Our 2022 IYD Celebration focuses on how to work with youth

No more excuses: how to work with youth. This was the theme for our celebration of International Youth Day (IYD) this year. On August 12, we hosted an online session to commemorate IYD where we invited different stakeholders which include youth-led NGOs, government structures leading youth strategies, and young leaders actively involved in solving road safety issues. 

The event featured speakers from different fields which include Programme Manager of the Directorate General for INTPA European Commission Ana Plavsic, YOURS - Youth for Road Safety Executive Director Floor Lieshout, one of our Youth Leadership Board members Oliva Nalwadda, YOURS Junior Project Manager Sana’a Khasawneh, and Policy and Evidence Manager of FIA Foundation Robert Clarke. It was moderated by YOURS Capacity Development Director Manpreet Darroch.

The event was opened with messages from the Office of the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth Jayathma Wickramanayake and Director General of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. 

YOURS Executive Director, Floor Lieshout, kicked off the discussion by talking about meaningful youth participation. The segment covered what instances count as meaningfully engaging with youth and which are considered tokenistic. To help better understand, Ana Plavsic and Oliva Nalwadda shared their experiences of working with youth and working as a young person, respectively. The session was moderated by Richard Clarke.

Our commemoration of International Youth Day also saw the official launch of our Policymakers’ Toolkit, a document that will guide policymakers and decision-makers on how to meaningfully engage and involve young people. Meaningful youth engagement, particularly in road safety, is something we’ve championed since the very beginning. We believe that young people have a right to be involved in the issues that most affect their lives.

“Meaningful youth participation means that young people’s experiences, ideas, expertise, and perspectives are systematically integrated into programmatic, policy and decision-making institutions” - Policymakers’ Toolkit

Our Toolkit highlights that meaningful youth participation happens when youth experiences, youth ideas, youth expertise, and youth perspectives are integrated into institutions that support the development and implementation of programs, policies, and decision-making efforts.

All sectors of society must come together to systematically integrate meaningful youth participation within policymaking and decision-making structures as a cycle of continuous relationship building. Successful integration means taking a multi-method approach so that young people can choose the best way they could participate.