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What does it really mean to be young? Is youth merely the number of years we have lived?
\nPerhaps not. You can be young in years and yet become rigid in your ways of thinking. And you
\ncan be well advanced in age, yet remain wonderfully alive, curious, enthusiastic and eager to
\ndiscover what life has to offer. It is simply having the capacity to be a student at anything, new or
\nold, whether learning a new technical skill, a new language or simply listening to another point of
\nview without anger. Curiosity is the true key to elasticity of mind.
\nInternational Youth Day is commemorated every year on 12 August, bringing youth issues to the
\nattention of the international community and celebrating the potential of youth as partners in
\ntoday\u2019s global society.The idea for International Youth Day was proposed in 1991 by the young
\npeople who were gathered in Vienna, Austria, for the first session of the World Youth Forum of
\nthe United Nations System. The Forum recommended that an International Youth Day be
\ndeclared, especially for fund-raising and promotional purposes, to support the United Nations
\nYouth Fund in partnership with youth organizations.
\nIn 1998, a resolution proclaiming 12 August as International Youth Day was adopted by the first
\nsession of the the World Conference of Ministers Responsible for Youth , which was hosted by
\nthe Government of Portugal in cooperation with the United Nations (Lisbon, 8-12 August 1998).
\nThe idea for an International Youth Day was first proposed in 1991 by young people attending the
\nfirst session of the World Youth Forum of the United Nations System in Vienna. So, the origins of
\nthe day actually came from young people’s own initiative.
\nInteresting facts about young people:
\n1. Young people are the largest generation in history.
\nThere are around 1.8 billion people aged 10-24 worldwide, making young people one of the
\nlargest generations the world has ever seen. Also in Croatia, young people aged 0 to 19 make up
\nroughly 19.0% of the population (about 735,000 individuals), while those defined more narrowly
\nas youth (aged 15 to 29 or 15 to 30) account for roughly 17% to 18% of the country.
\n2. Young people make up a significant part of the world’s population.
\nAround 1.2 billion people aged 15\u201324 live in the world today, representing approximately 16% of
\nthe global population. By 2030, this number is expected to increase to almost 1.3 billion.
\n3. Most young people live in developing countries.
\nAlmost 90% of the world’s 10\u201324 year olds live in developing countries. This means that the
\nfuture of many societies will be strongly shaped by the opportunities available to their young
\npopulations.
\n4.Young people are not just the leaders of tomorrow. They are already creating change today.
\nThe United Nations highlights young people as innovators, entrepreneurs, community leaders
\nand agents of change. They contribute to areas such as climate action, social innovation,
\ntechnology and sustainable development.
\n5. International Youth Day has been celebrated since 2000.
\nThe United Nations General Assembly endorsed 12 August as International Youth Day in 1999,
\nfollowing a recommendation from the World Conference of Ministers Responsible for Youth in
\nLisbon. The first International Youth Day was observed on 12 August 2000.
\n6.Young people have a huge role in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
\nYoung people are not simply beneficiaries of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. They have
\nalso been active participants in shaping and implementing them, particularly through youth
\norganizations, activism and community initiatives.
\nYoung people at the heart of Impress.
\nYoung people have always been an important part of the work of Impress. Through workshops,
\nvolunteering, international projects, Erasmus+ activities, intercultural events and non-formal
\neducation, young people have the opportunity to gain new skills while learning from real-life
\nexperiences.
\nFor us, learning does not happen only in a classroom. It can happen while travelling to another
\ncountry, meeting someone from a different culture, organizing an event, volunteering in the
\ncommunity, creating something with a team or simply having a conversation with someone new.
\nWe often hear that young people are \u201cthe leaders of tomorrow\u201d. But at Impress, we believe that
\nyoung people are not only the leaders of tomorrow. They are the changemakers of today. Young
\npeople are already creating projects, volunteering, sharing ideas, learning new skills, connecting
\ndifferent cultures and contributing to their communities.
\nThrough our Erasmus+ activities, we have had the opportunity to welcome young people from
\ndifferent parts of Europe and beyond to Daruvar. Over the years, our Erasmus+ activities have
\nconnected young people from around the World, creating opportunities for cultural exchange,
\nlearning and cooperation.
\nYesterday, on 12 August, International Youth Day, we celebrated young people in the best way we
\nknow by spending time together, creating, connecting and having fun. At Impress, we believe that
\nInternational Youth Day is not only a day to talk about young people, but also a day to listen to
\nthem, give them space to express themselves and celebrate everything they bring to our
\ncommunities.Throughout the day, we organized activities where young people could meet,
\nsocialize, share ideas and enjoy time together.
\nFor us, this is what youth work is about. It is not only about organizing activities. It is about
\ncreating a space where young people feel welcome, where they can be themselves, meet new
\npeople, discover their interests and realize that their voice matters. International Youth Day gave
\nus another opportunity to celebrate the young people who are part of our community and to
\nremind ourselves why supporting youth participation is so important.
\nYesterday we celebrated young people. Today, we continue creating opportunities for them. And
\ntomorrow, we will keep believing in their ideas, creativity and potential. Our message to young
\npeople:
\nYou do not have to wait until you are older to make a difference. You do not need to have
\neverything figured out. You do not need to be perfect. Start with an idea. Ask a question. Join a
\nproject. Meet someone new, volunteer. Learn something you have never tried before. Share your
\nvoice.Sometimes, one small opportunity can change the direction of someone’s life.That is why
\ncreating opportunities for young people matters. At Impress, we want to continue creating
\nspaces where young people can feel heard, supported and inspired to take action \u2013 locally and
\ninternationally. Because young people are not just preparing for the future.vThey are already
\ncreating it.
\nHappy International Youth Day!
\nSources:
\n1. United Nations-International Youth Day
\n2. United Nations-Youth and the Sustainable Development Goals
\n3. UNICEF-Adolescent Development and Participation
\n4. Udruga Impress-About us and Erasmus+ activities<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Author: Ramil Guliyev<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n * “The Impress Association is a beneficiary of institutional support from the National Foundation for Civil Society Development for the stabilization and\/or development of the association. The content of this article is the sole responsibility of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of the National Foundation.”<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What does it really mean to be young? Is youth merely the number of years we have lived? Perhaps not. You can be young in years and yet become rigid in your ways of thinking. And you can be well advanced in age, yet remain wonderfully alive, curious, enthusiastic and eager to discover what life […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-impress","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/udruga-impress.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/udruga-impress.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/udruga-impress.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/udruga-impress.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/udruga-impress.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5565"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/udruga-impress.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5565\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5567,"href":"https:\/\/udruga-impress.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5565\/revisions\/5567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/udruga-impress.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/udruga-impress.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/udruga-impress.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}