Each 12 August is celebrated as United Nations (UN) International Youth Day.

The Thammasat University Library collection includes many books about subjects affecting youth, including youth social entrepreneurship and youth engagement.

As the UN website explains,

International Youth Day (IYD) gives an opportunity to celebrate and mainstream young peoples’ voices, actions and initiatives, as well as their meaningful, universal and equitable engagement. The commemoration will take the form of a podcast-style discussion that is hosted by youth for youth, together with independently organized commemorations around the world that recognize the importance of youth participation in political, economic and social life and processes.

Last year’s theme was as follows:

Youth Engagement for Global Action

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.

As the United Nations turns 75, and with only 10 years remaining to make the 2030 Agenda a reality for all, trust in public institutions is eroding. At the international level, against the backdrop of an increasingly polarized world, the international system of governance is currently undergoing a crisis of legitimacy and relevance. In particular, this crisis is rooted in the need to strengthen the capacity of the international system to act in concert and implement solutions to pressing challenges and threats (examples include some of the worst contemporary conflicts and humanitarian emergencies, such as Syria and Myanmar, as well as global challenges, such as the COVID-19 outbreak and climate change).

Enabling the engagement of youth in formal political mechanisms does increase the fairness of political processes by reducing democratic deficits, contributes to better and more sustainable policies, and also has symbolic importance that can further contribute to restore trust in public institutions, especially among youth. Moreover, the vast majority of challenges humanity currently faces, such as the COVID-19 outbreak and climate change require concerted global action and the meaningful engagement and participation of young people to be addressed effectively…

One special area of interest is Protecting and mobilizing youth in COVID-19 responses:

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in severe economic and social impacts around the world. Young people are particularly vulnerable to the disruptions the pandemic has caused. Young people will form a key element in an inclusive recovery and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) during this Decade of Action.

Youth Responses to COVID-19

COVID-19 affects all segments of the population, with young people playing a key role in the management of this outbreak and the recovery following the outbreak. Though much is still unknown on how the disease affects young people, governments are mandated in the World Programme of Action for Youth (WPAY) to ensure their services meet the needs of young people. In these circumstances, it is important to ensure that youth are heard alongside other community and patient voices in the rollout of health and non-health interventions in response to COVID-19.

Building up the capacity of youth to be able to make their own decisions on health and to take responsibility for health is also a key element of WPAY. In this context, health education, public health promotion, and evidence-based information are critical in combating the spread and effects of COVID-19, especially to challenge the spread of disinformation online. The role of governments as well as youth organizations and community groups will be essential to ensure that trustworthy public health information is disseminated. Young people themselves are also utilizing online technologies to spread public health information in engaging ways such as videos to promote effective handwashing or explain how social distancing can save lives.

Young innovators are already responding to the virus through social impact innovation. Around the world, a number of initiatives are being developed to leverage young people’s efforts to generate and deliver support to at-risk populations or populations affected by the pandemic. Whilst most of these initiatives are on a voluntary basis (e.g. young people offering to shop for and deliver food to elders or at-risk people), they can also take the shape of social enterprises. Many youth-driven technology innovation hubs are supporting startups to develop effective solutions to address COVID-19. For example, CcHUB (an open living lab and pre-incubation space) in Nigeria is offering to provide financial, research and design support for projects related to COVID-19.

Another focus is Youth Social Entrepreneurship and the 2030 Agenda:

The World Youth Report: Youth Social Entrepreneurship and the 2030 Agenda seeks to contribute to the understanding of how youth social entrepreneurship can both support youth development and help accelerate the implementation of the SDGs. To do so, the Report first synthesizes the current discussion on social entrepreneurship and anchors it in the context of the 2030 Agenda. Chapter 2 of the Report then turns toward the situation of youth and examines whether youth social entrepreneurship can offer not only employment opportunities, but also support other elements of youth development such as youth participation.  In the third chapter, the Report assesses the potential and the challenges of youth social entrepreneurship as a tool supporting the 2030 Agenda and youth development in its broadest sense. Finally, chapter 4 first examines how new technologies can be leveraged to address some challenges faced by young social entrepreneurs as well as further support youth social entrepreneurship in its efforts to advance sustainable development. This last chapter finally offers policy guidance to build enabling, responsive, and sustainable national ecosystems for young social entrepreneurs.

Throughout the report, info boxes and case studies illustrate the impact youth social entrepreneurship can have when entrepreneurial ecosystems are aligned with the needs, characteristics, constraints and ambitions of young people.

The World Youth Report, prepared biennially, is the flagship publication on youth issues of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat.

The report observes, among other recommendations:

There is tremendous potential for young social entrepreneurs to utilize frontier technologies to tackle systemic social issues innovatively and effectively. Indeed, key new technologies can make a significant contribution to addressing societal needs and challenges in all countries, irrespective of development level. As young people are generally among the earliest adopters of trending technologies, they are poised to take advantage of innovations in this area to drive the impact of social entrepreneurship. However, the rapid development and diffusion of emerging and frontier technologies have the potential to exacerbate the digital divide and other inequalities. If not appropriately harnessed, new technologies can pose threats to sustainable and inclusive development. Policymakers developing social entrepreneurship ecosystems should not discount the strong potential and existing social impact of such technologies. In particular, policymakers need to explore how emerging and frontier technologies might form the basis of innovations that could accelerate the achievement of the social objectives of the 2030 Agenda. Indeed, new technologies are already driving profound transformations in the realms of economic and social development and inclusion. Linking youth social entrepreneurship with new technologies represents an opportunity to disseminate and scale up technological solutions that can improve the global welfare while simultaneously developing the largely untapped potential of youth.

(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)