July 2016 UNESCO Chair Contributes to UN World Youth Report

The United Nations World Youth Report will be launched at the UN Headquarters in New York on Friday, 15 July and focuses on Youth Civic Engagement in 2016. The publication is comprised of contributions from international experts including UNESCO Chair and Director of NUI Galway’s Child and Family Research Centre Professor Pat Dolan.

The report, published biennially, was commissioned in the context of an increased policy focus on youth civic engagement to counter the rise in youth radicalisation and the growing disenfranchisement among young people with traditional forms of political participation. 

The United Nations World Youth Report spans economic, political and community civic engagement models. These elements, grounded in discourses over the purpose and nature of youth as citizens, highlight a number of societal benefits to better recognition of young people as contributors to the development of their communities and society. The Report calls for the development of inclusive policies and decision-making processes that facilitate meaningful engagement and active partnership by young people.  

Professor Dolan said: “At a very real and human level this world youth report demonstrates that positive engagement of youth, in real ways in school and community settings, is core to future of Irish civic society, and needs and deserves fuller respect by adults including politicians. Young people when given the opportunity are equally, if not more empathic and willing than adults, and more than willing to play a positive role – youth are civic actors now and into the future.”

In a context-setting piece, UNESCO Chairs Pat Dolan and Mark Brennan of Pennsylvania State argue that perspectives that see youth as individuals with the positive motivation and skills to contribute to their communities have immediate benefits in terms of young people becoming more involved as collaborators, team members, leaders and decision makers within their communities while also setting up young people on a lifetime course of broader engagement in political and economic life. 

For further information on the United Nations World Youth Report visit www.unworldyouthreport.org.

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