International Youth Day 2024
From Clicks to Progress: Youth Digital Pathways for Sustainable Development
It is International Youth Day. A day dedicated to putting young people at the fore. Yes, it’s about acknowledgment and appreciation: celebrating the contributions, validating the concerns – but it’s so much more. International Youth Day in 2024 takes on a whole new meaning for the younger generations of this world. There’s often a seat missing at the table, and today, the global community seeks to fill it.
International Youth Day originated with the premise of seeing and hearing youth. It was first celebrated in 2000 and since then there has been much talk about empowering and connecting with young people… to which there has been little follow through. It’s now 2024, and the world is up to its neck in promises that are failing to be delivered. Young people are frustrated. Despite being a population that makes up half of the global total, young people don’t carry a lot of weight when it comes to weigh ins and weigh ups. Youth continue to be side-lined, ignored and patronised. That’s not even considering intersectional identity, the disparity within disparity conversation, the communities that face deep-seated marginalisation: the people and voices who must fight that many more obstacles to pull up and maintain a seat at the table.
Seat at the table or not – that’s not stopping today’s youth! Denied access to a voice in the traditional way, young people are turning the tables and speaking up wherever, whenever. In the streets, classrooms and online, kids, teens and young adults are pioneering new technology and navigating new obstacles, all the while advocating and bringing the conversation to the public. It’s a game-changer for how we do things and with the end date of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) fast approaching in 2030, there’s no doubt that if we are going to meet these targets, we are going to need to recruit and involve the game-changers themselves. This will see to it that the necessary changes will be made to economic, social and environmental realms and will improve quality of life to a point that right now, only exists as a hope.
For all young people to be seen and heard, involved and respected. That is the premise of today. Today, we have an opportunity to make good on our promises by ensuring that youth everywhere always have a seat at the table, not just once a year on the 12th of August. So with that said, happy International Youth Day everyone! What will you do?
