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Andrés Beibe marshalled a group of volunteers to teach students in Argentina's secondary schools about their country's government. Frances Bunji Elcoate created a multimedia training programme for at-risk youth in Australia. And Afia Fitriate led a book and distribution drive to encourage reading among Indonesian children.

These accomplishments might seem small when compared with the world's sweeping social projects, such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's Aids prevention programmes or George Soros' Open Society Institute.

But, in some ways, Mr Beibe, Ms Elcoate and Ms Fitriate's initiatives are more impressive because all three are under the age of 25. They are youth leaders teaching other young people how to lead.

"As adults, we think of the young people as representing the future but, actually, they are very much active and present," says Kimmo Lipponen, head of corporate marketing at Nokia, which has partnered with the International Youth Foundation (IYF) to launch YouthActionNet, an online network recognising young activists such as Mr Beibe, Ms Elcoate and Ms Fitriate. "We can help with the tools and resources . . . [and] we probably learn as much from them as they do from us."

The IYF was founded in 1990 with the goal of improving living conditions - and resources - available to children and teenagers across the world. The organisation supports programmes that focus not only on basics, such as food and shelter, but also on education and job training. In 2000, IYF and Nokia created YouthActionNet and Make a Connection, a life skills development initiative operating with local partners in 16 countries.

Mr Lipponen says employees of Nokia and members of communities in which they work steered the company towards youth leadership - and away from more popular causes, such as health - because "it was where we could contribute most". Many companies sponsor educational programmes, he acknowledges. But "most have put their efforts in formal university or high school education." He adds: "We felt quite strongly that is not enough. The non-academic life skills - self-confidence, problem solving, conflict resolution - are just as important."

Nokia and IYF are not alone in that belief. In fact, there are several other public and private organisations working to "harness the power" of youth and to create a new generation of community service leaders.

Two examples are The Congressional Youth Leadership Council (CYLC) and the National Youth Leadership Council, both of which focus on conferences. The latter promotes "service learning" and hosts an annual gathering of high school students aimed at introducing them to social, political and environmental issues, empower them to take action and encourage them to co-operate with people from different racial, geographic and socio-economic backgrounds.

The CYLC is slightly more academic, accepting teacher nominations and applications from US middle and high school students wanting to attend "leadership laboratories" in Washington DC or at the United Nations in New York.

With support from more than 400 members of Congress and 25 ambassadors to the US, the group also hosts a global summit, drawing young leaders from all over the world to hear inspirational speeches, attend seminars and engage in role- playing exercises.

US politicians have also taken an active role in an organisation created by Colin Powell, the current secretary of state, in 1997 following a summit attended by then-president Bill Clinton, his predecessors, 30 governors and 100 mayors.

The group, called America's Promise, works with local partners to provide young people with adult mentors, safe places to learn and play, marketable skills and community service activities.

In launching the related website, Mr Powell challenged young people to become their own leaders. "You are a vital resource in and for your community," he said. "We need your energy, your idealism, and your commitment."

Indeed, some of the most successful small-scale youth leadership programmes have themselves been created by young people. Take Mr Beibe's project, Agora, Educating for Democracy, for example. He and partner Agustín Frizzera created it in the midst of a political crisis in Argentina to counter what they saw as an alarming apathy expressed by their peers. Since late 2001, they have taken Agora to 30 schools and 800 students.

Participants, aged 16-18, get a lesson on government, then engage in a four-hour mock government budget meeting. Afterwards, they are asked to develop and launch their own community service project. "We specifically adapted this programme for youth, to get into [their] heads," says Mr Beibe. "We have a good rapport."

Convincing middle-aged school administrators to allow twentysomething instructors into their classrooms was a challenge. But "when we got in one school, we would be recommended to another", adds Mr Beibe.

Thanks to his YouthActionNet connections, Agora will soon expand to Uruguay. Young activists from the Netherlands and Australia are also working with Mr Beibe. "This is the classic model of teaching someone to fish instead of giving them fish," he says.