Youth Speak: A Global Youth Movement for A Better Tomorrow
YouthSpeak Enables Young People To Voice Their Opinions and Take Action
As a generation, we’ve made a lot of progress in a short amount of time. From Mark Zuckerberg jumpstarting the social media revolution to Malala Yousafzai who stood up for a generation’s right to education—we are a generation armed with the power of technology, human connectivity and the ability to reach the world with our voices. We’ve lived through challenging times but have also thrived in creating solutions to these challenges. We didn’t give up, but instead committed ourselves to making the world a better place. From transforming the workplace to our classrooms—it’s just the beginning.
With 1.8 billion young people today, we are blessed with being the most educated and connected generation in history. But we have also inherited a world where socioeconomic issues are global by nature and increasingly complex. Time doesn’t stop and it is ticking, fast. Ranging from climate change, inequality, poverty, unemployment, political conflict—the list goes on.
No matter the challenges we face—we need leaders who are connected to a bigger purpose, have the empowerment and tools to succeed, and a greater understanding of the unique role they play in the world. The more we engaged with decision makers at organizations, we realized the lack of knowledge of the next generation and how to best work and understand them. Creating change requires all of us to take part and that starts with understanding.
When we reflect on how we can increase human capacity to deliver solutions to address these challenges, a key question came back to us: “how do we activate the potential of our generation in addressing these issues in an impactful way?”
YouthSpeak was born out of a simple idea. What if we could harness the collective power of a global youth voice and their opinions, and discover what challenges they faced today in reaching their potential. And from there, we can take their opinions to decision makers and collaborate with them on how to transform society and make it easier and more effective in developing young people. At the same time, we can use the youth opinion to empower our own generation and raise awareness of what we care about and how we can take action.
In the end, we want to see a world where young people are empowered to speak up, show up and take action. The world desperately needs more effective leaders who don’t just talk, but walk the talk. Our mission is to provide the platform to empower an entire generation to create positive impact. We know that not everyone aspires to be like Mark or Malala, but what we do know is the power of an individual to change this world. And it requires you, me, and all of us to make this change. YouthSpeak itself was created by a group of young people no older than 25.
No matter if you are member of AIESEC, a student, or of another organization, we want to work with you to make it happen. This is our call to action for all of us to rally together and have the courage to make the change we all wish to see.
It’s time that young people are not side-lined as a second priority, but are seen as a strategic priority in enabling a more prosperous society.
We invite you to learn more about the world around you and be the catalyst for positive impact.
“Ours is the first generation with the potential to end poverty – and the last to act to avoid worst effects of climate change”
– Ban Ki Moon, United Nations Secretary-General
Join the movement NOW!