12 August is International Youth Day, a day to celebrate the strength, creativity and potential of young people everywhere. It’s also a powerful reminder of why we must keep listening to their voices, amplifying their experiences, and making sure they have a real say in the decisions that affect their lives.
At NYAS, this day feels especially important. Every single day, we stand alongside care-experienced children and young people who are challenging injustice, driving change, and shaping a better future – not just for themselves, but for those who will come after them.
This Year’s Theme: Youth Empowerment for a Sustainable Future
This year’s theme calls on all of us to equip young people with the tools, opportunities and support they need to create the future they want to see.
At NYAS, empowerment isn’t just a word we use – it’s at the heart of everything we do. Through advocacy, independent visiting, participation, and legal support, we help care-experienced children and young people to speak up, be heard, and have their rights respected.
We see the difference advocacy makes every day. It’s the child who was moved closer to their friends and family. It’s the young person who was supported in going bck to school so they could keep learning. It’s the care leaver who finally got the mental health support they’d been waiting for.
Empowerment means giving young people safe spaces to share what matters to them, making sure what they say leads to change, and never letting their voices go unheard.
Taking Youth Voice to the World Stage
This year, International Youth Day is particulalry pertinent. Through our Taith programme, a group of care-experienced young people will soon be travelling to the United Nations in Geneva and New York – the place where this awareness day was first imagined.
There, they’ll share their experiences, speak directly to global decision-makers, and help shape the future of care on an international stage. It’s an incredible opportunity for their voices to reach further than ever before.
International Youth Day is important to me because being involved in youth work has changed my goals as I am now working towards being an international youth worker! Being part of international trips is excellent preparation. I look forward to to learning about international practices and policies and sharing the great work we do. Working together to create change for care experience children and young people is the way forward! Working together makes the dream work, no matter where in the world you are.
Rayya, NYAS Cymru YPAG member
Standing With Young People, Every Day
We’re inspired daily by the resilience, honesty and leadership of the young people we work with. Their insight drives our campaigns – from My Things Matter to Trust Us to Care – and shapes our vision for a care system that truly works for them.
Empowerment starts with action. It means listening to young people, believing what they tell us, and backing them all the way to make the change they want to see.
