UN General Assembly High-Level Week

UN General Assembly (UNGA)—the annual meeting of the world’s presidents and prime ministers—has grown from its earliest days as a governance and financial meeting into a global event at which leaders from corporations, foundations, government agencies, and civil society organizations meet during “high-level week” to discuss the most pressing challenges of our time and collaborate on solutions. JA Worldwide not only attends each year but also hosts thought-leadership panels.

The 2025 event operated under the theme “Better Together: 80 Years and More for Peace, Development, and Human Rights,” highlighting the urgency of reinvigorating global cooperation and on delivering on the Global Goals by 2030.

UNGA 2025

During the 80th United Nations General Assembly high-level week (UNGA 2025), JA Worldwide engaged with a broad network of global partners to elevate youth voices and position education, employability, and entrepreneurship as central to global development conversations. Throughout the week, JA representatives contributed to high-level panels, roundtables, and convenings alongside organizations such as The Brookings Institution, EY, Google, and Generation Unlimited, helping to connect cross-sector leaders around a shared goal: expanding pathways for young people to learn, work, and lead.

JA focused on advancing collaboration and highlighting youth as active drivers of change, not just beneficiaries. By participating in discussions on topics such as the future of work, inclusive economies, and peacebuilding, JA reinforced the importance of scalable, community-driven solutions that equip young people with skills, confidence, and opportunity. Across UNGA 2025, these partnerships and conversations strengthened JA’s role in shaping global dialogue and driving collective action for youth opportunity and impact.

UNGA 2025 highlights

• Youth voices and representation: At UNGA 2025, young people were not just part of the conversation. They helped shape it, sharing their perspectives and experiences directly with global leaders and reinforcing the importance of youth voice in decision-making.

• Cross-sector collaboration in action: JA Worldwide brought together leaders from business, government, and the nonprofit sector to exchange ideas and build partnerships that expand access to opportunity for young people at scale.

• Focus on scalable impact: Discussions throughout the week centered on solutions that can reach millions of young people, with a focus on practical, scalable approaches to education, employability, and entrepreneurship.

• Alignment with global priorities: JA’s engagements aligned closely with global priorities, including the future of work, inclusive economic growth, and sustainable development, positioning youth opportunity at the center of these conversations.

• Momentum for ongoing partnerships: UNGA 2025 served as a catalyst for continued collaboration, strengthening existing relationships and opening the door to new partnerships that will extend impact well beyond the week.

Wednesday, September 24, 2025

Building Peace for Youth: Safety, Dignity, and Opportunity

For young people, peace is about more than the absence of violence. It means having a safe place to grow, the dignity to be seen and heard, and the opportunity to shape their future. Junior Achievement of New York and JA Worldwide organized a conversation that brought together thought leaders to explore how youth-serving organizations can further peace by ensuring safety, restoring dignity, and creating opportunity for youth globally through scalable, community driven solutions.

With speakers from youth-led initiatives, education providers, multilateral agencies, and corporate social responsibility programs, we explored how safety, dignity, and opportunity intersect—and how youth can be the drivers, not just recipients, of this change. We'll also examine how funders and partners can support this peacebuilding ecosystem by investing in solutions already working in communities worldwide.

We welcomed attendees to see the inspiring Junior Achievement of New York Finance Park facility at 230 W. 38th Street and to attend the discussion in-person.

Listen to the panel and read a full recap of JA Worldwide’s UNGA 2025 activities.

UNGA 2024

Thursday, September 26, 2024

Creating Inclusive Funding Opportunities for Young Entrepreneurs

Z Zurich Foundation and JA Worldwide organized an in-person UNGA thought leadership panel, hosted at the Zurich American Insurance Company at Four World Trade Center in the Financial District of New York City.

Young entrepreneurs face enormous challenges in obtaining funding for their start-up ventures, given limited access to capital, resources, and network that could make their ventures more investment-friendly. In this panel, we heightened awareness around the financial exclusion of young entrepreneurs, sharing the experiences and impact Z Zurich Foundation and JA have had while working together in Africa as a starting point to scale the conversation.

This panel was designed for attendees who work with a multilateral development financial institution, a venture capital fund, an alternative fund, a government agency focused on micro- and small-business development, a corporation or foundation investing in underserved markets as part of your portfolio, an NGO focused on financing underserved entrepreneurs, a policy/research institute, or a media channel focused on entrepreneurship or financial inclusion.

Wednesday, September 25, 2024

Conversations about the Future of Work

Delivering on our promise to elevate youth voices at global convenings, Junior Achievement of New York and JA Worldwide teamed up to organize a conversation between young people and corporate senior executives, as a side event during the 79th Session of the UN General Assembly.

We paired young people (ages 16–25) with senior executives from a range of businesses in the for-profit sector, including technology, consulting, manufacturing, and insurance. The students asked the executives questions to encourage discussion about how these companies are gearing up for the workplace of the future. Topics ranged from environmental commitments and gender equality to skills-based education and training, AI, and workplace norms. It was a lively conversation about the way Gen Z will shape the future workplace.

Our youth leaders include:

• Christian Mazzarese, Junior Achievement of New York

• Charlotte Nebres, Girl Scouts of Northern New Jersey

• Shivansh Shalabh, UNICEF/Generation Unlimited

Our corporate executives include:

• Jill Huntley, Global Managing Director for Corporate Citizenship, Accenture

• Anita I. Jivani, Global Head of Innovation, Avanade

• Anupama Shekhar, Senior Director of Skills for Social Impact, Microsoft

• Brian F. Winters, Head of Broker Engagement, Zurich North America

Tere Stouffer, Chief Marketing Officer, JA Worldwide, moderated.

Watch it below!

Not seeing the embedded video above? Watch it directly on LinkedIn.