Restless Development USA

Restless Development is a global agency for youth-led, community-driven change. Our work is led by young people and together, we help young people make lasting change in their communities and countries. 

Young people are often underserved or unheard. We support them to demand a voice, sexual rights, the opportunity to make a living, and the ability to hold their governments accountable. 

At the moment, we are managing 59 programs across our 10 hubs, reaching 128,000 people globally and unleashing 28,000 changemakers - each in a deeply grassroots way. 

WHAT WE DO

Whether it means supporting communities to end child marriage or prevent HIV, we work with young people to change their lives and the lives of people in their communities.

We are run out of 10 hubs in India, Nepal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, the US and the UK,  with a wider network of partners across the world. We have been working with young people since 1985, and our work is led by thousands of young volunteers and advocates every year. 

WHAT WE WANT

Young people have powerful voices. We are here to make sure their voices are heard.

WHAT YOUNG PEOPLE SAID

We asked 5000 young people in 64 countries what changes are needed to tackle the big challenges in the world. This is what they said:

•  Young people want their voices heard in decisions that matter to them most, from their communities to government.
•  Young people want to get the skills needed to make a living and succeed in life.
•  Young people want ownership over the decisions that affect their bodies, health and wellbeing.
•  Young people want to build strong communities that work together to solve issues they care about.

YOUNG PEOPLE ARE NOT THE FUTURE, THEY ARE THE NOW

There are 1.8 billion young people in the world. Half the world is under 30 and nine in ten of these young people live in developing countries. This is the largest youth population there has ever been. We are in an era of what we call Peak Youth.

IMPACT

•  We have reached 415,008 young people through sexual and reproductive health and rights programs.

•  We have supported 65,518 young people to gain the business skills needed to start their careers or become entrepreneurs.

•  We have reached 104,706 young people through our voice and leadership program, putting them at the forefront of decisions that matter most to them, from communities to government.

•  We recognize collaboration is key. We have 1,423 Restless Development partners including 879 civil society partners; 51 bilateral and multilateral partners and 56 private sector organizations.