Youth Day to encourage civic engagement

Online campaigns and events have been the go-to tools for raising the profile of International Youth Day, celebrated on Aug. 12, and spreading the discussion on youth civic engagement The engagement of youth in civil society will soon be a major discussion topic across the world, as Aug. 12 is International Youth Day, a day designated by the United Nations and celebrated since 2010. Each year, the U.N. sets a theme for International Youth Day, and this year's theme is Youth Civic Engagement, a major goal of the U.N.'s System-Wide Action Plan on Youth (Youth-SWAP), carrying the U.N.'s expertise and joint programming across the world into youth development.

The hashtag #youthday has been used across social media channels, especially Twitter, to generate discussions on the engagement and participation of young people in political, economic and social platforms. The hashtag has been used to raise awareness on how crucial youth civic engagement is both for the resilience and well-being of young people themselves, as well as for sustainable human development in a broader scale.

Online campaigns and events have been the go-to tools for raising the profile of International Youth Day and spreading the discussion on youth civic engagement. Online makes sense, as 45 percent of the world's Internet users are below 25. On Aug. 12, there will be Twitter chats on youth health, education, and gender equality, a Google Hangout on how to become a youth delegate for the U.N., as well as livestreaming of various panels across the Internet.

Networks, communities and civil society organizations across the web are asking young people to share their stories on diverse areas like the relationship between agriculture and civic engagement, mental...