World leaders often praise the next generation as the ones to change the world, to solve impending global issues like climate change, social injustice, or the widening socioeconomic gap.

I’ve always found that to be somewhat of a larger-than-life expectation.

How could young people—many of whom make up the activists and frontline changemakers invested in the state of our future—be part of any tangible change if we often aren’t given a voice at the table?

When I was a student at Singapore American School, I was part of the high school Model UN team, eager and curious about how to one day make an impact. But, like my peers, I was skeptical about the real-life multilateral institutions we modeled ourselves from. The geopolitical climate last few years has only made young people feel even more dismayed and frustrated by the process.

To my surprise, my academic and professional experience since have shown me that there is, in fact, an increasing abundance of advocacy opportunities for young people. This year, I will be participating in the Youth20 conference. It is the official youth engagement group for the G20 summit, an annual conference of the world’s largest economies. The past few months of meeting and discussing policy priorities with like-minded peers from across the world, ignited by a desire to move the needle of change (even if little by little!) has been an inspiring process. And it has shown me that there is value in these systems for change, so long as we hold institutions accountable when given the opportunity.

As part of U.S. delegation, we are non-partisan, non-governmental representatives for young Americans on the international stage. This opportunity has allowed us to organize listening tours and survey young people across the country and overseas about the pressing policy concerns they’re facing today. While we prepare for the summit in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil in August, I’ve found myself reminded that civic engagement, no matter the scale, is part of the long fight for lasting change in our future.

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Clara Fong (class of 2017) currently resides in Washington, D.C. and writes for the Council on Foreign Relations on Asia and climate change.