A Practical Guide to Meaningful Youth Engagement in Open Government
This Toolkit follows the three main moments in the life of every OGP commitment: co-creation, implementation, and accountability. It also includes a cross-cutting moment called “space” about making engagements sustainable over time. Each chapter offers guidance, practical tools, and real case studies on these moments that readers can use right away.
Members of the OGP Youth Collective from 10 countries rewrote this Toolkit completely. They contributed with real examples, tested tools, and honest lessons about what works and what does not. The OGP Youth Toolkit 2.0 is built on their experience of moving from being consulted, to co-creating and sharing power in governance.
CONTENTS
Introduction
Moments in the OGP Journey
Co-Creation: Shaping the Commitments
Implementation: Keeping Commitments Alive
Accountability: Auditing Process and Commitments’ Progress
Space: Creating and Sustaining the Conditions for Youth Engagement
Credits and Contributors
Downloads
OGP has been one of the most concrete platforms where young people’s influence can be exercised. However, many governments still find it difficult to include youth voices in a meaningful way, and youth organizations often struggle to be heard. The OGP Youth Toolkit 2.0 uses the experience of the OGP Youth Collective to give clear steps for meaningful youth participation, and to show what it takes to make that happen in practice.
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The OGP Youth Toolkit 2.0 is structured around the three principal moments of the OGP journey: co-creation, implementation, and accountability. Under the 2026 OGP Action Framework, these moments do not follow a fixed order, but happen continuously with ongoing chances to get involved. Youth engagement should work the same way: present at every moment, rather than being limited to a single consultation. The OGP Youth Collective also added one cross-cutting moment, called “space,” to keep youth representation sustainable throughout the whole OGP journey.
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Co-creation is where open government commitments are born. It is the process through which governments, CSOs, and other stakeholders, including youth organizations, jointly identify problems, propose solutions, and agree on what will be formally submitted as a standalone commitment or as part of an OGP action plan. For young people, co-creation is the critical entry point. Done well, it ensures OGP commitments reflect their real needs and priorities.
This section offers tools and recommendations to help make sure that happens.
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The implementation phase is where government commitments are actually carried out, and where youth engagement most often drops off. This is a problem. The 2021 OGP Vital Signs report shows that keeping stakeholders involved during implementation leads to higher completion rates and stronger results. Keeping youth in the room is not a nice-to-have: it is what makes the difference between a commitment that delivers and one that stalls.
This section provides practical strategies to keep youth meaningfully involved throughout the process as co-leads who drive commitments forward and hold the process accountable when things go off track.
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Not all commitments target youth directly, but most affect how young people experience governance. That’s why accountability means more than asking whether commitments were fulfilled: it also means asking whether the process itself met its requirements. Doing this takes sustained engagement and technical knowledge that can feel out of reach, but it doesn’t have to be.
This section provides practical strategies to build that knowledge and lead meaningful accountability work.
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Youth engagement in OGP should not depend on individual champions. When one committed government actor leaves, or one dedicated youth advocate moves on, the work should not collapse. Sustainable youth participation in the OGP journey requires building and protecting the structural spaces that keep engagement possible over time, regardless of who holds which position.
This section covers some strategies for building those conditions.
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The OGP Youth Toolkit 2.0 was developed by the OGP Support Unit, in collaboration with the OGP Youth Collective and partners. Explore the full list of credits and contributors here.
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Download the toolkit and each of the 13 tools to encourage meaningful youth participation at each step of the OGP process.