6
October 2025
06
October 2025
Event Summary | Youth Network on Beyond GDP: Inaugural Meeting Inspires Global Youth Action
Event Summary of the Inaugural Meeting of the Youth Network on Beyond GDP
As part of the Youth Moving Beyond GDP initiative, over 350 young changemakers from across the globe came together for the inaugural meeting of the Youth Network on Beyond GDP. Co-organized by the initiative’s core partners, the Beyond Lab, UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and Rethinking Economics International, the gathering marked a milestone in ensuring that youth insights and expertise help shape the future of how progress on sustainable development is defined and measured.
During and following the meeting, more than 250 recommendations on values, best practices, and policy ideas were shared, underscoring that young people are not only ready to reimagine what truly matters for people and planet, but also determined to influence international decision-making at the United Nations.
On 17 September 2025, the Youth Network on Beyond GDP held its inaugural meeting, bringing together more than 350 young changemakers, researchers, and practitioners from over 90 countries: from Angola to Australia, Bhutan to Botswana, Spain to South Sudan, and beyond. United by a shared commitment to rethinking how we define progress, participants marked a historic moment for the Youth Moving Beyond GDP initiative.
Co-organized by the Beyond Lab, Rethinking Economics International, UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the interactive webinar placed youth insights and expertise at the center of one of today’s most urgent global debates: how societies should define and measure progress for sustainable development.
Leveraging Rethinking Economics’ international networks and the UN’s convening power, the Youth Network has been established as a dedicated “sounding board” for the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Expert Group on Beyond GDP. This unique role means that the ideas, priorities, and lived experiences of young people will not only be heard but will actively help shape international recommendations on the metrics that guide global policy. In doing so, the Youth Network is playing a vital part in redefining what success looks like for societies worldwide, anchoring it in long-term sustainability, equity, and human wellbeing, rather than growth alone.
The gathering opened with Kristin Faessen, Carlo-Schmid Fellow at the Beyond Lab, who introduced the goals and purpose of the Youth Network. Participants were invited to share where they were joining from, showcasing the global diversity and energy of this growing community.
The Youth Network, as presented, will serve as a collaborative platform for young people to co-create ideas, identify best practices, and develop joint advocacy on how to move beyond economic growth as the sole measure of progress. Its concrete objective is to deliver youth-driven policy recommendations to the High-Level Expert Group on Beyond GDP. These recommendations will be prepared through a participatory process in the lead up to the Second World Summit for Social Development, taking place in Doha in early November 2025, where the High-Level Expert Group will present their first emerging recommendations.
The focus for the first meeting of the Youth Network is clear: learning from and engaging with experts, defining shared values, and shaping the Network’s first collective contribution to the Beyond GDP agenda.
The first intervention for the Youth Network, delivered by Ross Cathcart, Associate Director of Rethinking Economics International, explored the origins, uses, and limitations of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). He reminded participants that while GDP measures the total monetary value of goods and services, it fails to reflect fundamental dimensions of human wellbeing.
The presentation highlighted the risks of “GDP obsession and short-termist thinking” in global institutions and governments, where growth is often treated as an end rather than a means. Ross challenged participants to reflect on what economic success should look like and emphasized the urgent need for indicators that better account for distribution, sustainability, and the nature of work for frameworks that value equality, social reproduction, and ecological balance.
Next, Giovanni Valensisi, Economic Affairs Officer at the Executive Office of the Secretary-General of UNCTAD, shared perspectives on the developmental “blind spots” of GDP and the importance of multidimensional measures of wellbeing. As he noted, GDP can overlook key factors such as distribution, sustainability, informality, unpaid care work, and opportunities.
He highlighted that “wellbeing is multidimensional,” requiring recognition of the trade-offs and synergies that exist across economic, social, and environmental dimensions, and between current and future generations.
Giovanni connected these ideas directly to the objectives of the joint Youth Moving Beyond GDP initiative: to raise awareness of GDP’s limits, promote intergenerational equity, and encourage innovative thinking and collaboration across sectors and regions.
The discussion then turned to the global Beyond GDP process, with Alex Blackburn, Statistician at UNCTAD and member of the Secretariat of the High-Level Expert Group on Beyond GDP, presenting the UN’s latest efforts to advance new measures of progress.
He outlined the UN initiative on progress Beyond GDP, which supports the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular SDG Target 17.19, and answers calls regarding Action 53 of the UN Pact for the Future on developing complementary metrics for measuring progress on sustainable development. Furthermore, he referenced the UN Secretary-General’s 2023 Policy Brief on Beyond GDP, calling for renewed political commitment to “value what counts,” the creation of a UN value dashboard, and the launch of a major capacity-building initiative.
Alex explained the High-Level Expert Group’s core objectives:
Indicators, he stressed, should be high-quality, comparable, and trusted; complementary to GDP; people-centered and intuitive; universally relevant and country-owned. They must also be scientifically sound, feasible yet ambitious, and disaggregated to support the principle of “leave no one behind.”
The second half of the meeting focused on youth-led participation and collective input. Facilitated by Nathalie Delorme, Associate Political Affairs Officer at the Beyond Lab, the interactive session invited participants to share their views on three guiding questions:
The engagement was extraordinary, with over 250 recommendations and lively exchanges in the chat. The newly launched Youth Network LinkedIn group for its members also reflects the enthusiasm of young people eager to contribute to a more just and sustainable economic paradigm.
Participants shared examples from their own countries and organizations, debated how to define progress beyond market metrics, and underscored the need to measure what truly matters for people and the planet. As one participant reflected: “The key lesson is that fairness to future generations works only when it’s built into laws and decisions. The thread is clear: make the future part of today’s rules, not just tomorrow’s hope.”
The webinar concluded by reaffirming that the cornerstones of the Youth Network are its participants themselves: a diverse and motivated community of young experts whose insights and expertise form the backbone of the Beyond GDP movement.
As the Youth Moving Beyond GDP team noted, the Network will act as an open space for intergenerational dialogue, collaboration, and advocacy, ensuring that youth perspectives shape the development of new global measurement frameworks and policies. A key goal of this work will be to present Youth Network policy recommendations together with the High-Level Expert Group on Beyond GDP at the World Social Summit in early November 2025 during a joint event. While we a cognizant that there are many Beyond GDP processes, this is a rare opportunity for young people to influence international decision-making at the highest political level.
We are truly grateful for the insightful and excellent contributions from the Youth Network. Through a participatory process, the Youth Network will compile the results into our collective youth-led contribution to the High-Level Expert Group on Beyond GDP.
The inaugural meeting demonstrated not only the depth of youth expertise but also the urgency and momentum behind this new initiative. As the global movement to move Beyond GDP continues to grow, the Youth Network stands as both a symbol and a driver of transformation: proof of what can be achieved when young people come together to reimagine progress and redefine what truly matters for people and the planet.
