Global Youth Summit for Freedom of Religion or Belief

Toward a future of social harmony

Opening Event:
October 19, 11am EDT

Discussion Groups:
Continuously from October 19, 12:00pm EDT to October 20, 10:59am EDT

Closing Event:
October 20, 11am EDT

Platform: Zoom

In a world of rising conflict, the time to act is now.

Join our game-changing virtual summit to make your ideas a reality. In our participant-led Open Space format, you’re not just another attendee—you’re a co-creator. Hosted by a coalition of global FoRB leaders, this 25-hour virtual event is your opportunity to connect, collaborate, and catalyze change with seasoned champions and emerging change-makers from every corner of the world.

Zoom capacity is limited, so apply now to be part of shaping a society that respects freedom of thought, conscience, religion, or belief for all.

Hannah-Rei from UK

Seng from Myanmar

Emina from Bosnia and Herzegovina

Carolyn from US

Ralph from the Philippines

About Open Space

Open Space Technology is a highly-effective system for organizing large groups of people with a shared goal. It fosters a dynamic, participant-led gathering where participants create their own agenda, self-select into subgroups to engage in interactive conversations, and then share summaries of their conversations with the full group.

This proven approach has been used over 60,000 times in 140 countries, including at NASA and Google Ventures. Its participatory nature makes it an ideal tool for achieving the goals of the summit. It is also well-suited to virtual events.

Our Goals

Before

Increase and Expand

The strength of our movement lies in both its size and its diversity. We need more people and a variety of skills—from policy analysis and lobbying to filmmaking and social media. By joining hands across beliefs and borders, we don’t just prepare to manage crises; we position ourselves to seize every opportunity for meaningful progress.

During

Connect and Collaborate

Change happens at the speed of trust, and trust happens at the speed of relationships. We seek to build meaningful connections between and among seasoned advocates and innovative newcomers from all faiths and none. Because when we stand up for each other, freedom of religion or belief truly advances.

After

Support and Sustain

This is more than just a meeting—it’s the launch of a movement. The action doesn’t stop when the Zoom call ends. We offer technical tools, in-depth training, and crucial funding to empower youth leaders in transforming plans into reality.

Our Strategy

We will invite the Zoom limit of 1,000 FoRB advocates to a 25-hour virtual “un-conference” where participants will set their own agenda and self-organize into breakout groups. Invitations to participate will be issued strategically to maximize diversity.

Invitations

Youth Participants (age 35 & under):

We will select youth participants to represent the widest possible range of religious, cultural, and geographic backgrounds, with a priority for those with unique skills or experience to contribute, and a demonstrated commitment to FoRB. To ensure that this is a youth-driven event, 80% of the total seats will be reserved for young people.

Young Mentors (ages 18-40):

We will also invite young people who already have deep experience in the FoRB movement to serve as mentors. These young FoRB champions know better than anyone what it is like to work in this movement as a Millennial or Zoomer.

Mentors (ages 41+):

We will also invite 200 “former youth” to participate as mentors. Mentors will be selected based on:

enthusiasm for mentoring,
deep institutional wisdom in FoRB,
expertise in a country or countries of particular concern, or with less-developed FoRB movements,
representation of minority religious groups
diversity of skills and resources, particularly technologists, business-leaders, film-makers, philanthropists, lawmakers, and cultural influencers.

Featured Mentors

After the Summit

Open Space is powerful because of its ability to transform talk into action. Conversations that begin by sharing information naturally turn to “What can we do about it?”

We expect that the Global Youth Summit will produce new plans, partnerships, and projects. The trick is in implementing those plans, and then making the action sustainable.

To make this summit a long-term success, we will:

Open new channels for each discussion group inside the secure FoRB Forum app, so participants can continue the conversation after the event has ended.
Create a fund for youth-led projects which can be supported by the First Freedom Foundation’s incubator/accelerator program.
Select some of the most promising participants to become FoRB Fellows where they will receive additional training as well as hands-on experience
Encourage partner organizations to start their own fellowships, internship programs, youth-focused and/or youth-led trainings and events
Ask mentors to communicate regularly with their mentees for at least one year after the conclusion of the summit.

The Global Youth Summit may become an annual gathering, or maybe it will evolve as different needs and opportunities are identified. But the goal is to build a movement, not an event.

How you can get involved

Apply to participate

Although space in the conference is limited, we are still looking for young people and certain categories of mentors who want to create a future of freedom of religion or belief for all. For those who are not accepted, we will stay in touch with other opportunities to get involved, such as by joining in the conversation on the FoRB Forum app before, during, and after the event.

Nominate youth or prospective mentors:

If you know someone under 35 who is passionate about freedom of religion or belief and is eager to make a positive impact in the world, and/or someone who would make an excellent mentor who is passionate about FoRB but works outside of traditional FoRB advocacy (such as technologists, business-leaders, film-makers, philanthropists, lawmakers, or cultural influencers), please fill out the “Nominations” form or send them to this webpage.

Financial support or sponsorship:

Consider partnering with us to build a future of freedom of religion or belief for all. All financial contributions will go toward youth-led initiatives either initiated or developed during the Global Youth Summit.

Together, we can empower the next generation to create a world where people from all faiths and none can live together in mutual respect and social harmony.

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