The UNOY Middle East and North Africa (MENA) regional network brings together 17 youth-led member organisations across 10 countries.

In a region where conflict or despair is often expected and imposed, young people are daring to imagine and build peace rooted in justice, dignity, and solidarity. They are turning wounds into wisdom and action, and borders into bridges and partnerships.
~ Vera Al Mawla, former Regional Coordinator

Our members are driving inclusive, youth-informed peacebuilding, pushing for meaningful representation, and strengthening civil society through intersectional reform and resilient grassroots leadership. They actively engage in shaping regional and national strategies for peace and civic engagement while protecting their communities, local identities, and futures.

This is more than a network; it is a living space of solidarity, learning, and resistance. In 2024, MENA and European members co-created the Europe-MENA International Solidarity Manifesto, embedding solidarity not just as a stance, but as a daily practice of care and connection.

Our Regional Action Plan centers on protection, decentralisation, and sustainability, investing in digital and environmental activism, creativity and innovation, equal partnerships, and the local ownership of peace.

Drawing from rich traditions of resistance, decolonisation activism, poetry and art, and community care, young people in the region are not only shaping policy – they are safe-guarding their identities and reasserting the right to be included, dissent, and belong.