Who we are
The Commonwealth Youth Council (CYC) is the official representative voice of the more than 1.2 billion young people in the Commonwealth.
The CYC was first established in 2013 with the support of the Commonwealth Secretariat’s Commonwealth Youth Programme. It was endorsed by Commonwealth Heads of Government at their biennial summit in Sri Lanka as an ‘autonomous, youth-led organisation’.
What we do
CYC aims to further advance the youth development agenda by integrating young people into the development work of the Commonwealth at national, regional, and Pan-Commonwealth levels. It also provides a sustainable platform for unified engagement with decision-makers and youth-led development initiatives.
The CYC works to mobilise the voices of young people and advocate for governments to engage young people meaningfully. It partners with the Commonwealth Secretariat and other youth-led organisations focusing on youth development.
Our team
Led by a ten-member executive, the CYC acts as a coalition of national youth councils and other youth-led civil society and private sector bodies from across the 56 member countries of the Commonwealth.
The current CYC Executives are as follows:
- Chairperson: Mr. Kim Allen (Papua New Guinea)
- Vice-Chair: Policy and Advocacy: Mr. Nahjae Nunes (Jamaica)
- Vice Chair: Partnership and Resources: Mr. Everton Rattray (Jamaica)
- Vice Chair: Inclusion and Engagement: Ms. Christabel Derby (Ghana)
- Asia Representative: Ms. Fahmida Faiza (Bangladesh)
- Africa Representative: Ms. Shamim Nabuuma (Uganda)
- Caribbean Representative: Mr. Dominique Noralez (Belize)
- Europe and Canada Representative: Mr. Namir Chowdhury (United Kingdom)
- Pacific Representative: Ms. Sagufta Janif (Fiji)
- Special Interest Groups: Ms. Sania Haider Shikoh (Pakistan)
Legal framework and organisational structure
Accountability and transparency are key to CYC’s mandate by rules and standards. The following documents guide CYC’s operations and mandate across the Commonwealth.
