International Youth Day is commemorated every year on August 12th. This year’s event will be commemorated with a podcast-style discussion led by youth, for youth. UNDESA and the IANYD Youth Caucus encourage young people, youth structures, civil society and other relevant stakeholders to come together and celebrate the theme Youth Engagement for Global Action. Many young people have innovative and creative ways to celebrate the day, but if you would like to explore some of our suggested ways to get involved, see this toolkit for some great ideas! Join our campaign! You can help commemorate IYD with the simple click of a button! Join our online campaign running from late July until the 12th August 2020. Use the #YouthDay, #Youth4GlobalAction, and #SDG16 to help spread the word and strike up a conversation surrounding youth engagement for global action.
Organise an event! One way to engage your community in a visible and interactive way is to organize an event or activity that can attract as many youth as possible. With the outbreak of COVID-19, physical events have had to transition online. Take advantage of social media and use virtual platforms for your events to initiate discussions where youth can participate in activities such as: Seminars, lectures or peer-to-peer debates- why not take the initiative to organise a round table discussion or organize a focus-group discussion online and invite both young and older people to stimulate inter-generational discussions? Ensure a wide geographic and genderbalance to help capture everyone’s ideas and suggestions. Virtual exhibitions and live streams- are great ways to engage talented local people who can perform dance, music, art, or poetry to promote the theme for International Youth Day. Why not collaborate with other artists to generate a collective response? Solo or collaborative, creative endeavours can be a good way to spark discussion around the theme.