International Youth Day: How are you empowering our youth?

Photo by Timon Studler on Unsplash

Happy International Youth Day!

Ah… to be young again! No responsibilities, innocence, carefree attitude… Perhaps I’m idealizing youth. After discussing this with a few friends, I feel that our experiences of youth were not all so rosy. We had ideas about protecting the environment, building a time machine or creating a local food bank. When we shared them with adults, they laughed and found us “cute”. If we were aching, and particularly girls, we were told it was “normal”. After all, we were still growing so what we were feeling must have been mere growing pains. We saw many wrongs, many injustices and power dynamics that we could not understand and were told, again, that it was “normal”. At times, we were even told we could do nothing about it: it was just the way it was. Whether it was through direct conversations with adults, filtered through the media or hearing stories from fellow young friends, it felt that our views were dismissed. In short, we were expected to grow into an assertive, independent and confident individuals but in the meantime, to be passive, pliable and obedient.

This is not what I wish for today’s youth.

“Let us all support young people in creating a future where our planet is protected and all people live in dignity.” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

Today’s theme for International Youth Day is “Youth Civic Engagement.” The U.N. believes, and I’m 100% on board with them, that the engagement and participation of youth is essential to achieve sustainable human development. Youth make up half of the world population. 50.5% as of 2012 to be exact. With over 7 billion on earth, this is the largest generation of young people in history. Are we going to sustainably develop without half of the population engaged and on board?

Unfortunately, often, the opportunities for youth to engage politically, economically and socially are low or non-existent.

One of the most eloquent and articulated speeches I have heard concerning girl empowerment was delivered by Phoenix Plessas-Azurduy, a fantabulous Grade Seven Student. It is worthy of Emma Watson’s speech on gender equality, at the launch of the UN “He for She” campaign (click here for the UN Webcast YouTube clip of the speech), or Gloria Steinem’s numerous pearls of wisdom (listen to one of many interviews here). It is a masterpiece of civic engagement.

My eyes teared up when I discovered Phoenix’s age, young and already so bright, so brave, so courageous. I am in awe of her and of her generation when I contemplate the depth of her intelligence, the magnitude of her potential to bring about more positive change and her role as a catalyst for youth and girl empowerment. She talks about how girls can empower themselves and each other to be the best they can be. I encourage you to listen to her, to hear her well-constructed arguments and to embrace her passion for critical thinking. Support her call to improve social media, to build safer places and to promote female empowerment. Her speech is just under eight minutes long and is well worth the time. Click here to listen to her.​ 

Thank you Phoenix for your inspiring words and call to action.

“Youth engagement can help turn the world we want into the world we deserve.” Ahmad Alhendawi, UN Envoy on Youth

 

Photo by Austin Walker on Unsplash

Some food for thought today:

Have you listened, truly listened, to a young person recently? 

How are you supporting a youth’s dreams for engagement, personal growth and empowerment?

What messages are you conveying to our youth – messages of encouragement, hope and support, or messages of criticism, unattainable expectations and disapproval?

How are you supporting youth empowerment? 

 

Photo by Edi Libedinsky on Unsplash