Scotland celebrates #InternationalYouthDay

This Wednesday 12^th August Scotland celebrated #InternationalYouthDay, with plenty of organisations taking part in this year’s theme of ‘Youth Engagement for Global Action’.

International Youth Day was declared by the United Nations General Assembly in 1999 following recommendations made by the World Conference of Minister’s Responsible for Youth in Lisbon, 1998.

The event gives an opportunity to celebrate and mainstream young peoples’ voices, actions and initiatives, as well as their meaningful, universal and equitable engagement.

The theme of International Youth Day 2020, “Youth Engagement for Global Action” seeks to highlight the ways in which the engagement of young people at the local, national and global levels is enriching national and multilateral institutions and processes, as well as draw lessons on how their representation and engagement in formal institutional politics can be significantly enhanced.

Scottish organisations such as the Rural Youth Project, YouthLink Scotland and Growbiz collaborated to deliver online events in honour of #InternationalYouthDay, including an online webinar ‘How YOU(th) can be a leader for change’, focussing on climate action. Growbiz and RYP also hosted their the first Digital Collective of Scotland's leading Young Entrepreneurs online networking event.

Wednesday also saw an important announcement for Scotland’s young people from Economy Secretary Fiona Hyslop, with a promise of £60 million investment in a ‘Youth Guarantee’ to give all young people access to work, training or education.

Making the announcement she said: “The young people who will make up our future workforce are among those who have been hardest hit by this pandemic. We must support our young people and I want to send a clear message to them today.”

Find out more about #InternationalYouthDay on the United Nations Website.