Editor’s Note: Sukanya Pasi is a young expert in the Global Governance Innovation Network. This commentary is part of the GGIN’s Next Generation Experts series, which aims to elevate youth research and writing. Her interests span intergenerational solidarity, gender equality, monitoring and evaluation, social impact design, and communication. Drawing on a background in design research and grassroots work with Indian artisans, she is particularly interested in qualitative research and bringing lived experiences into policymaking.

By Richard Ponzio, Director, Global Governance, Justice & Security Program

In an era of declining trust, intergenerational solidarity — the unity and  mutual support among different generations — provides a foundation for building trust and driving lasting change. However, current interpretations of intergenerational solidarity are largely future-oriented and outcome-focused, placing greater emphasis on long-term goals such as fairness for future generations, and less on addressing how solidarity is actually built in practice. Without grounding intergenerational solidarity in present-day, actionable processes, the goal of building trust across generations risks remaining an aspiration. Intergenerational learning — the practice of reciprocal exchange of knowledge and skills between generations — offers one way to address this gap by strengthening partnerships and fostering mutual trust.

Evidence suggests this shift is already underway. Youth 2030: A Global Progress Report 2025 points to meaningful progress: In 2024, 88% of UN entities engaged youth in institutional processes, up from 70% in 2021, while youth participation in shaping UN Cooperation Frameworks increased from 7% in 2020 to 57% in 2024. Although the report does not explicitly refer to reciprocity, it provides strong evidence of growing collaboration across generations and increasing momentum toward intergenerational exchange.

With approximately 1.8 billion people aged 10–24, representing the largest generation of young people in history, 60% of Africa’s population under the age of 25, and 1 in 6 people worldwide projected to be over the age of 65 by 2050, the demographic conditions for cross-generational collaboration have never been more pressing. At the same time, interpersonal trust has been declining over the past three decades, with younger generations less trusting than older generations. Alongside these generational differences in trust are concerns about the underrepresentation of younger generations in global policymaking, with 90% of young people surveyed on their experiences in multilateral forums expressing frustration over the lack of inclusive, equal, and representative opportunities to influence global policy. In this context, policies made today will shape the lives of generations who had very limited power to influence them. It is in such scenarios that intergenerational solidarity has particular value, offering a way to open up to diverse perspectives across generations and bridge the decision-making divide. 

Emerging technologies such as AI pose new challenges that require bringing together the skills and perspectives of younger generations with those of older generations to make informed policy decisions. Gen(Z)AI, a youth assembly in Canada, illustrates how young people can contribute to AI policymaking. It brought together 100 participants aged 17 to 23 to engage with experts, examine the social, ethical, and policy implications of AI, and develop recommendations aimed at the federal government.

What Intergenerational Solidarity Lacks

The concept of intergenerationality has existed for decades, but “intergenerational solidarity” gained momentum around the UN in 2021, and is increasingly discussed in both formal and informal settings as societies grapple with challenges that span generations. It is often referred to as “intergenerational fairness,” “intergenerational equity,” or “intergenerational justice”: terms associated with cooperation and balancing the needs of today’s generation with the needs of future generations, while giving less attention to how intergenerational solidarity is built in practice. The UN’s Pact for the Future rightly broadens the framing to include youth participation in present-day processes. Yet the Pact does not explicitly address reciprocal exchange between living generations as a measurable dimension of intergenerational solidarity. 

In practice, the approach has been one-way, with younger and older generations consulted rather than engaged as reciprocal partners in UN processes. As Ismael Páez Civico argues, “intergenerational fairness is a two-way street,” requiring people across generations to engage as mutual partners, not as one-sided contributors.

Intergenerational Learning

While intergenerational solidarity is the broader, long-term goal, intergenerational learning is one of the key means to achieve it. UNESCO defines this as “learning that happens across different age groups and generations.” Integral to intergenerational learning is the idea that younger and older generations are both teachers and learners, engaging in exchange. By fostering dialogue, reciprocity, and knowledge exchange between generations, intergenerational learning helps build mutual understanding and collaborative relationships, ultimately strengthening intergenerational solidarity in practice. Yet across definitions of intergenerational solidarity, intergenerational learning remains an overshadowed component. 

Different generations bring distinct skills to the table, and intergenerational learning can be the means through which those skills are exchanged. For instance, the younger generation is often more comfortable with modern technology and open to change and experimentation, while older generations bring lived experience, contextual knowledge, and insights into human behavior, enabling them to anticipate long-term implications and potential challenges. Age diversity in the workplace enables individuals to complement one another and build on each other’s strengths. A recent example of such age-diverse collaboration informing policymaking is the European Commission’s 2025 Citizens’ Panel on Intergenerational Fairness. Its 150 randomly selected citizens from all 27 EU Member States, deliberating across age groups, developed 24 recommendations that later informed the Commission’s 2026 Strategy on Intergenerational Fairness.

Way Ahead: Toward Intergenerational Solidarity 

Language reinforces intentions, shapes policies, and informs practices that strengthen solidarity. While phrases such as “leaving no youth behind” or “meaningful engagement with older people” encourage inclusion, they place less emphasis on the reciprocal exchange between generations that underpins intergenerational learning. While activities such as peer review and co-authorship reflect ongoing intergenerational practices, for intergenerational learning to take root, mutual exchange of skills and ideas must become an institutional norm. Terms such as “mutual,” “reciprocal,” and “co-creative” offer an opportunity to precisely articulate what intergenerational solidarity ought to look like in practice. 

The European Commission’s Erasmus+ program offers one of the clearest examples of intergenerational learning in practice, where language, policy, and implementation align. Through the “InterGenic” project, Erasmus+ supports the EU’s digital and green transitions by fostering reciprocal knowledge exchange between younger and older generations through mentorships, joint activities, and an empirically tested educational framework for intergenerational learning.

The next step is not to reinvent intergenerational solidarity, but to operationalize it. Revisiting existing frameworks to explicitly incorporate intergenerational learning, measured through reciprocal learning and knowledge exchange, would help transform solidarity from a broad aspiration into a lived institutional practice. Drawing on successful models such as InterGenic and others across sectors, a replicable Intergenerational Solidarity Toolkit could refine, standardize, and scale existing approaches rather than reinventing the wheel, helping governments, organizations, and communities build stronger partnerships across generations. The quality of intergenerational relationships cultivated today will shape what future generations inherit.