The theme of International Youth Day 2015 is “Youth Civic Engagement.” 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 at promoting civic engagement and participation of youth in politics and public life, so that young people can be empowered and bring a full contribution to society, development and peace.

You can be part of these efforts!

The Inter-Agency Network on Youth Development, led by the co-chairs, DESA and UNDP, is running an online campaign in the lead up to International Youth Day 12 August 2015. The campaign will open up a space for young people to share their stories and ideas on civic engagement activities. 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 organizing an International Youth Day Event.  Youth should contribute in the building and designing of their future!