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4th Youth Leadership & Innovation Award for Migration: Innovation amid Adversity


Funding is shrinking. Young innovators keep building anyway. YLIA puts seed funding, mentorship and a global stage behind youth-led solutions to migration challenges.

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Deadline: 10 October 2026

WHY THIS EDITION MATTERS

Young people are among the most mobile populations in the world. They're also among the people leading local responses to migration, especially in fragile and conflict-affected settings.

Cuts to development aid are hitting grassroots, youth-led work hardest, because it rarely had access to traditional funding in the first place. We're keeping YLIA going because this is when it's hardest to fund, and that's when it matters most.

A FIRST FOR YLIA: FULLY ONLINE

For the first time, the whole competition happens online, from application to final pitch. That means no visa, no flight and no travel budget. If you're building a solution, you can compete, wherever you are.

THREE CATEGORIES

01 · OPPORTUNITY: Unlocking economic opportunities for migrants
Solutions that open pathways to jobs, skills, entrepreneurship and livelihoods, and help migrants, diaspora and host communities put their skills, knowledge and networks to work.

02 · RESILIENCE: Adapting mobility resilience in a changing world
Solutions that help people and communities adapt to new and changing forms of migration and displacement, and that strengthen their preparedness and adaptive capacity.

03 · INCLUSION: Fostering belonging, participation and unity
Solutions that give migrants and displaced people real ways to participate, be heard and shape decisions, and that strengthen belonging between migrants and host communities.

WHO CAN APPLY

You're eligible if:

  • You're under 31, applying solo or as a team with one lead applicant and spokesperson

  • Your project is youth-led, or young people hold a significant share of its leadership

  • It's an existing solution that has already been implemented or tested with real results

  • It can be replicated or scaled at regional, national or international level

  • Its primary users are migration actors: migrants and diaspora, governments, employers, civil society or host communities

WHAT YOU GET

  • Seed funding: The three winners receive funding to scale and replicate their projects.

  • Pitch coaching: All six finalists get a month of online mentorship in storytelling, public speaking and pitch framing.

  • A global stage: You present live to a high-level jury, and your work is featured across MYCP's channels.

  • What happens after: Winners get ongoing training, networking and introductions that lead to partnerships, funding and policy engagement. Winning YLIA is where this starts.

Your solution belongs at the table.

Applications close 10 October 2026.

Apply Now

Read the full Concept Note & FAQs