Celebrating International Youth Day
International Youth Day is about empowering the future. We celebrate seven MSC Foundation programmes that are doing just that.
Focus Area: Education
International Youth Day is a United Nations awareness day that’s been celebrated on the 12th of August every year since 2000. Created to promote the UN World Programme of Action for Youth, it focuses on a different subject every year. For 2022, it’s Intergenerational Solidarity: Creating a World for All Ages. That’s a theme close to our hearts, expressing values we’ve put into concrete action in seven ongoing youth education programmes and initiatives with a strong intergenerational approach.
Teaching care for the seas across Italy
Covering all school ages, we fund 2 programmes of the Italian marine conservation NGO Marevivo, building a Community of Citizens of the Ocean. Nautici in Blu has taught 3,186 secondary school students and 265 teachers at 12 Nautical Institutes since 2017. Guardian Dolphins of the Islands has informed and enthused 5,860 learners and 562 teachers at 22 island primary schools since 2015.
Moving hearts and minds worldwide
We provide edutainment activities on all MSC Cruises ships during a dedicated MSC Foundation Day, reaching thousands of kids and youths worldwide every year in partnership with UNICEF and Marevivo. Raising awareness of plastic pollution, marine conservation and sustainable development, the impact ripples out to their families and other guests on board, and then to their home communities.
Plastic waste is building a brighter future
UNICEF’s Plastic Waste Goes to School programme in Ivory Coast is building new classrooms, cleaning up the environment and creating jobs for marginalised women. So far, 185 women waste collectors have been trained and 517,000 kg of plastic waste recycled, with 126,500 kg used to make innovative plastic bricks and build 71 modern classrooms, equipped to provide an education for 4,274 children.
Empowering youth to play a role in sustainable tourism
We partnered with the United Nations World Tourism Organisation’s first ever Global Youth Tourism Summit. Bringing together 130 delegates aged 12 to 18 from over 60 countries worldwide, the Summit in Sorrento empowered youth to play an active role in the future of sustainable tourism, providing a platform to discuss innovative ideas, visions and proposals, share thoughts and learn together.
Enabling continuity of education
We supported the American Caribbean Maritime Foundation’s life-changing work, funding the purchase of 25 laptops for the Caribbean Maritime University’s COVID emergency laptop access programme, enabling 600 vulnerable students to continue their studies through the pandemic.
Incentivising innovation in sustainable development
We’ve created an award for Best Tourism Final Degree Project at the Complutense University of Madrid to recognise and support top students with a commitment to tourism as a driver of sustainable development. Named in honour of Emiliano González, President of MSC Cruises Spain, the award provides a €4,000 prize and an internship at MSC Cruises.
By dedicating ourselves to initiatives like these - to which so many have generously contributed- we empower our younger generations to fulfil their potential and build a brighter future. And not just for themselves, but for all of us and our blue planet.
So, whether or not you read this on International Youth Day, let’s join together across the world to step up and celebrate everyone’s efforts - small and large, young and old - to create a world for all ages!
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