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 well being.
With this in mind, the United Nations is hosting the International Youth Day 2015 campaign which aims at promoting civic engagement and participation of youth in politics and public life, so that young people can be empowered and fully contribute to society, development and peace.
According the UN website, the campaign opens up a space for young people to share their stories, ideas and events on civic engagement activities. Young people were asked to share their messages 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. Youth should contribute in the building and designing of their future!
The voting for the #YouthDay competition is via Facebook. The 5 finalists were posted on Facebook at UN4Youth on 31 July. The winning photo will be the one with the most “Likes” on Facebook by 7 August at 5pm (EST/New York time). The winning photo will be showcased at the International Youth Day event on 12 August in UN Headquarters, and online, via @UN4Youth and @undp4youth Social Media platforms, and may be used for the World Youth Report 2015.
Check out the five finalists and “Like” your favourite one on Facebook here: http://on.fb.me/1VRZW2m
