Youth in Action Combatting Climate Change and Acting in SDGs

Youth in Action – Combatting Climate Change and Acting in SDGs

YAMINI CHOUDHARY, INDIA

“Children are the least responsible for climate change, yet they will bear the greatest burden of its impact.”

In September 2015, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was formally adopted along with 17 Goals and 169 targets to end poverty, protect the planet, and bring prosperity to all human beings over the next 15 years. Youth are not just beneficiaries of this process – they are essential in bridging the gaps to achieving these Goals. Young people have enormous ability to make a change not only for themselves, but also for the society and the rest of the world.

UN SDG’s Goal 13 calls for urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts. Global warming is causing long-lasting changes to our climate system, which threatens irreversible consequences if we do not act. Supporting vulnerable regions will directly contribute not only to Goal 13 but also to the other SDGs. These actions must also go hand in hand with efforts to integrate disaster risk measures, sustainable natural resource management, and human security into national development strategies.

Sustainable Development elements have taken into account the economic growth and environmental well-being to enable the generation to continue to enjoy the benefits without compromising the opportunities for future generations. With the concept of sustainable development, quality of life also demands the economic balance as well as environmental care that should start from the awareness of each individual to practice healthy lifestyle.

The first step toward achieving a successful sustainability development is to create awareness. With the right tools and information, children and young people can play a critical role in the implementation and monitoring of the SDGs, sparking action in their communities and holding leaders to account. The second step is taking actions and accountability on commitments, with millions of children and young people becoming aware of the goals, more and more are taking action across the globe.

Climate change is now affecting every country on every continent. It is disrupting national economies and affecting lives, costing people, communities and countries dearly today and even more tomorrow. People are experiencing the significant impacts of climate change, which include changing weather patterns, rising sea level, and more extreme weather events. Motivated young people all over the world are doing a great work to address climate change on the ground level and are pushing not only the governments but also general public to do more and more. Youth-led organizations and networks, in particular, should be supported and strengthened, because they contribute to the development of civic leadership skills among young people, especially marginalized youth.

Today, there are approximately 1.8 billion people between the ages of 10-24, connected to each other like never before, young people want to and already contribute to the resilience of their communities, proposing innovative solutions, driving social progress and inspiring political change. They also act as agents of change, mobilizing to advance the Sustainable Development Goals to improve the lives of people and the health of the planet. Provided with the necessary skills and opportunities needed to reach their potential, young people can be a driving force for supporting development and contributing to peace and security.

REFERENCES

https://www.whf.london/ https://www.undp.org/ https://link.springer.com/

Humanitarian Voices – Our Youngest Changemaker’s Personal Reflection

PAISLEY ELLIOTT, USA

This year, I was able to virtually attend the World Humanitarian Forum, where I learned a lot! I like that the young speakers said that even little kids, like me, should have a voice. They talked about ways to push the boundaries so young people’s voices are heard.

I also learned that it is important to connect with like-minded people. One of the activists said that kids have an unpolluted view, which I think is a cool way to say that we have our own ideas that should be listened to. I also enjoyed hearing young entrepreneurs say that kids can change the world too. I think we need more kids to feel empowered to create change now, and not think they have to be an adult before making an impact. I think kids have superpowers that help us become changemakers and peacemakers.

We will lead the way!

Biographies

MADELINE HANDLER is the Program Coordinator for the Global Business School Network, where she supports the development and execution of GBSN international events and programs that engage members through the exchange of knowledge and best practice across the network. Maddie graduated from Southeastern University in Florida with degrees in international business, marketing, and French after studying abroad in Italy and publishing an international business thesis. Her penchant for international work led her to GBSN member school, Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University, where she recently graduated with a Masters in Business Administration. During her studies, she lived and worked in Jordan with Syrian refugee women and children to develop an outside-school curriculum. This included professional correspondance with royalty, ambassadors, and other world leaders in order to better establish gender equality within Jordanian tertiary education. She was nominated as a 2019 UNLEASH SDG Innovation Talent in Shenzhen, China for her work with the UN SDG 4 Access to Quality education. She joins the AFI Team to curate important partnerships and collaborate with international representatives to impact students all over the world.

KANIKA SAHIJWANI is the youngest Board of Director for AFI. She is a youth leader with over ten years of experience with different nonprofit organizations. She graduated from the University of Delhi, India with her Bachelor of Arts (Honors) degree in English in 2017.

After co-founding two startups, one an education management company and another in the personal care sector, she worked with a leading Marketing and Advertising agency where she provided creative brand solutions to corporate giants. Kanika moderated a panel discussion at UNCTAD Youth Forum’18 held at UN Headquarters in Geneva and also worked as a Facilitator for a session on SDG 8 at the ECOSOC Youth Forum’19 at UN in New York.

She is an aspiring social entrepreneur focused on empowering underprivileged women through skill building and employment generation in India.

YAMINI CHOUDHARY is an AFI Youth Ambassador to the UN and a member of the above-19 Changemaker group. She is also a Marketing & Data Research Associate who helps corporate organizations build the database and identify prospective clients through extensive market research. Yamini graduated from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University (India) with her Bachelor of Commerce (Honors) degree in 2019. She has a strong passion for helping the youth, and a genuine desire to make a change in the world. She is passionate about changing the global scenario of youth development and entrepreneurship by contributing her bit into elevating youth through her marketing and fundraising endeavours.

