Our Work.
What We Do
KEY THEMATIC FOCUS AREAS 2021 – 2024
IYCS Mission
To evangelize and transform the student milieu by forming students and encouraging them to look at the world from the perspective of the poor.
Youth Engagement, Participation and Advocacy
IYCS is actively amplifying the voices of Young Catholic Students to promote peaceful, just, and sustainable development, aligning with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. As part of the Decade of Action, a global initiative for the Agenda’s implementation, IYCS engages Young Catholic Students worldwide, encouraging their ideas, solutions, and advocacy for youth rights. This includes active participation in UN forums and collaborations with various youth platforms.
IYCS aims to communicate and share the experiences of Young Catholic Students, contributing to peace, justice, human dignity, and humanitarian action. The organization continues to advocate for meaningful engagement in the Catholic Church at different levels and collaborates with institutions to implement outcomes from the Synod on Youth, Faith, and Vocational Discernment (Christus Vivit).
IYCS supports greater access to quality education and health services for Young Catholic Students, emphasizing youth-friendly mental health services. Collaborating with regional and national bodies, UNESCO, UNICEF, and Catholic organizations, IYCS ensures informed and accessible education and mental health services for its members.
Caring for our Common Home
Promoting the Laudato Si’ Generation and Ecological Citizenship. The year 2020 marked the fifth anniversary of Laudato Si’, Pope Francis’ encyclical letter on Care for Our Common Home, and the fiftieth anniversary of Earth Day. In 2015, IYCS committed to promoting the urgency and importance of caring for our common home. Working to bring Laudato Si’ to life, IYCS has adopted Laudato Si’ as a priority agenda. IYCS is currently leading and building the Laudato Si’ Generation and Ecological Citizenship among Young Catholic Students, aiming to promote ecological protagonism and elevate the universal core value of caring for our common home. This initiative encourages individuals, communities, and organizations of all faiths and backgrounds to unite around it and work together for a positive environmental impact. Consequently, IYCS is actively playing a leading role in achieving the aspirations of Laudato Si’. The organization will continue to raise awareness and encourage Young Catholic Students globally to host and actively participate in events spreading the message of Laudato Si’. Moreover, they will engage in concrete actions for the care of our common home in the current era of planetary emergency. The promotion of values such as creation care and biodiversity will persist in the spirit of integral ecology.
Engaging in Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together
Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, signed the Document on “Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together” on February 4, 2019, outlining a blueprint for fostering a culture of dialogue and collaboration among different faiths. This significant declaration, endorsed during the Pope’s inaugural visit to the Arabian Peninsula, urges people worldwide to embrace values conducive to a more peaceful future. It addresses contemporary societal challenges and emphasizes the role of religions in advancing global peace. Given the world’s current state of fragmentation and struggles with extremism and intolerance, nurturing this capacity becomes crucial for the prosperity of future generations. Therefore, IYCS has committed to promoting and implementing the aspirations of the Human Fraternity Document. This includes spreading the values of fraternity, peace, tolerance, and understanding among young people across 87 countries through IYCS structures in schools and universities.
IYCS, through its global initiative “Peacebuilding, Resilience-building, Education, and Advocacy,” aims to support Young Catholic Students as catalysts for Peace, Security, and Humanitarian Action. This involves emphasizing the role of young people as agents of change in maintaining and promoting peace and security in alignment with UNSCR 2250. IYCS advocates for the recognition of Young Catholic Students’ positive contributions to peace and security, violence prevention, disaster risk reduction, humanitarian efforts, and climate action. The Peacebuilding, Education, and Advocacy initiative by IYCS seeks to promote peace, strengthen resilience, and build social cohesion. It focuses on empowering students through dialogue, reconciliation, conflict management, and transformation to achieve lasting peace and development. IYCS collaborates closely with UNESCO and partners to implement this global Peacebuilding initiative, promoting a culture of peace, intercultural and interreligious dialogue, using the IYCS Psychosocial Conflict Analysis Tool to prevent conflict and encourage peaceful coexistence.
Youth Ministry (Spirituality, Formation, and Accompaniment
In the realm of Youth Ministry, IYCS, as a Catholic action movement, is devoted to the evangelization, sanctification of individuals, and the formation of a Christian conscience, as outlined by the Vatican Council’s Decree on the apostolate of the Laity (no. 20). The organization’s objective is to infuse the spirit of the Gospel into various communities and aspects of life, particularly within the student milieu. Recognizing the transformative power of the Gospel, IYCS sees itself not merely as part of a church but as the church within the student milieu, fostering Communion with the Catholic Church. Amidst societal changes and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, IYCS adapted its Youth Ministry to address contemporary challenges. Emphasizing flexibility, the organization encourages its members globally, at various levels, to adopt an approach that engages young people through events facilitating learning, conversation, celebration, listening, sharing, and a collective experience of encountering the Living God. IYCS is promoting initiatives including Social Friendship, Outreach and Spiritual Growth, Digital Environment, and Youth Mobility and Migration.
The Social Friendship initiative aims to globally promote the concept of friendship as a gift and grace from God, encouraging Young Catholic Students to build social friendship for the common good, fostering openness, understanding, and care. IYCS Outreach and Spiritual Growth initiative, focuses on attracting young people through events and social media, fostering encounters and experiences with the Lord. This initiative also emphasizes spiritual growth through Christian doctrine, morality, fraternal love, community life, and service. In response to the challenges and opportunities presented by the digital environment, IYCS launched a global initiative to promote the responsible and productive utilization of digital platforms. This initiative, focusing on the web and social media, aims to empower Young Catholic Students with knowledge and skills for informed dialogue, engagement, ecological citizenship, and healthy communication. Lastly, the Youth Mobility and Migration initiative addresses the challenges faced by young migrants, encouraging Young Catholic Students to create spaces for friendship, fraternal love, and support to aid the integration of young migrants into communities.
Where We Work
87 Million people, in 86 countries
87 affiliated Movements including 65 Member Movement, 8 Collaborator Movements and 14 Contact Movements in 86 countries belong to IYCS, as follows: Africa (35), Asia (17), Europe (17), Middle East (6), North America (5), Oceania (2) and Latin America (5).
u201cBy investing in children, together, we have the opportunity to create real, long-lasting change for families and com-munities around the world.u201d
John Edison
Children International President & CEO
