To mark International Youth Day this year, the Office of the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth will run a campaign focused on showcasing young people’s resilience, resourcefulness and leadership when it comes to creating a better world for all.
Under the theme of “Celebrating Ways #YouthLead as Agents of Change for the Global Goals”, the Office will hand over its digital channels (social media, website, email) to a different young person each day throughout the month of August, culminating in a first-of-its-kind month-long takeover showcasing the myriad of intersectional ways that young people are contributing to achievement of the SDGs around the world.
Why now?
As we approach the mid-point of the 2030 Agenda and the SDG Summit this September, the promise for our common future is in deep peril. For the first time in decades, development progress is reversing under the combined impacts of climate disasters, conflict, economic downturn and lingering COVID-19 effects. Unless we take urgent action now, the 2030 Agenda will become nothing more than a vision for a world that might have been.
In light of this reality, young people undoubtedly remain one of our greatest hopes to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), ensuring no one is left behind.
Amidst the multi-faceted crises facing our world, young people’s unwavering optimism, innovative solutions and demonstrated preservice in the face of adversity remind us that there is still time to get the world back on track to achieve the SDGs.
How can I join the conversation?
In addition to submitting content to be part of the takeover, young people, youth advocates and allies can engage in the campaign by using the virtual photo filter activation. Photos can be added directly via an editable template (available in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish) or the dedicated Instagram filter (which can also be accessed via the filters tab on the @UNYouthEnvoy profile).
Help us spread the word
The youth-led takeover kicks off on across all our channels on 1 August 2023, where you can follow along at @UNYouthEnvoy on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
Help us celebrate and amplify the amazing work young people are doing all around the world by re-sharing our content, creating your own #YouthLead content and sharing some of our key messages — which are all available in the campaign communications toolkit.