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The United Nations Secretary-General's Envoy on Youth (SGEY) was brought into being by the United Nations Secretary-General (SG) on 17 January 2013. On that day the first and current holder Ahmad Alhendawi was appointed by the SG and six days later introduced to the General Assembly as his first-ever Envoy on Youth.

Role
The Envoy on Youth fulfills a Janus-faced role: As the Secretary-General's representative he works bringing the UN closer to young people by promoting structured mechanisms of participation to increase youth accessibility to the UN. At the same time he serve as harmoniser and coordinator within the UN system seeking to ensure a cohesive approach of UN agencies and organisations towards civil society and the general public. On the other hand the Envoy advocates for youth at the national, regional and international level by drawing attention to global youth issues. For this task he gathers youth voices and interacts with high-level decision makers to strengthen youth participation in governance and in the United Nations system.

The Envoy works closely with UN entities, members of the Inter-Agency Network on Youth Development (IANYD), UN Regional Commissions and UN country teams. His work is guided by the World Programme of Action for Youth (WPAY), which focuses on two thematic areas - economic empowerment and civic engagement, and the four principles that constitute the Envoy's Workplan. The WPAY "provides a policy framework and practical guidelines for national action and international support to improve the situation of young people around the world."

The establishment of Youth Advisory Boards alongside with the IANYD at the national level is one of the top priorities to promote participation. 15 countries have been selected in which they are to be installed. These are mechanisms to ensure representation of marginalized youth such as young women and girls, indigenous youth and youth with disabilities at the United Nations, as well as to advise the UN's work and programmes at the national level.

Workplan
The Envoy on Youth's work is guided by the the key areas set out in the |Secretary-General's 5 Year Action Agenda.

In the first year the increased focus has been placed on Economic Empowerment and Civic Engagement while ensure the integration of a gender perspective across all work areas. At the same time, the Envoy has supported the Education First Initiative and XXXXXXXXX. The Office of the SG's Envoy on Youth has promoted the new United Nations Volunteers (UNV) Youth modality which had been launched in the course of the Roundtable Dialogue on Investing in Young People.

Further, the Envoy plans to create active channels of communication between youth-led organizations and the United Nations, as well as to enhance youth access to information related to the United Nations’ work on youth.

The Envoy's Workplan is based on four pillars or principles, which are determined by the the World Programme of Action for Youth:


 * Participation: Promote structured mechanisms for youth participation in the UN. In this role the Envoy has worked with UN Volunteers (UNV) to develop and implement the youth volunteering modality and helped establishing Regionals and Global ECOSOC Youth Forums.


 * Harmonisation: As coordinator within the UN system for youth topics and issues, the Envoy works as a catalyst to enhance the cooperation in youth programming between UN entities.


 * Advocacy: In his role as youth advocate the Envoy endorses the participation of young people in setting, evaluating and implementing the various development frameworks. Moreover does he raise international attention and awareness to youth issues.


 * Partnerships: The Envoy shapes partnerships by working closely with United Nations Member States, private sector, media, academic institutions, and civil society, including youth-led organisations to facilate multi-stakeholder partnerships on youth issues.

United Nations System-wide Action Plan on Youth
The United Nations Inter-Agency Network on Youth Development (IANYD), a network consisting of UN entities, represented at the headquarters level, whose work is relevant to youth, has prepared a System-wide Action Plan on Youth (Youth-SWAP) in response to the Secretary-General’s Action Agenda. After consulting over 13,500 young people from 186 countries in a global survey, in July–August 2012, the following five were to become the main thematic areas:


 * Employment and Entrepreneurship: Ensure greater opportunities for youth to secure decent work and income over the life-cycle, contributing to a virtuous circle of poverty reduction, sustainable development and social inclusion


 * Protection of rights and civic engagement: Ensure the inherent rights of youth are recognized and upheld to enable young people’s engagement in all aspects of their development


 * Political Inclusion: Ensure the progressive, substantive inclusion of young people in political and decision-making processes at local, national, regional and international levels


 * Education, including comprehensive sexuality education: Ensure that young people, on an inclusive, equitable and universal basis, are actively learning in formal or non-formal education systems, and are receiving quality education on sexual and reproductive health


 * Health: Ensure that young people, on an inclusive, equitable and universal basis, enjoy the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health