12
November 2025
12
November 2025
Youth Moving Beyond GDP at the World Social Summit
At the World Social Summit in Doha, the “Youth Moving Beyond GDP” initiative highlighted how young leaders are reshaping the meaning of progress by advancing new metrics centered on well-being, inclusion, and long-term sustainability.
At the Second World Summit for Social Development (World Social Summit) held in Doha, Qatar, from 3–6 November 2025, the "Youth Moving Beyond GDP" initiative stood out as a dynamic example of how young people are helping redefine what progress means in the 21st century.
Throughout the Summit, the initiative and its partners were featured in multiple high-level sessions and platforms, amplifying youth perspectives in the global Beyond GDP conversation and strengthening intergenerational collaboration in shaping new frameworks for well-being, inclusion, and sustainability.
The official Solutions Session of the World Social Summit "Emerging Pathways Beyond GDP: Presentation of the High-Level Expert Group’s Emerging Recommendations and Intergenerational Dialogue with Youth Moving Beyond GDP," held on 5 November 2025, marked the first public presentation of the UN Secretary-General’s independent High-Level Expert Group on Beyond GDP’s interim report.
During the event, Ms. Palakh Khanna, representing the Youth Network on Beyond GDP, presented the Network’s initial recommendations directly to the Co-Chairs, Prof. Emer. Nora Lustig and Prof. Kaushik Basu. The discussion showcased the power of intergenerational collaboration in shaping new global measures of progress and ensuring youth participation in policymaking at the highest levels. The session was opened by H.E. Amina J. Mohammed, UN Deputy Secretary-General, and H.E. Yorleny León Marchena, Minister of Human Development and Social Inclusion of Costa Rica.
It was co-organized by the High-Level Expert Group on Beyond GDP and the Beyond Lab, with their partners UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD), UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN-DESA), the Executive Office of the UN Secretary-General (EOSG), Rethinking Economics International, and the Governments of Germany and Qatar.
Watch the full session on UN Web TV: Emerging Pathways Beyond GDP - Second World Summit for Social Development (Doha, Qatar 4-6 November 2025) | UN Web TV
Read the full event summary: World Social Summit “Emerging Pathways Beyond GDP"
As part of the Doha Solutions Platform for Social Development, the "Youth Moving Beyond GDP" initiative was selected as one of the official key Solutions of the Summit. It was even further showcased among the ten initiatives at the Doha Solutions Forum for Social Development on 3 November 2025, which was presented by Dr. Eva-Maria Egger from the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), one of the initiative’s partners. The initiative was featured in the Solutions Spotlight on Social Dialogue and Participatory Governance, with the presentation highlighting how youth-led approaches can strengthen inclusive policymaking and foster intergenerational equity.
Dr. Egger called for a future where "progress is measured not only by how fast our economies grow, but by how well people and the planet thrive." She described the initiative as a movement that dares to ask: "What if we measured what truly matters?"
The Forum, hosted by the Government of Qatar in collaboration with France and UN-DESA, served as a global platform to share innovative solutions advancing the pillars of social development, namely poverty eradication, decent work, and social integration.
Watch the Solutions Spotlight presentation: (Afternoon Session) Doha Solutions Forum for Social Development - Second World Summit for Social Development (Doha, Qatar 4-6 November 2025) | UN Web TV
Read more about the Doha Solutions Platform: Doha Solutions Platform for Social Development | Second World Summit for Social Development 2025
Read more about the Doha Solutions Forum: Doha Solutions Forum for Social Development | Second World Summit for Social Development 2025
As one of the officially selected solutions, the "Youth Moving Beyond GDP" initiative was additionally spotlighted at the Summit’s Solutions Studio on 4 November 2025, during the session "Redefining Progress: Youth, Work, and the Future We Build." Operated by UN-DESA and the UN Department of Global Communications (DGC), the Studio served as the Summit’s public-facing platform for commitments and initiatives featured on the Doha Solutions Platform.
This session demonstrated how young people are redefining progress through innovative frameworks for well-being, inclusion, and long-term sustainability. It also highlighted the initiative’s expanding global Youth Network, which brings together over 1,000 young economic thinkers from more than 90 countries to help shape multidimensional measures of progress that go Beyond GDP and reflect the realities of both people and planet.
Watch the Solutions Studio Spotlight: Solutions Spotlight - Session 6 - Second World Summit for Social Development (Doha, Qatar 4-6 November 2025) | UN Web TV
Learn more about the Solutions Studio: Solutions Studio | Second World Summit for Social Development 2025
Moreover, on 5 November 2025, Ms. Özge Aydoğan, Director of the Beyond Lab, spoke at the official Solutions Session of the Beyond GDP Global Alliance, "Financing Social Development: Beyond GDP Metrics to Drive Well-Being and Eradicate Poverty."
The session explored how Beyond GDP metrics can guide international financing systems to place well-being, equity, and resilience at the center of development policy. Ms. Aydoğan emphasized the importance of embedding intergenerational equity into economic systems and financing decisions, sharing the Beyond Lab’s vision of "a sustainable world where current and future generations thrive together in solidarity."
The Beyond Lab, as an associated partner of the Alliance, collaborates and draws on the "Youth Moving Beyond GDP" initiative’s Youth Network as a key opportunity to bring intergenerational perspectives into the Alliance’s work. Ms. Aydoğan outlined emerging recommendations from the Youth Network, including valuing resilience over short-term growth, recognizing nature as a right-holder, and ensuring accountability for the future impacts of today’s policy choices. "We have both an opportunity and an obligation to make intergenerational equity a core design principle, not an afterthought," she concluded.
The initiative also featured at the Solutions Session, "Empowering Young Professionals Through Education and Skill Development for Sustainable and Inclusive Growth" hosted by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) on 4 November 2025.
Co-organized with the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the Beyond Lab, the session welcomed speakers from Earthna: Center for a Sustainable Future of the Qatar Foundation, the International Telecommunication Union, the International Science Council, the UNITAR Global Water Academy, and the CIFAL Global Network, and explored how the concept of development must evolve to address the interconnected challenges of our time.
Representing the Beyond Lab, Ms. Nathalie Delorme highlighted how the "Youth Moving Beyond GDP" initiative arose, rooted in a shared conviction that young people must play a central role in redefining how progress is measured. From its origins in the global essay competition “What Counts in the Future?”, which gathered over 600 youth contributions, to the launch of its Youth Network at the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4), the initiative has grown into a global movement empowering young people to become co-designers of sustainable and equitable economic systems.
The "Youth Moving Beyond GDP" initiative shows what happens when young people are not only consulted but empowered, when they are seen not as the future, but as co-architects of how we measure and achieve sustainable progress."
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Learn more about the IISD Solutions Session: Empowering Young Professionals Through Education and Skill Development for Sustainable and Inclusive Growth | International Institute for Sustainable Development
Across these five public engagements and diverse exchanges at the World Social Summit, "Youth Moving Beyond GDP" demonstrated how youth-led innovation, evidence-based policy, and intergenerational equity can drive a global shift in how we define and pursue progress.
From shaping new frameworks with the High-Level Expert Group and the Beyond GDP Global Alliance to being recognized among the Summit’s top solutions, the initiative continues to build a growing movement that puts people, planet, and future generations at the center of development.
Join the movement and help build a future that values what truly counts.
Learn more about the "Youth Moving Beyond GDP" initiative: Youth Moving Beyond GDP at the World Social Summit
