Nairobi, Kenya, 30 October – 1 November 2025, As the road to the Global Fund’s Grant Cycle 8 (GC8) officially opens, Y+ Global was on the ground in Nairobi with a clear message: young people must be the architects of the HIV response, not just its beneficiaries.
From the Community Engagement Strategic Initiative (CE SI) Partner Meeting to strategic discussions with the Youth-to-Youth (Y2Y) Consortium, Y+ Global joined community partners, technical experts, and civil society leaders from around the world to ensure that meaningful youth engagement is treated as a foundation for impact, not a box to be ticked.
Facing the uncertain reality
The CE SI Partner Meeting brought together voices from across regions at a moment of real urgency. Shrinking civic space, tightening funding, and increasing criminalisation of key populations continue to threaten hard-won gains in the HIV response.
Opening under the theme “Here and Now,” participants grounded discussions in the lived realities of communities. For Y+ Global, this meant making sure that “community” explicitly includes young people in all their diversity, and that their specific needs are not sidelined in complex funding processes.
“We cannot talk about community leadership if young people are excluded by rigid systems, inaccessible processes, or a lack of mentorship.”Gabriella Romero
Senior Programmes Officer at Y+ Global
Without flexible funding mechanisms and intentional support, the young people with the least resources are often the first to be left behind.
Shaping GC8: From policy to practice
As attention turned to the future of the Global Fund’s Grant Cycle 8, one question cut through the discussions: how will these shifts translate into real change for young people on the ground?
Conversations around GC8 focused on emerging thematic priorities and what they mean in practice for youth-led and youth-responsive HIV services. Participants pushed for a closer look at how funding decisions, eligibility criteria, and implementation requirements can either open doors for young people’s leadership, or quietly shut them out. The concern was clear: if systems are not designed with young people in mind, especially those living with or most affected by HIV, exclusion becomes built-in rather than accidental.
“Youth leadership cannot happen in theory alone. It has to be supported and nurtured. It shows up in how decisions are made, how money flows, and whose data is captured and used.”Ikka Noviyanti
Regional Coordinator at Youth LEAD
A central part of this dialogue was the CRSS Maturity Framework and its potential to move beyond a technical checklist. There was strong agreement that accountability must be grounded in lived experience, with Community-Led Monitoring and youth-generated evidence playing a decisive role in measuring what works, what doesn’t, and which systems are truly reaching.
The focus also shifted toward what youth networks actually need to sustain their work. Attention was given to practical tools that can support service integration, long-term sustainability, and transition planning, resources designed to be used in real advocacy spaces, not stored away. The aim is simple: equip young people with tools to navigate health systems, protect peer-led programmes, and secure funding that lasts.
[Photo of CE SI Partners during group work]
Strengthening youth leadership in Cameroon
Alongside broader regional discussions, dedicated conversations took place with partners in the Youth-to-Youth (Y2Y) Consortium, including RECAJ+ and CAGEAD, to review progress on Y+ Global’s Global Fund grant implementation in Cameroon and to sharpen priorities for the next phase of work. These exchanges focused on institutional strengthening, not as an abstract goal, but as a foundation for sustained youth leadership within national HIV responses.
Discussions centred on how youth-led priorities can more deliberately influence decision-making, from agenda-setting to accountability mechanisms. There was shared recognition that youth leadership is most effective when it is backed by strong systems, clear pathways for engagement, and the ability to translate evidence into action at the national level.
Partners highlighted the unique role young people play as ‘community connectors,’ helping bridge policy and practice, linking data to lived experience, and identifying gaps that formal systems often miss. Strengthening this role is essential to ensuring that national advocacy efforts are informed, responsive, and able to reach those who are most often left out.
Looking ahead
As the discussions in Nairobi concluded, the path forward came into sharper focus. Attention now turns to a collective roadmap for the year ahead, clarifying the evidence partners want to generate together and how best to coordinate across youth networks, including data gathering, accountability, and advocacy. This shared approach is about more than planning; it is a way to ensure we are learning together, aligning our efforts, and moving in the same direction.
The challenges ahead are real, and the funding environment remains uncertain. Yet the solidarity demonstrated in Nairobi was a powerful reminder of what sustains this movement: young people leading with determination, communities standing together, and partners working collectively to ensure that no one is left behind.