IREX and its consortium partners celebrated the global launch of the USAID-funded Youth Excel program on Tuesday, May 4, 2021.

USAID’s new global Youth Excel program, implemented by IREX and a consortium of 10 partners, seeks to find new solutions to how youth—young leaders, young changemakers, and youth organizations—can have a more powerful voice in international development decision-making.

I'm very excited about Youth Excel because I think it is a project that will bring youth voices to the center of decision-making.
Amina Soulimani, member of Youth Excel’s Global Youth Advisory Council

Youth led the program’s global launch event, which featured live and prerecorded youth speakers from around the world, including Jayathma Wickramanayake, the United Nations secretary general’s envoy on youth, and young changemakers who are members of Youth Excel’s Global Youth Advisory Council, global consortium, and staff team. The event included remarks from LeAnna Marr, acting deputy assistant administrator of the Bureau for Development, Democracy, and Innovation at USAID, and Kristin Lord, IREX president and CEO.

The speakers discussed a shared question: “How might we, as the global youth development community, leverage youth-led research and learning so that international development works better for young people, their communities, and the world?” Over 200 attendees joined the event on Zoom, Facebook, and YouTube worldwide.

We are compiling questions from the event into a frequently asked questions document, which we will post on this page soon.

About the event

• Download the speaker bios (PDF, 459 KB).
• Watch a recording of the event in English, French, or Spanish.

About Youth Excel

• Youth Excel’s factsheet (PDF, 8.5 MB)
• Partnership opportunities (PDF, 8.1 MB)
• Research to Practice in Youth Development (PDF, 770 KB)
• Global Youth Advisory Council members (PDF, 1.24 MB)
• Global Youth Advisory Council Cohort II (PDF, 2.21 MB)
• Follow Youth Excel on Facebook and Twitter
• Sign up for our newsletter

Event agenda

If we want more evidence-based practice, we need more practice-based evidence.Larry W. Green, U.S. Preventive Services Taskforce, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Welcome
9 a.m.–9:20 a.m. EDT
Youth voices and program overview

Remarks
9:20 a.m.–9:25 a.m. 
IREX President and CEO Kristin Lord

Keynote address
9:25 a.m.–9:55 a.m.
Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator Leanna Marr (USAID’s Bureau for Development, Democracy, and Innovation)

Youth panel
9:55 a.m.–10:30 a.m.
The power and potential of youth-led research

About Youth Excel and how to work with us
10:30 a.m.–10:50 a.m.

Celebratory moment
10:50 a.m.–11 a.m.