored in the core values of rights, stewardship, and sustainability. Now, at COP30, and beyond, listen when youth speak!

Youth from Indigenous, Afro-descendant, and local communities across the world are stepping up to defend their lands, livelihoods, and ancestral knowledge. However, they continue to face considerable difficulties, including unequal access to resources, fragmented and uncoordinated efforts to advance their interests, and a pressing need to strengthen their leadership and advocacy capacities. To address these gaps, RRI, the Barisan Pemuda Adat Nusantara (BPAN), and the Aliansi Masyarakat Adat Nusantara (AMAN) will co-host the first-ever Global Youth Forum (GYF) in Bali, Indonesia, on 22–25 July 2025.

This Forum will convene 50 young leaders from Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendant Peoples, and local communities who are part of RRI’s global coalition. They will explore the role of youth in driving transformative change across community lands and forests.

Youth and elders from Asia, Africa, and Latin America will exchange experiences in order to reflect on the challenges and opportunities of youth leadership and collectively set an agenda to advance their priorities in the defense of their territories, cultures, and livelihoods.

The GYF is part of RRI’s efforts to intentionally support youth leaders from within the coalition to create a strong network of a new generation advocating for customary land rights.

Jump to the summary of the event:

• Day 1
• Day 2

Download the Agenda

Find the Press Release Here

Event Pictures

Day One: A Collective Call to Action Rooted in Ancestral Wisdom 

Bali, Indonesia | July 22, 2025 –The first day of the Global Youth Forum opened with a powerful spiritual ritual called Pejati led by Pak Jro Putu Serenga. It honors Balinese traditions, grounding participants in sacred connection to land and ancestors.

Emceed by Archana Soreng,Youth Advisor 2020-2023, United Nations Secretary General’s Youth Advisory Group on Climate, the Forum began with a poignant question: “What does the collective of global youth look like?” Her answer echoed throughout the day: “We’re here as one. As a global youth coalition.” 

A unified message from elders and allies 

Opening remarks from Hero Aprila (BPAN); Rukka Sombolinggi, General Secretary of AMAN; and Solange Bandiaky-Badji, president and coordinator of RR,I emphasized unity, identity, and intergenerational responsibility. Rukka urged youth to reconnect with their territories, challenging the belief that success is only found in cities. She reminded participants that “We are the future of our knowledge and territories.” 

Solange Bandiaky-Badji reinforced RRI’s commitment to youth leadership: 

“The Global Youth Forum is a milestone in placing youth as key actors of global solutions—solutions rooted in ancestral knowledge, collective rights, and climate justice.” 

Understanding our world: What are youth perspectives on today’s challenges? 

In the first panel, youth leaders from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Philippines, Liberia, and the Guna Ayala community from Panama shared regional perspectives on today’s pressing challenges. These included land rights violations, displacement, discrimination of culture and age, climate change, and cultural erosion. 

“Youth live in that fine line between technology and ancestral knowledge,” said Funa-ay Claver (AYIPN, Philippines).
“We are not victims—we are the solution,” affirmed Yaily Nadir Castillo, Guna youth leader. 

Intergenerational dialogue: Building power together 

The second panel brought together Indigenous elders and youth advocates across generations. Speakers like René Ngongo (DRC), Rukka Sombolinggi (AMAN), America Anayelli (GATC, Mexico), and Dario Solano (RedAfros, Dominican Republic) called for bold leadership rooted in collective structures and historical memory. 

“Trusting youth is a form of resistance,” said Kim Falyao (Siklab, Philippines Indigenous Youth Network).
“We must be bold, wise, and build true alliances,” said Rukka Sombolinggi (AMAN).

“Young leaders cannot remain passive in the face of the abusive exploitation of land and natural resources,” affirmed René Ngongo (DRC). He sees this as a vital part of intergenerational responsibility—empowering youth to engage in policy, challenge systemic injustice, and correct the governance failures passed down by previous generations. 

A shared agenda for a global generation 

Throughout the day, participants began identifying shared priorities and defining their own narratives using words like unity, hope, interconnectivity, and territories to describe the Forum. 

Day one ended not with final answers, but with collective resolve. As Anjatiana Radoharinina (AIKA, Madagascar) reminded everyone: 

“We are not the leaders of tomorrow. We are the leaders of today.”

Bali, Indonesia | July 23, 2025 – Day Two of the Global Youth Forum (GYF) brought a renewed sense of purpose among the 52 young leaders gathered from 27 countries. From creative financing strategies to traditional knowledge preservation, the conversations reflected the depth, urgency, and innovation that Indigenous, Afro-descendant, and local community youth bring to global challenges. 

The day opened with an inspiring reflection by Archana Soreng (Kharia Tribe, India). She described us as children of the river who came alone yesterday and that now conforms to one big river.

“Today feels like a garden filled with flowers—each of us brings our own colors, stories, and challenges, but we choose to grow together,” said Archana Soreng.

