– Charu Joshi, Women of the South Speak Out Asia and the Pacific Fellow

The global development landscape is in constant flux, yet decision-making arenas often remain exclusive, with civic spaces continually shrinking. The civic space for transformative advocacy is shrinking, and the dominance of state and corporate actors often marginalises the most affected groups.

These power asymmetries within global governance mechanisms necessitate a critical and urgent examination of who controls the narrative, which agendas are prioritised, and at what cost.

My recent engagement at the Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development (APFSD) 2025 [1] reaffirmed that these are not just deliberative platforms but contested spaces where power asymmetries manifest in real-time.

The APFSD – Driving Meaningful Change

The broader question is – how do we move beyond performative inclusivity to structural transformation? How do we shift from being subjects of consultations to architects of change? 

Driving meaningful change demands a critical exploration of scale and its implications. The struggle for inclusion is not just about securing a seat at the high-level decision-making tables but also about reshaping the very foundations of governance. What if we recalibrate our understanding of agency – not as a privilege granted from the top but as a collective force built from the ground up?

Put simply, we must critically reflect not just on the nature of transformation we seek but also the multi-scalar dimensions at which it must be operationalised. Existing structural hierarchies may not immediately allow us to realise our agency at the highest decision-making tiers, but this does not mean we are devoid of transformative power.

Systemic shifts often begin at the margins, through local level interventions, grassroots mobilisation and community-led actions. The failure to effect immediate change at macro-level governance structures should not diminish the significance of micro-level disruptions.

History reminds us that resistance is rarely linear. Whether it is through localised climate adaptation efforts, feminist grassroots movements, reaffirmation of indigenous knowledge systems, every act of resistance against entrenched injustices contributes to a broader continuum of transformation.

The measure of impact may not lie in policy shifts alone but in the resilience of communities resisting systemic erasure. Change is not a singular moment but an evolving continuum, where small, sustained disruptions eventually coalesce into systemic reconfigurations.

The APFSD Youth Forum 2025

Through the APFSD Youth Forum 2025 [2], this potential was acknowledged, enabling young advocates to actively shape developmental narratives. The Youth Forum was a reflection of how collective agency, when nurtured in the right spaces, can evolve into meaningful advocacy and transformative change. Such forums highlight that young advocates are not merely included as a tokenistic exercise; they are subverting traditional hierarchies by asserting agency in policy discourses.

ARROW and the APFSD Youth Forum co-conveners, by creating this platform for young people to gather and sustain these critical conversations over multiple days, facilitated a powerful process of collective reflection and action.

I was astounded by the depth of personal narratives shared – stories that transcended borders yet spoke to the same systemic injustices. The Youth Forum brought together 549 young people from 34 countries and territories to develop a Youth Call to Action, demonstrating the importance of such spaces in empowering youth to shape their future.

This convergence of voices is not merely symbolic; it is the foundation upon which movements are built.

One of the most significant aspects of the Youth Forum was the solidarity forged among young advocates. In a world increasingly fragmented by political divides, this space reinforced that our struggles – whether for climate justice, SRHR, gender equality, or decolonising development – are interconnected.

Young People and Transformative Change

Transformative change does not emerge from isolated interventions; it is a product of sustained collective action. As young leaders, we recognise our role as not just to participate in governance spaces but to redefine them, to challenge legitimacy of systems that perpetuate exclusion, and to co-create new paradigms where justice is a foundational principle.

Another striking realisation from these engagements is the necessity of reimagining governance beyond its state-centric framework. The modern development paradigm, shaped by neoliberal logics, prioritises economic growth while sidelining community-centered resilience.

The People’s Forum [3], foregrounded the role of grassroots movements in resisting extractivist models and advancing alternative development trajectories that emphasise development justice. Indigenous groups, small farmers, people in all their gender diversity, persons with disabilities, ethnic minorities, and other marginalised groups are not passive victims, but knowledge holders who have, for generations, crafted strategies to withstand crises.

The challenge is not just their lack of representation but the systemic unwillingness to deconstruct prevailing power structures that render their contributions and agency invisible in formal governance spaces. This necessitates a transformative approach – one rooted in a development justice framework. Equally critical is ensuring that grassroots evidence and lived-experiences inform decision-making as epistemic contributions rather than supplementary narratives.

The promise of sustainable development is not in the rhetoric of ‘leaving no one behind’ but in dismantling the structures that have, for centuries, pushed communities to the margins. A fundamental aspect of this transformation is redefining development metrics beyond economic growth to encompass equity and justice as core indicators of progress.

Decolonising the development paradigm is crucial – this means shifting from externally imposed, one-size-fits-all solutions to locally driven, justice-oriented models that centre grassroots agency.

Our task as young advocates are not merely to critique these systems but to actively construct alternatives that prioritise justice over growth, solidarity over competition, and planetary well-being over profit. The question is no longer whether young people have a role in governance but how we collectively disrupt and reconstruct the systems that dictate our future.

1. The Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development (APFSD) is an intergovernmental forum to follow-up on and review progress on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals at the regional level.

2. The APFSD Youth Forum provides young people with the opportunity to take stock of the progress of the SDGs and aims to ensure that their voices, their realities, and perspectives are meaningfully included in setting, transforming, and implementing the regional agenda on sustainable development.

3. The Asia-Pacific Peoples’ Forum on Sustainable Development (APPFSD) is a forum for CSOs to work together and consolidate their positions and recommendations for a regional sustainable development agenda.