The Youth Contribute and SDGs

The youth con­tribute

There are cur­rent­ly 1.8 bil­lion youth in the world aged between 10–24 years, they are the largest young gen­er­a­tion in his­to­ry. Near­ly 90 per­cent of them live in devel­op­ing coun­tries. where they con­sti­tute the major­i­ty of the pop­u­la­tion.

Their num­bers are expect­ed to con­tin­ue to grow between 2015 and 2030 alone, with around 1.9 bil­lion young peo­ple expect­ed to be 15 years old. Con­nect­ed to each oth­er like nev­er before, young peo­ple want and are already con­tribut­ing to the resilience of their com­mu­ni­ties, propos­ing inno­v­a­tive solu­tions, dri­ving social progress and inspir­ing polit­i­cal change. They are agents of change who mobi­lize to advance the goals of the SDGs to improve human life and the health of the plan­et.

By being giv­en the skills and oppor­tu­ni­ties nec­es­sary to reach their poten­tial, young peo­ple can become a dri­ving force to sup­port devel­op­ment and con­tribute to peace and secu­ri­ty. Youth-led orga­ni­za­tions need to be encour­aged and empow­ered to par­tic­i­pate in trans­lat­ing the 2030 Agen­da into local, nation­al and region­al poli­cies.

In this regard they have an impor­tant role in imple­ment­ing, mon­i­tor­ing and review­ing the agen­da as well as in main­tain­ing gov­ern­ment account­abil­i­ty. With polit­i­cal com­mit­ment and ade­quate resources, young peo­ple have the poten­tial to most effec­tive­ly trans­form the world into a bet­ter place for all.

Unit­ed Nations and Youth

Based on its glob­al con­ven­ing role, the UN is in a unique posi­tion to act as an umbrel­la and respon­si­ble orga­ni­za­tion for the younger gen­er­a­tion as well as a plat­form that can meet their needs, voice their opin­ions and increase their involve­ment in the inter­na­tion­al world.

The UN ful­ly embraces the diver­si­ty of young peo­ple in all its forms. There­fore, the UN uses and advo­cates meth­ods and approach­es that reflect this diver­si­ty to ensure that all young peo­ple  can achieve full inclu­sion, empow­er­ment and devel­op­ment. The UN embraces young peo­ple as rights hold­ers and encour­ages and facil­i­tates trans­paren­cy, account­abil­i­ty and respon­sive­ness of gov­ern­ments, inter­na­tion­al orga­ni­za­tions and oth­er par­ties towards young peo­ple.

The Sec­re­tary Gen­er­al’s Envoy for Youth

Jay­ath­ma Wick­ra­manyake was appoint­ed as the UN Sec­re­tary Gen­er­al’s Youth Envoy in June 2017. As a glob­al advo­cate for youth, she works to ensure the par­tic­i­pa­tion of young peo­ple on the issues that mat­ter to them, giv­ing them a voice at the UN and around the world. By mak­ing a real con­tri­bu­tion to the SDGs, he is also bring­ing the UN’s work clos­er to young peo­ple around the world.

Young Lead­ers for SDGs

In Sep­tem­ber 2016, the inau­gur­al class of 17 young lead­ers was announced. Orga­nized by youth del­e­gates, the young SDGs lead­ers come from a vari­ety of back­grounds, sec­tors and regions and are rec­og­nized for their lead­er­ship and con­tri­bu­tion to a sus­tain­able world.

Young lead­ers work with youth del­e­gates to engage young peo­ple in advo­cat­ing for the achieve­ment of the SDGs in an acces­si­ble and inno­v­a­tive way and con­tribute to the brain trust that sup­ports UN efforts to mobi­lize young peo­ple. The new Young Lead­ers class will be announced in Sep­tem­ber 2022.

The Role of Youth and SDGs

1. Crit­i­cal Thinker:  Part of being young is mak­ing sense of per­son­al expe­ri­ences and ask­ing ques­tions about the world around you. Youth have the capac­i­ty to iden­ti­fy and chal­lenge exist­ing pow­er struc­tures and bar­ri­ers to change, as well as uncov­er con­tra­dic­tions and bias­es.
2. Change­mak­ers: Young peo­ple also have the pow­er to act and mobi­lize oth­ers. Youth activism is on the rise around the world, sup­port­ed by greater con­nec­tiv­i­ty and access to social media.
3. Inno­va­tors: In addi­tion to pro­vid­ing a fresh per­spec­tive, young peo­ple often have first-hand knowl­edge and insight into issues that adults don’t have access to. Teenagers best under­stand the prob­lems they face and can offer new ideas and alter­na­tive solu­tions.
4. Com­mu­ni­ca­tors: Out­side the inter­na­tion­al devel­op­ment sec­tor, few peo­ple real­ize that world lead­ers have reached a his­toric and far-reach­ing agree­ment to improve the lives of peo­ple and the plan­et by 2030. Young peo­ple can be part­ners in com­mu­ni­cat­ing the devel­op­ment agen­da to peers and peers ‑their col­leagues. com­mu­ni­ties at the local lev­el, as well as across coun­tries and regions.
5. Lead­ers: When young peo­ple are empow­ered with the knowl­edge of their rights and equipped with lead­er­ship skills, they can dri­ve change in their com­mu­ni­ties and coun­tries. Youth-led orga­ni­za­tions and net­works, in par­tic­u­lar, must be sup­port­ed and strength­ened, as they con­front