João Felipe SCARPELINI is an international activist and youth empowerment expert with over 17 years of experience managing multi-stakeholder processes, community programmes, youth-led research projects and social campaigns in over 40 countries.

Joao started his activism in Brazil at the age of 13 years old, trying to create opportunities and tools for young people to engage in local development and decision-making processes meaningfully.

That included campaigning for the establishment of the Municipal Youth Council in his hometown Santos and being elected to serve in the Council for two mandates.Since 2004, after joining the UN Major Group for Children and Youth (MGCY) he has been very active in the process of recognizing youth participation within the UN System and in global governance processes. That included championing youth inclusion at the UN Commission for Sustainable Development (CSD) and advocating for the recognition of YOUNGO as an official youth constituency of the UNFCCC process. Joao also served as an elected representative for Latin America and the Caribbean in the inaugural UN-Habitat Youth Advisory Board (YAB).

Joao has worked on youth programming for the United Nations for the last nine years in countries like Colombia, Indonesia, Turkey and Somalia. He specialized in youth policies and programmes and has facilitated youth-specific research and the establishment of permanent participation mechanisms for young people across the UN system.

Besides, his experience includes writing for the most prominent youth magazine in Brazil, coordinating a national child-led climate adaptation programme with UNICEF in Zambia and advising the Brazilian government on youth issues and foreign affairs. Joao co-founded a few youth organizations and networks, including Change Mob and Engajamundo.and has served in the board of directors of major organizations including CIVICUS - Global Alliance for Citizen Participation and GCCA (Global Call for Climate Action).

Joao recently concluded his master’s degree in Global Diplomacy at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) of the University of London, examining the democracy-globalization-technology nexus and assessing the role of technology in the democratization of multilateral spaces for young people.

E-mail: jfscarpelini@gmail.com Website: http://www.joaoscarpelini.com Online CV: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joaoscarpelini/