#ChangeTheCode (CTC) is a global youth-led movement advocating for a humanitarian system that truly includes young people in decision-making, leadership, and funding.
We are a growing network of 150+ young humanitarians, youth-led organizations, and frontline responders working across different crisis contexts around the world.
Young people are already leading responses in their communities, running local initiatives, supporting displaced families, organising emergency response efforts, and creating solutions in the middle of crises. Yet too often, the systems shaping humanitarian policy and funding continue to exclude them.
In 2016, the World Humanitarian Summit promised a “Participation Revolution” through commitments like the Grand Bargain and the Compact for Young People in Humanitarian Action. These reforms aimed to shift power and funding closer to local communities and recognise young people as important humanitarian actors.
But nearly ten years later, many young people still face:
Limited access to direct funding
Exclusion from decision-making spaces
Tokenistic participation
Unequal partnerships within the humanitarian system
As the humanitarian sector undergoes the ongoing Humanitarian Reset, #ChangeTheCode is working to ensure this moment leads to real structural change, not just new language.
Through advocacy, storytelling, research, campaigns, and collective action, we are pushing for a humanitarian system that:
Shares power with young people
Invests in local leadership
Builds accountability to affected communities
Moves from consultation to co-leadership
Our message is simple:
Nothing about us without us.
