Global Youth Action Network

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The Global Youth Action Network (GYAN) is an international network of youth NGOs spanning 180 countries, and headquartered in New York, near the United Nations. GYAN is a youth-led not for profit organization (registered in 2001, New York [USA], under section 501[c]3) that incubates global partnerships and increases youth participation in decision-making. GYAN has registered chapters in Brazil, Colombia, France, Ghana, Mexico, and South Africa, with teams working out of an additional eight countries.

GYAN is known for co-coordinating Global Youth Service Day, a program of Youth Service America, since its launch in 2000. These have grown into the world's largest annual celebration of young volunteers, with millions of participants. The organization has also worked to increase youth participation and channel youth voices into policy-making at international institutions, such as the United Nations, where it holds Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), and Affiliate Status with the Department of Public Information.

GYAN catalogs and helps to connect youth groups to each other, to information, resources and opportunities that empower their work for social change. Membership is open to any organization that does not promote hatred or violence towards others, and that is youth-led, youth-serving or youth-friendly. GYAN's 600 member organizations help determine future priorities for the Network, working to implement a "5-Level Model of Effective Youth Organizing" Archived 2006-10-14 at the Wayback Machine, based on Ken Wilber's Integral theory and 10 years of organizing experience.

Through a partnership with TakingITGlobal, an active Internet community of student organizers, volunteers and activists, GYAN has helped to catalog more than 10,000 youth organizations on-line. GYAN's YouthLinkExpress e-newsletter reaches tens of thousands of subscribing individuals, institutions and leaders in the youth development and other sectors.