The COVID-19 pandemic drastically impacted the lives of young people, leaving them uncertain of their prospects. This uncertainty lingers on, accentuated by ongoing crises. In parallel, the pandemic also revealed examples of resilience and solidarity by youth mobilising to support their communities. Understanding the lessons of the pandemic is fundamental to address youth concerns and to develop lasting solutions with them. This publication intends to inform responses to youth challenges aggravated since the pandemic and through subsequent crises. It uses youth-led research to unveil evidence of the pandemic’s impact on youth, and their actions, in response. The ten featured studies were developed under UNESCO’s Youth As Researchers initiative on ‘Exploring the impact of COVID-19 on youth’ (2020-2022) which engaged over 10,000 young people across all regions. UNESCO is committed to bringing the ideas of youth to policy-makers and practitioners to generate lasting solutions.