SEVENTEEN: FROM THE STAGE TO SIX HUNDRED BOOKS!

SEVENTEEN fill stadiums; Mary Rose Pagador fills shelves. In Barangay Particion, her Philippine village, she creates a community library in under a year: six hundred books, with children beginning to put their first sentences together. UNESCO profiles Project Palabasa in June 2026.

How do these worlds meet?

The South Korean group, formed in 2015 with thirteen members, attends UNESCO’s Youth Forum in 2023. In June 2024 it becomes the organisation’s first Goodwill Ambassador for Youth and announces a million dollars for Going Together.

A hundred projects are chosen from more than two thousand worldwide applications, receiving funding, training and mentoring. Each idea has a person behind it, from crochet in Panama to music camps in Colombia.

A library and a filmmaking course

Mary Rose brings books where there were none. In Uyo, Nigeria, Ekaette Frank organises a five-week filmmaking course for two hundred young people, mostly girls. Different projects share a thread: room for young people to develop talent.

The next chapter is still to be written

In Paris on 25 June 2026, UNESCO and SEVENTEEN’s JOSHUA review progress: a hundred projects in 64 countries and more than twenty-one thousand people directly involved. Ten initiatives receive further funding and mentoring until December 2026. Palabasa aims to grow to four communities and five hundred students, with adult courses too.

The famous band opens the door to the news. Then we meet Mary Rose and Ekaette. Knowing their names lets us follow the story after switching off the playlist.