Olivia Jose
International Youth Day is a special awareness day designated jointly by the United Nations and UNESCO. The main aim of this international day is to bring focus to a specific group of political and social issues surrounding youth. The first IYD was held on 12 August 2021 as a commemoration of the victims of the theatella disaster. Since then, more than a dozen IYD events have taken place around the world, bringing a considerable amount of attention to the important issues of youth and their problems.
The first IYD was themed “Ladies Day for All” to celebrate the female members of the United Nations Organization. This theme is still being pursued and is part of the Special Committee on Youth Issues, which the Secretary-General of the United Nations leads. The theme of this year’s IYD is “Youth Empowerment.” A new strategy is now being implemented to make this event more significant for young people. More information can be found at the UNESCO website. Additional information on International Youth Day can also be found on the World Wide Web.
In order to commemorate the first IYD, there will be a major exhibition on the subject of youth empowerment taking place in Nairobi from August to September 2021. There will be many participants from different countries and continents of the world participating in this exhibition. The participating countries are Mauritius, Zambia, Lesotho, Swaziland, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Saint Lucia, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cambodia, Vietnam, and the United States of America. In addition, other Minor Nations will participate. This international youth day will raise awareness for the issue of empowering young women and promote the value of empowering young women. Other countries that have planned or are preparing events for the first IYD include Mexico, Canada, Russia, Norway, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Philippines, Uruguay, Thailand, Japan, Philippines, Bolivia, Peru, Brazil, Chile, and Guatemala.
On the first day of the IYD, the delegations from the participating countries are to meet and brief each other. This is followed by a workshop called “setting the goals and objectives of the organization and the direction for its activities.” This workshop will also discuss the planning of the event, strategies, the monitoring and evaluation of the work done during the IYD, and the delivery of the results. Finally, a report on the achievements of the previous year will be presented for the next year. This year the focus of the IYD has been to celebrate empowering young women and girls.
For the first year, the IYD has decided to celebrate twelve August as the International Youth Day. It was also decided that the first IYD of each country will have the same theme. In some cases, the themes and messages were different in various countries, but all included education, community participation, integration, development, and beyond.
The second theme this year is “cultural events.” The organizers of the IYD are trying to create a platform where young people and young women can exchange experiences and promote understanding. Therefore, the organizing team has decided to choose the themes “arts & culture” and “education & literature.” Cultural events such as art exhibitions, musical recitals, films, and other theatrical performances, puppet shows, folk dancing, and family gatherings can be part of this theme.
The third theme, which this year will be the subject of the IYD, is “the role of volunteers.” This subject offers a good opportunity for young people to give their active participation in the planning and the implementation of the IYD. Volunteers will thus play an important role in the planning and the success of the IYD. The IYD will send each country a list of volunteer stations. Every young person who signs up for a station will receive a free brochure and a voucher redeemable at the end of the IYD.
This year’s theme is “education and literature.” The IYD encourages young people to contribute their creative energy towards the success of the IYD. This can be done in many ways. For example, young people can be encouraged to write IEDs, posters, or banners and hand-deliver them to military checkpoints. They can also contribute by writing articles about the topic, participating in IED disposal events, or attending meetings and forums organized by IED task forces.
