International Youth Day: 12 AUGUST 2015
The 2015 International Youth Day theme is Youth Civic Engagement. Youth Civic Engagement is the main goal of the United Nations System-Wide Action Plan on Youth (Youth-SWAP), which seeks to promote young people’s effective inclusive civic engagement at all levels. Recently there has been increased attention on policy and programming with a focus on youth civic engagement by governments, United Nations entities, regional and multilateral organisations, youth advocates and researchers, and of course young people.
On 12 August 2015, the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) with the support of the UN Inter-agency Network on Youth Development is organising an event to commemorate International Youth Day under the theme Youth Civic Engagement. Find more information about the International Youth Day 2015 event here.
International Youth Day 2015 Online Campaign
The engagement and participation of youth is essential to achieve sustainable human development. Yet often the opportunities for youth to engage politically, economically and socially are low or non-existent. More efforts are needed to raise awareness about the importance of youth civic engagement and its benefits to the individual and to society, including for sustainable development as well as resilience and wellbeing.
The International Youth Day 2015 campaign aims to promote civic engagement and participation of youth in politics and public life, so that young people are empowered and bring a full contribution to society, development and peace. Young people will be able to share their message by submitting a photograph that relates to the theme, by tweeting ideas and opinions on the theme using #YouthDay, or by organising an International Youth Day Event. Visit the campaign website for additional details.