Her poetic words were followed by the  recorded message from Dario Solano of RedAfros, Dominican Republic. who called for equal, intergenerational and centered dialogue without hierarchy, where youth voices were not only heard, but led the agenda.

“We live within an adult-centric perspective that has no ears or language to reach young people. To establish a true dialogue, a conversation must be created between equals, without hierarchies.”

Regional Priorities, Shared Visions: What Are Our Current Initiatives, Innovations, and Breakthroughs?

Participants were divided into five groups according to priority and discussed what had been done and innovations that had been started in their respective communities and organizations. They identified five key priorities common across continents:

• Land and Human Rights:

• • • Young people are often at the forefront of protecting customary lands, but are vulnerable to criminalization.
    • A system of protection and solidarity across countries is needed for youth defenders.
    • Youth-led community documentation is needed to strengthen land rights claims.

• Financing Youth Initiatives:

• • • Many youth initiatives have great potential but are not sustainable due to limited access to funding.
    • Young people need to build networks, create powerful narratives, and learn to develop long-term funding strategies.
    • Donors must listen to local needs and shift from a top-down approach to true partnerships.

• Climate Justice:

• • • Inequalities in responsibility for and impact of the climate crisis are stark—indigenous and local youth are on the frontlines.
    • Nature-based solutions and ancestral knowledge must be recognized in policy.
    • Youth political leadership is needed to fight for a just energy transition.

• Education and Indigenous Knowledge:

• • • Formal curricula often erase cultural identities—there is a need for decentralization and recognition of community-based education.
    • Youth involvement in designing locally-based education is essential.
    • Intergenerational learning is key.

• Youth Leadership:

• • Representation does not mean true participation—young people need decision-making spaces and mentorship.
  • Collective and community-based leadership models are the strength of the movement.
  • The leadership of young indigenous women must continue to be nurtured.

Youth delegates shared breakthrough initiatives and successful models in climate justice, education, and financial self-determination:

• Using fashion, art, and community exhibits to raise climate awareness.
  
• Launching crowdfunding campaigns to support communities facing climate disasters.
  
• Creating artisanal workshops to preserve ancestral skills while generating income.
  
• Advocating for financial structures that allow youth to create and manage their own funds.
  
• Documenting traditional knowledge and building Indigenous-led schools focused on culture, sustainability, and forest stewardship.

Challenging the Status Quo in Funding

A special panel with Dr. Solange Bandiaky-Badji (President and Coordinator of RRI) and  Jenifer Lasimbang (IPAS Fund, Indonesia) provided a strategic space to discuss the most fundamental issue in the sustainability of youth movements: funding.

Solange emphasized that:

“Donors don’t give out of pity. This relationship is a strategic partnership. Young people must have clear strategies and roadmaps, both five-year and annual, to show the direction of their struggle.”

She also emphasized the importance of developing a global youth strategy across regions as an advocacy tool, so that the voices and needs of young people from Africa, Asia, and Latin America are heard as a collective force.

Jenifer Lasimbang added that:

“Confidence is key. We often feel unworthy of entering the funding space, even though we have a bolder vision that is closer to the community.”

Jennifer encouraged young people to:

• Practice delivering pitches with strong and contextual narratives.
• Open up spaces for financial learning, including financial literacy and donor mapping.
• Build equal partnerships, not relationships between “recipients” and “givers.”

The session also ended with a 2-minute pitch exercise where participants were asked to present their project ideas for both internal and external funding schemes. This was a real-life exercise in voicing initiatives strategically and persuasively.

“The panorama of finance has changed drastically. Youth is not seen as a priority by many donors,” said Solange Bandiaky.  “But we must be bold. Knock on doors. Pitch your ideas. Convince them that your work matters,” says Solange Bandiaky-Badji.

Youth leaders echoed concerns about inaccessible language and bureaucratic barriers:

“Founders speak in a high language that we still can’t reach,” noted Dalila Pérez of ACOFOP, Guatemala.

Still, youth remained grounded in their principles:

“We don’t want to be donor-driven. We should stick to our values and educate the finance space,” said Archana Soreng. 

Following the pitches, participants took part in an exhibit of successful youth-led initiatives, where they shared the tangible outcomes of projects they are leading or supporting within their organizations. From community education programs to climate justice campaigns, the exhibit showcased the creativity, effectiveness, and passion driving this new generation of advocates.

This space became a platform for mutual learning, inspiration, and strengthening solidarity across continents.

“I’ll always be the cheerleader of the youth,” said Jenifer in closing. “This is a great platform to keep building each other up.”

The second day was about strengthening the roots of the movement. We not only agreed on priorities but began to weave strategies and build collective awareness that change cannot be postponed.As youth reflected on the importance of leadership that is rooted, respectful, and radical, it became clear: this generation is not waiting for permission to lead—we are already doing it.