IB Festival of Hope
We can’t believe it’s February already! As we go full steam ahead this year, we wanted to take a moment to share an update with our community on the breadth of work that has taken place across IB youth initiatives over the past year.
2025 marked a period of growth and consolidation. New structures were established, existing initiatives expanded, and youth participation continued to shape how the IB engages with young people globally. What follows is a snapshot of key developments and highlights from across this work.
Festival of Hope
Throughout 2025, theย Festival of Hopeย continued to provide spaces for youth-led dialogue and participation. The initiative supportedย 15+ย in-person festivalsย across regions including Jakarta, Bologna, Mombasa, Astana, Lima, North Carolina, Sรฃo Paulo, and the Galรกpagos Islands.
Together, these events engaged thousands of students and educators in locally rooted gatherings shaped by youth priorities, with a focus on wellbeing, identity, peace, conflict, and collective action. The Festival of Hope marked itsย third anniversary, reaching more thanย 10,000 IB and non-IB students annuallyย acrossย 90 countries, with participation from overย 1,000 schools
Global Youth Action Fund
Theย Global Youth Action Fundย supported youth-driven action across communities worldwide. In 2025, more thanย 1,000 projectsย wereย submittedย from overย 100 countries, withย 110 projectsย supported acrossย 44 countries. Youth contributors engaged more thanย 100,000 people,ย mobilisedย overย 1,300 volunteers, and reached millions through local and media-based storytelling. These initiatives reflect community-rooted solutions addressing environmental sustainability, wellbeing, inclusion, and access.
Youth Advisory Council (YAC)
The IB launched itsย first Youth Advisory Council (YAC)ย in October 2025. From more thanย 1,400 applicants across 92 countries,ย 12 studentsย were selected to represent the perspectives of approximatelyย 2 million IB students worldwide.
Following an initial onboarding meeting in September, the Council met in person at theย IB Global Conference in The Hague, where members engaged in dialogue with IB leadership, including Director Generalย Olli-Pekka Heinonen, and organised themselves into four working committees.
Since its launch, the Council has moved from establishment into early implementation. Since meeting in person, the council have held 2 quarterly meetings virtually and have been working on committee-based initiatives in collaboration with respective IB departments.
IBlieve
In 2025, the IB continued to strengthen pathways for youth engagement through its partnership withย IBlieve, a global, student-led organization created by and for IB students. The collaboration supported access to academic resources, mentoring, and peer support, reaching more thanย 72,000 individualsย acrossย 177 countries. During the year, IBlieve launched three new initiatives: an online community for peer connection, anย IBDP Starter Kitย to support incoming students, and a student-led YouTube advice channel.
Youth Ambassador Program
In partnership withย HundrED, the IB supported two global cohorts of theย Youth Ambassador Programmeย in 2025. The programme receivedย 1,915 applications, withย 600 Youth Ambassadors selected from 91 countries.
Across the year, participants engaged inย 96 workshops, with aย 62% completion rate. Of those who completed the programme,ย 73.5% were developing or scaling their own social impact projectsย by the end of the experience. The programme continues to support peer connection, learning, and experimentation across diverse contexts.
Generation Global
In 2025, the IB acquiredย Generation Global, strengthening its work in dialogue based learning and intercultural understanding. Generation Global delivered the COP30 Youth Dialogues in partnership with the UN Youth Climate Champion Presidency, engaging overย 1,200 young peopleย fromย 20 countriesย during the COP climate conference. The team also launched new resources to support responsible use of AI in dialogue, including an AI in Dialogue framework, an IB Exchange webinar, a new Artificial Intelligence topic on the Ultimate Dialogue Adventure, and an AI Companion Tool to support structured written participation.
UN and Global Engagement
The Youth Initiatives team participated in the United Nations ECOSOC Youth Forum in April 2025. The team also hosted the IBโsย first UN General Assembly side eventย at the 80th UNGA, titledย Youth Agency, Access and Action for Flourishing. Held at Education House in collaboration with Teach for All, the event convened cross-sector and intergenerational participants to highlight youth participation and collaboration.
IB youth initiatives also contributed to Learning Planet Festival workshops in January 2026 and co-authored a blog withย Teach For Allย forย UNESCOโs International Day of Education, focused on young people as partners in shaping education.
