Today is Youth Day. As an organization for young people, this is a double reason for us to celebrate: Youth Civic Engagement, the overarching priority theme of the UN, is a central method of our work. terre des hommes schweiz therefore asked young people and young adults why they think Civic Youth Engagement is important? The answers can be found on Youtube…
The UN celebrates International Youth Day every year on August 12. The year 2015 is dedicated to Youth Civic Engagement. For terre des hommes schweiz, August 12, 2015 is a special day because young people are at the heart of our project work and youth engagement (youth participation) is one of the focal points of our work.
Instead of reporting on our project work with young people, we took International Youth Day as an opportunity to let young people and young adults from our projects have their say. We asked them why it is important for young people to get involved. You can find the answers on our YouTube channel. The existing short films will be continuously supplemented with further statements in the near future.
Here is a first taste:
Why do we promote youth engagement?
Young people (aged 10 to 24) make up a quarter of the world’s population. They are the young people who will make up the society of tomorrow. It is therefore crucial that they are part of the change and development processes. Moreover, their potential and energy for innovation are huge. Their concerns must therefore be heard and supported in order to anchor improvements in the long term.
The commitment of young people has an impact
Experience from project work shows that youth participation has a lasting effect. Young people are empowered by the right projects to stand up for their rights and ideas. In this way, those affected become participants and can bring about lasting change. A good example of this is our partner organization ACOOC, whose young people are successfully campaigning for the right to substitute military service to be implemented in Colombia.
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