PAISLEY ELLIOTT is the Founder and Chief Ideas Officer of Paisley’s Pals, Paisley Elliott is determined to change the world. Paisley’s International NGO is a love-based organization that is working to build a community of changemakers. With bold creativity, radical empathy and a desire to create a more inclusive world, Paisley is focused on raising global awareness and access to quality education. Having already touched the lives of children across the globe, she believes that kids have the power to change the world. Building a more peaceful and sustainable planet requires compassion and ingenuity to gain an understanding of the world and sparking an urge to respond constructively to our shared global challenges.

When Paisley is not busy designing mobile MakerSpaces or learning from her peers, she loves surfing, learning about geography and traveling around the world. Peru is the #1 place on her Bucket List, and she hopes to become an architect or an engineer one day and maybe even win a Nobel Peace Prize.

SIDDHARTH SATISH is a high school junior at WWP HSN in the US. He is a youth ambassador for Ariel Foundation International and a member of the under-19 Changemaker group. Siddharth has founded two non-profit (NGOs) focused on health, wellness, social justice, and education. His NGO, Rememoirs, helps youth create memory boxes and letters for the elderly suffering from alzheimers and dementia. Rememoirs also connects women and people of color to STEM opportunities.

His magazine, PEP, which stands for Politics, Economics and Philosophy educates youth from K-12 about current events in the aforementioned categories. His magazine is gender androgynous and includes racially diverse images - to foster inclusivity for all youth. He also runs a podcast (ProCon) around the importance of communication. When he is not working he can be found spending time with his family, facetiming his grandparents and cousins in India or sipping on boba tea at a park.

BALLAION CADET-JORAM is a global changemaker. In the year of 2021, Ballaion will be serving in Ghana as a High School Science Teacher with the Peace Corps. She is deeply passionate about advocacy and public service.

Recently, she has graduated as Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science at Keiser University. She aspires to ger her master’s in International Affairs, Public Policy and Nonprofit Management.

Ballaion has been involved with multiple extra-curricular activities and nonprofits while being a full-time student and track and field athlete during her undergraduates. Some of the organizations that she has led were: Student Government Association, and International Student Ambassador (International Peer Mentor), and Campus Code of Conduct Advocate.

DR. ARIEL ROSITA KING, PHD, MPH, MBA, DTM&H

Dr. King was chosen to be on the Expert AIDS Prevention working Group with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (USA) and Human Science Research Council (South Africa). Prof. Dr. Ariel R. King is the Founder, and President Ariel Consulting International, Inc. founded in 2000, a company that creates and enhances PublicPrivate Partnerships in international health, policy, and management with focus on developing countries. She also founded The Ariel Foundation International founded in 2002 as a non-profit organization with an international focus on children and youth in Leadership, Entrepreneurship and Community Service world-wide. In 2008 Dr. King founded the Ariana-Leilani Children’s Foundation International to educate and advocate for Children’s Human Rights Worldwide. Dr. Ariel King now as President of AFI, which has Economic, Cultural and Social Council (ECOSOC) status, has been a representative for various Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) at the United Nations in Geneva, the United Nations in Vienna (UNOV) and United Nations in New York. Dr. King’s life focus is on the worlds children and youth. Dr. King has over 35 years of experience in international health, international public health policy and international management in government, business and NGOs. As a Professor in International Health, Management, Policy and Environment she has taught at Universities in the USA, Europe and Africa. Dr. King was a part of SAHARA: Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS Research as the Chair of the Continental Advisory Board, and worked on forging public private partnerships, including a MOI between University of Bayreuth (Germany) and SAHAA. She was on the Friends of Madagascar Advisory Council (FOMAC) led by the late Madagascar Ambassador to the USA, H. E. Ambassador Jocelyn Radifera. Dr. King’s focus is on International Public-Private Partnerships in Development that has its foundation of 35 years of living and working in 11 countries and traveling to over 65 countries in Asia, Africa, Americas, Middle-East, Americas and Europe. Dr. King is currently a Trustee of CRAE- Children’ Rights Alliance of England. She has also represented the International Council of Women (Paris) at various UN meetings and has served on the Boards of Directors including currently, the Acid Survivors Trust International (ASTI) based in London, UK; and had served on the board of directors of the National Black Women’s Health Project (Atlanta, USA), Positive Art: Women and Children with HIV/AIDS (South Africa), The Life Foundation: AIDS Foundation of Hawaii, The Black Alliance for AIDS Prevention, the Pediatric HIV/AIDS Care, Inc., and the Ronald McDonald House. Dr. King is a Founding and Board member of Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP), member of the Women’s Foreign Policy Group (WFPG), and has been active member of various International Rotary Clubs for fifteen years. Dr. King is currently completing a research degree (PhD). She also has completed advance certificates in the study of Children’s Human Rights, from the UER Droits de l’enfant/Children’s Rights Unit, Institut Universitaire Kurt Bösch (IUKB) in Switzerland. Dr. King holds a Diploma Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (DTM&H); Doctorate (PhD) in Philosophy in Public Health and Policy from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, University of London; a Master in Business Administration (MBA) in International Health Management from Thunderbird American Graduate School of International Management, Master in Public Health (MPH) in international Health from the University of Texas School of Public Health; and a Bachelor of Arts (BA) from the University of Hawaii. Dr. King is the very proud mother the 11-year old “Little Ambassador” Ariana-Leilani Margarita Alexandra King-Pfeiffer, whose life has inspired the founding of the Ariana-Leilani Children’s Foundation International (2008) to educate and advocate for children’s human rights worldwide. (Updated October 2014)

© Copyright Ariel Foundation International 2020