Shillong, May 13: Meghalaya has launched the Northeast’s first formally institutionalised youth advisory platform on climate and health policy, bringing young voices directly into the government’s policymaking process at the drafting stage itself.
The inaugural roundtable of the Young People’s Action Group (YPAG), held in Shillong on May 12, was convened by UNICEF India’s Assam and Northeast Field Office in partnership with the Centre for Policy and the Government of Meghalaya. The initiative seeks to create a structured and institutionally backed mechanism for youth participation in climate and health governance.
Calling youth inclusion critical for policymaking, Meghalaya Health and Family Welfare Minister Wailadmiki Shylla said the decisions taken today would directly shape the future of young people.
“Stakeholder discussions are essential because solutions emerge when we engage with all stakeholders. Equally important is the inclusion of youth in decision-making,” he said while inaugurating the roundtable.
Chief Secretary Dr Shakil P. Ahammed said policies disconnected from communities lose their meaning and stressed the importance of lived experiences in governance.
UNICEF India’s Chief of Field Services, Soledad Herrero, described Meghalaya’s model as rare in India because it connected youth voices to policy formulation “before those policies are written.”
According to organisers, the platform differs from conventional consultation exercises by enabling young people to engage directly with government departments using primary data, policy knowledge and institutional access.
The YPAG initiative was endorsed by the Meghalaya government under the MPOWER project in 2025 and formally launched earlier this year. It has been developed jointly by UNICEF India and the Shillong-based Centre for Policy.
The roundtable, themed “From Consultation to Influence,” brought together students, artists, entrepreneurs, disability advocates, filmmakers, researchers and community leaders from across Meghalaya.
Participants identified six priority areas for the first YPAG cohort, including climate anxiety and mental health, gendered health impacts, disability exclusion from healthcare systems, threats to agrarian livelihoods and the integration of indigenous knowledge into policymaking.
UNICEF said the platform builds on its broader partnership with Meghalaya in health-system strengthening and community-based policy design, particularly in maternal, newborn and child healthcare programmes in Ri-Bhoi and West Jaintia Hills districts.
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