UNESCO Youth Programme:work with and for the youth

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Release time：2017-01-09 10:40

“I call upon all Member States and UNESCO partners to support their initiatives, to give them voice, to let them grow ... ”

Irina Bokova

UNESCO Director-General

on International Youth Day

UNESCO's objective is to help empower young people, reaching out to them, responding to their expectations and ideas, fostering useful and long-lasting skills, which is the aim of UNESCO Youth Programme.

Youth Programme

UNESCO Youth Programme works to create an enabling environment in which thisgoal can be achieved, by bringing youth voices to the fore and encouragingyoung people to come together to take action.

The United Nations define youth as persons between the ages of 15 and 24. UNESCO understands that young people are a heterogeneous group in constant evolution and that the experience of ‘being young’ varies enormously across regions and within countries.

UNESCO is encouraging

·The participation of young women and men in UNESCO and its various networks and partner organizations, to open up opportunities for all to listen to and engage in dialogue.

·Partnerships between UNESCO and young people’s networks and organizations, to solicit and integrate their views and priorities and collaborate with them in setting up projects and programmes in the areas of the Organization’s competence.

·The integration of youth concerns and issues into the policy agendas of Member States in education, the sciences, culture and communication, in order to create spaces and opportunities for empowering young people and giving recognition, visibility and credibility to their contributions.

Young womenand men have got the creativity, the potential and the capacity to make changehappen – forthemselves, for their societies, and for the rest of the world. UNESCO’swork with and for youth is committed to empowering young women and men and helpingthem to work together to drive social innovation and change, participate fullyin the development of their societies, eradicate poverty and inequality, andfoster a culture of peace.

Youth arenot just beneficiaries of this work – they are essential actors in finding solutions to the issues faced byyoung people in the world today. Their energy and leadership has beendemonstrated across the world, and they must be fully engaged in socialdevelopment themselves and supported in this work by their societies.

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