Unscripted: Building Connections for Hopeful Futures

  • 11 December 2025

 

Large group photo of participants standing in front of a stage backdrop that reads: “UNSCRIPTED: Building Connections For Hopeful Futures.” People are dressed in formal and semi-formal attire, wearing event lanyards.


There is something powerful about watching young people speak and realising nobody is waiting to correct, contain or politely sideline them. Instead, leaders listen, and listen seriously.

That is what made Unscripted feel different.

We didn’t gather young people to “consult” them. We gathered to co-create futures where youth are not symbolic attendees at the table, but equal architects of what comes next.

 

A Space Where Titles Disappeared

As the facilitator, I watched hierarchy dissolve in real time.

Young delegates spoke with lived experience of navigating identity, resilience, uncertainty and ambition, and their words shaped the direction of conversation. Senior leaders responded not with defensiveness but with curiosity. I saw CEOs ask follow-up questions, and decision-makers write down lines offered by 20-year-olds with no formal titles.

This space became a laboratory of shared leadership, where humility was practiced and authority was re-interpreted as service. A recent United Nations Youth Office report found that 92% of senior executives believe intergenerational collaboration strengthens leadership. And yet, only 11% of young leaders and 37% of senior leaders say it is widespread.

Unscripted set out to challenge that dynamic, and it did so with remarkable partnership.

The session came alive thanks to Unscripted’s founding partners: the UN Youth Office, Project Everyone and SAP. After a successful pilot event in New York during UNGA80, it was exciting to bring Unscripted to Riyadh, in partnership with the Misk Foundation, as part of their Global Forum 2025.

Our Connectors were what made the spirit of intergenerational dialogue work. They didn’t just attend; they listened, questioned, challenged and shared.

Speaker standing on stage in front of a large screen displaying bilingual text: “UN-SCRIPTED FUTURES” and names of two featured speakers. Audience members are seated at round tables.
Speaker addressing the audience from a stage with a backdrop reading: “UN-SCRIPTED FUTURES: Building Connections For Hopeful Futures.” Participants are seated at tables in the foreground.

What Everyone Gained

Young participants walked away with agency, visibility and confidence. Several told me this was the first time they felt their voice land, not as a hopeful comment floating in the air, but as a contribution that shaped decisions.

Leaders gained something equally rare: unfiltered perspective from the demographic most affected by their strategies. Many reflected that youth framed problems in ways they had overlooked, naming what others avoided and humanising policies that previously felt abstract.

By the end, the room no longer felt like youth speaking to older leaders, but youth and leaders speaking with each other.

Group discussion at a table with a screen in the background showing text: “How do we move beyond tokenism to ensure that young people’s skills and experiences…”
Multiple tables with participants engaged in conversations. A large screen displays a QR code and colorful blocks.

My Window Into What’s Possible

As someone who has carried the badge of “youth representative” across forums, from global health to UN spaces, this moment felt different. Too often, young voices are celebrated on stage but excluded backstage.

Watching young participants take their seat and watching senior leaders make room for them filled me with hope. I realised that I was watching Global Goal 17, Partnerships for the Goals, play out in front of me in real time.

Small group conversation at a table with notebooks and water bottles, set against a backdrop with green text partially visible.
Close-up of a discussion at a round table with bottled water, notebooks, and a sign reading “Table 7.” Participants are wearing event badges.

What Happens Next

For me, advocacy does not end here. Through Shifā Art, my SDG networks, and my platforms, I am committed to championing shared leadership models where youth are decision-makers, not decorative voices. But this cannot be a solo effort.

If you are reading this, whether you are a student, policymaker, CEO or educator, you too can become an intergenerational bridge:

  • Ask young people the questions you usually reserve for experts.
  • Hand them a role with real stakes, not just symbolic visibility.
  • Join the next Unscripted sessions as we bring this movement across regions.

And if Unscripted taught us anything, it is that the future becomes imaginable the moment we make space to speak and listen to one another across generations.

This article was authored by Dr. Sahira Al-Nahari, Young Leader for the SDGs, Physician, Health Law Strategist and Founder of Shifā Art.

The views expressed in the reflections are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the United Nations or the UN Youth Office.

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