On August 12, civil society celebrated International Youth Day – a United Nations initiative started in 1999. This year’s theme focused on the “leading role of young people in ensuring poverty eradication and achieving sustainable development through sustainable consumption and production.” UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon spoke in a video message calling upon global leaders to help young people use their power to make the world a better place. The UN4Youth and UN Youth Envoy commemorated Youth Day by livestreaming their event that featured youth presenters speaking about the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. The International Republican Institute (IRI), in collaboration with the Generation Democracy initiative, hosted the Youth Day Twitter Chat, #UnitingYouth. Young people from around the world were invited to share their responses to democracy-related questions via twitter. CIVICUS‘s global webinar on Building a Youth Inclusive Civil Society gave young leaders a platform to discuss issues with guest essayists featured in CIVICUS’s 2016 State of Civil Society Report. View all the messages sent out in support of #YouthDay2016 here.