Defining "youth"

There exist many different and overlapping definitions of "youth":

• youth is defined as those aged 14-25, both in school and out of school -- and this is generally the approach taken in this book.
• The UN formally defines youth as 15-24.
• Under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, there is a clear distinction between those under 18 (children) and those over 18 (adults).
• Many African and Asian youth organizations allow their members to be aged up to 35.
• some consider only students in high school part of their "youth programme", while others include 35-year-old post-graduate students within their youth programmes, as long as they participate through student groups.
  

Having a clear definition of "youth" allows an organization to make more effective decisions in terms of choosing partners to work with, developing materials, and appointing activists or staff to hold a "youth brief".

Particularly since the World Trade Organization protests in Seattle in 1999, websites have become a critical tool for youth activism. Most online activist groups employ the Web as a tool to organize and coordinate offline grassroots efforts, using electronic networking and information-sharing to overcome the challenges of small numbers, geographical dispersion, and inadequate funding. There are also new forms of Web-based activism whose activities are confined largely to cyberspace, from online petitions, to email pressure campaigns We look here at use of the Internet to organize campus campaigns for the environment.

related article:

http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/ecitizens/activism.htm

smex TOT

Social Media Exchange Training of Trainers

Youth Activism

For decades young people have been at the forefront of social movements and social change, making activism anything but a fad. Rather, it is a tool for those who feel that an injustice has occurred and decide to act against it. Although only a fraction of the young people fall into the ‘activist’ category, those who do carry an energy that has proven significant in achieving social change. Activists have learnt to use the tools and processes of globalisation to push for social change. There is a belief among many activists that at no time in history has the opportunity for change been as possible and so necessary.

follow up these links for success social change stories:

http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/cross-cutting_programs/transition_initiatives/country/lebanon2/lebanon_topic_index.html

Thanks SMEX for all your efforts.

In May, Social Media Exchange launch a new capacity-building project for Lebanese civil society and community-based organizations who want to use the Internet more strategically to support peacebuilding and youth activism. As a part of the project, SMEX will help develop a network of Internet media trainers/consultants who can work with Lebanese NGOs and other civil society actors to address needs and challenges using Internet-based social media technologies.

To this end, SMEX seeks applications from candidates across Lebanon for an innovative 10-week training of trainers (TOT) course (from about mid-May to the end of July) in using citizen media for peacebuilding and activism. The course will present an overview of digital and social media tools and tactics and how they’re being used around the world to strengthen civil society and effect change.

And for my good luck I become one of the members of this TOT.

Youth Activism is the project I choose to work in and for that reason I'm making this blog, and hopefully I will share it with a team .

Hope u like it and share ur thought with us.

Thanks SMEX for all your efforts.

Youth activism

Youth activism is best summarized as youth voice engaged in community organizing for social change. Around the world, young people are engaged inactivism as planners, researchers, teachers, evaluators, social workers, decision-makers, advocates and leading actors in the environmental movement,social justice organizations, campaigns supporting or opposing legalized abortion, and anti-racism, and anti-homophobia campaigns. As the central beneficiaries of public schools, youth are also advocating for student-led school change through student activism and meaningful student involvement.