6 minute read
ONE MILLION LEADERS
Empowering Youth Beyond Borders and Beyond 2030
The 1M2030 (One Million Youth Leaders Beyond 2030) Initiative is hosted by the Global Challenges Forum Foundation (GCF) in collaboration with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). This is an exclusive interview we had with Co-Founder, Sebastian Hofbauer. After traveling to New Delhi, India and a trip to Kathmandu, the course was set for a sustainable initiative to empower and educate youth on a global scale. - Allié
ALLIÉ: The One Million Youth Leaders Beyond 2030 (1M2030) Initiative is a global movement, seeking to mobilize one million global youth leaders for sustainable development. This is an ambitious goal. As the Co-Founder of 1M2030, where do you start and how do you scale?
SEBASTIAN: I’d like to emphasize something that is perhaps not always very visible from the outside. We started really small, and it is largely due to the following reasons that we are where we are today. First, the support of great mentors, second, institutional support from an agency that values and enables entrepreneurial spirit, and lastly, countless hours of work from our contributors around the world. Allow me to expand on all three…
Firstly, I remember very well how the idea first emerged. I travelled to New Delhi, India for a conference co-organized by UNITAR and GFC, on the occasion of the 150th birthday of Mahatma Gandhi. The conference mandated the creation of a new youth initiative. But it was during a personal trip to Kathmandu with my mentor and friend, Dr. Walter Christman, where the concrete idea of mobilising one million youth leaders for sustainable development originated. We jokingly call it the "Kathmandu Vision", because we really fleshed out the idea of what 1M2030 would become, while strolling through this city and taking in its unique atmosphere.
Secondly, I am a great believer in the United Nations, its mandate, and its goals. Everyone loves to speak about weaknesses of the UN. But if there's one thing the UN is not known for, it is its entrepreneurial spirit. I sometimes ask myself if it is possible to work for the UN without becoming a bureaucrat? UNITAR, where I work, is actually diferent. The Institute operates a little bit more like a business – we constantly need to re-invent what we are doing and how we are delivering on our mandate. Indeed, how does that mandate translate into the world of today, 50 years after UNITAR was created? This spirit, and great support by my Director, Alex Mejia, make it possible to even think about creating an initiative such as 1M2030.
And thirdly, scaling ultimately requires more than a good idea, concept, and platform to build on. Ask anyone who builds a new project, initiative, or business. Certainly, they will tell you about nights and weekends spent working. We are no diferent, and I am very grateful for the amazing volunteers that have supported 1M2030 and its vision along the way. They are the ones shaping this initiative.
ALLIÉ: You mention institutional support. Are there other forms of partnership you are counting on?
SEBASTIAN: Working on 1M2030 has helped me to understand what partnership really means. For an initiative like ours, they are such a powerful tool. We are only learning how to fully leverage that. Anything we are doing, we are doing it in partnership with others. From bringing 9 young leaders to speak at the UN in Geneva, to hosting online meetings with over 600 participants – all of this would be impossible without strong partnerships.
The most important premise, perhaps, is that we see our youth - our 1 million, if you will - not as “beneficiaries” but as “partners”. We want to add value to what they are doing, and we want them to add value to what we are doing. Ultimately, this approach helps us to move away from terms such as “we” and “they” and to create a bigger pie for all involved.
ALLIÉ: Today, so many of our global issues stem from a lack of sustainability. Sebastian, how will 1M2030 as a platform serve as a sustainable resource for the youth leaders you support?
SEBASTIAN: In 2015, the governments of this world decided on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Most of what we are doing at the UN is linked in some way to the SDGs. 1M2030 is no diferent, and indeed, “2030” is prominently part of our name.
The SDGs are a very useful framework. Just to give you a very concrete example, they make it much easier for us to communicate what our vision is. However, often times I ask myself… Are the SDGs themselves sustainable? And what is next? What comes after the SDGs? What do they leave behind? In short, what is the legacy of the SDGs?
The name of our initiative is ‘One Million Youth Leaders Beyond 2030’ and not ‘By’ 2030. From the very beginning, while walking through the streets of Kathmandu, we realized that we wanted to take ownership of what comes next. We want the youth to be changemakers of the present, and not just symbols of futuristic hope. At the same time, we are building a movement that carries the SDGs beyond 2030. One million youth, from all corners of the world, from the biggest cities to the smallest villages. Whatever the legacy of the SDGs will be, they will stand ready to move beyond.
ALLIÉ: Building a foundation for this next generation of leaders and entrepreneurs with support both behind the curtain and in front of it at centerstage is an honorable endeavor. How can the general public get involved?
SEBASTIAN: I invite all readers to visit our website (www.1m2030.org) and have a look at what we are doing, and what we are aiming to do. We are really just at the beginning, and have been growing organically since the ofcial launch at the European UN Headquarters in September 2019. I invite you to visit the website, to follow us on social media, and if you like what we are doing, consider buying us a cofee (i.e. donating) or contacting us for a corporate sponsorship. There are many ways, for all generations, to make 1M2030 yours.
We regularly reach out through our mailing list and social media with concrete opportunities to get involved. Just this month, we ofered a chance for youth to be interviewed by Emmy Award winning journalist Barbara Harrison. We are also creating a new UN Podcast entitled ‘Coming Up Next’ and issued a call for youth to be featured in the opening theme. We also just launched ‘1M2030 Stories’ – a weekly featured article written by a young leader, and anyone can apply for that. Those are just some of the things you can do to get involved.
Mr. Hofbauer is a Fellow at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), the former Executive Director of the Global Challenges Forum Foundation, and Co-Founder of the global youth initiative 1M2030. He is a Mechanical Engineer by training (M.Sc., Dipl.- Ing.), specialized in energy technologies and business development. With a background in tech and international relations, Sebastian's passion is working to connect global youth, the tech community, and the United Nations.