The Government of Meghalaya, in partnership with UNICEF India and the Centre for Policy, officially launched the Young People’s Action Group (YPAG) on 19 March 2026 in Shillong under the MPOWER initiative. Supported by the World Bank, MPOWER aims to strengthen adolescent wellbeing, agency, and future readiness through a multisectoral approach, with YPAG positioned as a key mechanism to embed youth participation within governance systems.
The initiative reflects a shift in how young people are engaged in policymaking. Moving beyond consultation, YPAG is designed to position youth as partners in decision-making and drivers of change. Anchored in the Meghalaya Youth Policy 2021, it focuses on strengthening youth leadership, civic participation, and environmental responsibility by building capacities in policy understanding, research, advocacy, and leadership.
The platform creates structured pathways for young people to engage across sectors such as climate resilience, health, education, and community wellbeing, with a deliberate focus on inclusion of rural, tribal, and vulnerable communities. In doing so, it addresses a persistent gap between policy design and lived realities, ensuring that those most affected by development challenges are actively involved in shaping solutions.
A key theme emerging from the launch was the intersection of climate change and development. As communities across Meghalaya continue to experience environmental stress driven by changing practices and urban expansion, the role of young people in identifying solutions and contributing to sustainable development was strongly emphasised.
The initiative also builds on insights from sustained field engagements across districts over the past two and a half years. These engagements have highlighted systemic barriers across health, education, and community systems, reinforcing the need for approaches that are grounded in lived experience and community knowledge.
YPAG incorporates elements of human-centered design and community engagement to strengthen trust between systems and citizens. By enabling young people to generate real-time insights through consultations, surveys, and participatory processes, the platform aims to inform state planning and improve programme responsiveness.
Discussions during the launch highlighted critical challenges including deforestation, changing rainfall patterns, and climate-induced vulnerabilities, particularly among women, children, and marginalised communities. There was a strong emphasis on integrating youth voices into decision-making processes and strengthening inclusive, community-driven responses to these challenges.
The platform is envisioned as a continuous mechanism for youth-led engagement, contributing to policy and programme design across sectors such as climate action, health systems, education, and human capital development. It also holds potential for institutionalisation within governance systems, offering a model that can be scaled and adapted across sectors and states.
A recurring theme across the launch was the importance of repositioning youth within governance frameworks. By creating structured opportunities for engagement and building capacities at scale, YPAG represents a step towards more inclusive, responsive, and participatory policymaking in Meghalaya.