Dev Diary #13: International Youth Day
“Today, we celebrate the young people, youth-led organizations, Governments and others who are working to transform education and uplift young people everywhere.” — UN Secretary-General António Guterres
Hello everyone! Happy International Youth Day! Today is a day of celebrations in the virtual offices of Atlantic Forum as we celebrate International Youth Day with our team (which recently was expanded with our Community Manager Raluca!
We are particularly happy with this years International Youth Day, not only because its the first day we get to celebrate as Atlantic Forum, but because of the particular choice of this years theme: Transforming education.
What is International Youth Day?
The first International Youth Day was designated by the UN General Assembly on August 12, 1999, marking this year the 20th anniversary of International Youth Day. The day serves as an annual celebration of the role of young women and men as essential partners in change, and an opportunity to raise awareness of challenges and problems facing the world’s youth.
This year’s theme highlights efforts to make education more inclusive and accessible for all youth, including efforts by youth themselves. Rooted in Goal 4 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all” – International Youth Day 2019 will examine how Governments, young people and youth-led and youth-focused organizations, as well as other stakeholders, are transforming education so that it becomes a powerful tool to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
It is of course no coincedence that the team has been working hard on getting The Academy up and running (read up on The Academy in Dev Diary #11). Later this week we will go live with The Academy and in the next Dev Diary we will introduce our Academy Director and the High School Program pilot. Today is also super exciting for a secret initative, that (assuming it goes well) we will talk about in a month or so!
Happy International Youth Day from all of us at Atlantic Forum!