Youth leading Humanity

Youth Leading Humanity

KANIKA SAHIJWANI, INDIA

The United Nations Youth Agenda 2030 formulated as part of

the UN Youth Strategy encompasses the 17 UN SDGs and outlines how the youth can be instrumental in realizing the changes that we seek and shape the future that we want. “Its aim: scale up global, regional and national actions to meet young people’s needs, realize their rights and tap their possibilities as agents of change… The strategy’s thematic priority areas reflect all three pillars of the UN system: sustainable development, peace and security, and human rights.

Young people today want the sustainable, peaceful world envisioned in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Realizing their aspirations depends on realizing their rights—to empowerment and development, participation and choice. They offer 1.8 billion reasons for the United Nations to stand by their side.”

The 17 SDGs are interlinked and the Strategy explores the wide scope of existing and new avenues where the Youth can lead, and possible avenues to expand the same for the betterment of youth leadership, involvement and entrepreneurship.

The World Humanitarian Forum provided

a platform where leading global leaders discussed their values on Humanitarian works and their future plans. The Youth Roundtable was a significantly important section of the Forum where selected young leaders leading youth development worldwide elaborated on their ideals, current work and way forward to work around the 17 SDGs and make this world a better place.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg said, “Women belong in all places where decisions are being made.” AFI Founder and President Dr Ariel R King extrapolates on the thought of Ginsburg and says, “Young people should belong in all places where decisions are being made.” With youth constituting 1.8 billion of the world’s population, it is imperative that they be present at all levels of decision making for all decisions directly and indirectly impact them.

Creating spaces for youth development and empowerment is now more important than ever to not only mobilize future leaders, but also to prepare them by helping them refine and redefine their strategies and lead their thinking into global sustainable practices. Youth needs mentorship and platforms to share their ideas, allow room for debates to understand the ideas of other leaders and modify and re-modify until their ideas are redefined to best suit the interests of people worldwide. Sustainability and Humanitarian values go hand in hand. One can simply not exist without the other. Times are constantly changing and especially with the pandemic Covid19, it is integral that we stay steps ahead of future emerging problems by carefully assessing current practices and ensure speedy and strategic handhold of solutions.

It is of extreme importance that mistakes of our past leaders not be repeated by our future leaders. The current system of businesses and leadership is clearly not working. We see it with the climate change crisis being poorly dealt with. We see it with the lack of proper structure in ensuring businesses are sustainable and follow sustainable practices with regards to worker welfare, human rights practices, carbon emissions, careful disposal of waste, regulating waste, efficient supply chain systems in various levels of business

amongst many others.

How are youth to lead the future where current problems are mounting? The youth will lead by careful examination of all these problems at present and being provided room for constantly upgrading their knowledge, amend their working strategies and developing negation skills. The purpose of various global platforms catalyzed by the Youth Agenda 2030 outlines the need to expand current practices and involve young leaders for they will foresee the future developments. The reality of a sustainable future lies at the hands of young people. How are you empowering them?

REFERENCES

https://www.un.org/youthenvoy/youth-un/ https://www.un.org/development/desa/youth/wpcontent/uploads/sites/21/2019/08/WYP2019_10-Key-Messages_GZ_8AUG19.pdf

Empowering the Youth: Facilitating Global Development and International CoOperation for the SDGs

SIDDHARH SATISH, USA

With approximately 1.8 billion people between the age of 10 and 24 in the world, the concept of youth empowerment and representation has become increasingly important. The world that generation Z is inheriting is one littered with problems, and up to them to fix. From climate change to pandemics, the future holds anything but certainty, and as these children transform into adults it is important to empower them to become future changemakers in the world.

The sustainable development goals, outlined by the UN serve as goalposts for NGOs, governments and people across the globe. However, now it should serve as a goal post in every single classroom of the developed world. Students are often taught how to do math and science without really applying the practical skills to problems in the real world. Sure, there are word problems that create hypothetical scenarios, but why play with the hypothetical when the reality is all yours?

News sources and social media increases awareness but fear as well. Having been told that climate change, poverty and lack of healthcare access is bad, children are often afraid to take action. The UN SDGs combat this by introducing global dilemmas as problems that can be solved one block at a time.

This connection between the classroom and the real world is not the first of its kind. The Flocabulary workshop conducted in 2016 in New York City saw 4th graders solving problems like water pollution and obesity. Teams came up with underwater machines to pick up water pollutants and vending machines to dispense candy, all without significant help or guidance from adults. This serves as testament to the fact that the naturally inquisitive and creative mind of the child needs to be put to use.

One of the SDGs for the year 2030 is partnerships (SDG 17). This does not have to be the typical public private partnerships. It can also be intergenerational partnerships to empower youth and make sure their voices and ideas are heard no matter what.

REFERENCES

https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/

https://amp.businessinsider.com/fourth-graders-solve-the-worlds-biggest-problems2016-5

https://www.stephenhicks.org/2019/04/07/can-frightened-children-solve-the-worldsproblems/