Contents About SDSN Youth …………………………………………………………………………… 2 Key Facts ………………………………………………………………………………………….. 3 Assessment ………………………………………………………………………………………. 4 Analysis ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 6 Reports from Local Events …….………………………………………………………….. 7
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About SDSN Youth Launched by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in August 2012, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) mobilizes scientific and technical expertise from academia, civil society, and the private sector in support of sustainable development problem solving at local, national, and global scales. The SDSN aims to accelerate joint learning by promoting integrated approaches to the nexus of economic, social, and environmental challenges confronting the world. The SDSN works closely with United Nations agencies, multilateral financing institutions, the private sector, and civil society. SDSN Youth is the youth division of this global network and its mission is to empower youth globally to create sustainable solutions.
Sustainable Development Solutions Network - Youth 314 Low Library 535 W 116th Street New York, NY 10027, United States Website: http://www.sdsnyouth.org Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SDSNYouthSolutions Twitter: @SDSNYouth E-mail: youth@unsdsn.org
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Quick Facts 122 | Number of events registered on the Campaign website 42 | Number of countries involved (no. of events in brackets): Australia (8); Austria (1); Bahamas (1); Bangladesh (2); Benin (7); Botswana (2); Brazil (1); Bhutan (1); Cameroon (3); China (1); Colombia (1); Democratic Republic of the Congo (1); Egypt (1); France (2); Germany (2); Guatemala (1); India (4); Indonesia (2); Italy (1); Jamaica (2); Kenya (26); Malawi (3); Mali (1); Morocco (1); Nepal (2); New Zealand (1); Nigeria (12); Pakistan (3); Palestine (1); Peru (2); Philippines (2); Poland (1); Spain (1); South Africa (1); Tanzania (2); Thailand (1); Togo (2); Turkey (4); Uganda (2); United Kingdom (2); United States of America (7, including the 'Youth for SDGs' Main Event in New York); Vietnam (1); Zimbabwe (1).
August 11, 2015 | The date of the first event… …and that of the last one (Warsaw, Poland) | December 15, 2015
More than 100 | Organizations got involved . Their names are provided on the spreadsheet here.
More than 10 000 |
Estimated Total Attendance. Estimates for 122 events are in
the tens of thousands. These numbers are provided by the organizers on the Campaign website.
Pictures from the campaign are available here.
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Assessment Introduction
Campaign Activities
The #KnowYourGoals Campaign was officially launched by SDSN Youth on 12 August 2015, in cooperation with Action/2015, Oikos International, Project Everyone, The World's Largest Lesson and Eco Boys and Girls. Its main objective was “to introduce the SDGs to communities of young people all around the world,” exploring questions such as “What are they? Why are they important? What do they mean for your community?”.
The #KnowYourGoals campaign comprised the following activities:
Consistent with this statement, our underlying purpose was to encourage communities of young people, on campuses, work places, and anywhere else, to take ownership of the goals and explore how they apply to them and their communities, using their own words, suggestions and perspectives. Through #KnowYourGoals, SDSN Youth aimed at building a worldwide constituency of youth organizations and individuals concerned with the implementation of the SDGs in their communities, envisioning it as the first step of a global, long-term campaign for youth involvement in the implementation of the SDGs at the local and national level.
Sustainable Development Solutions Network - Youth
Local #KnowYourGoals events: we asked young people from around the world to register to the Campaign website (hosted on the Mobilize.io platform) and express their interest in either (a) working with the facilitators of an already existing local event on the SDGs to organize a session for the #KnowYourGoals campaign; or (b) working with individuals, groups or other organizations and plan their own events to support the adoption and localization of the SDGs. Initially, we recommended participants to hold such events between August 12 and October 12, but later decided to allow submissions until December 1, when our members from India were going to host a workshop in Visaktahpatnam. SDSN Youth also hosted an event in Warsaw, Poland on December 15, the last one for the campaign.
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As a means of assistance for the organizers, we circulated a Campaign Guide outlining the vision of #KnowYourGoals and providing them with an o n l i n e t o o l k i t w i t h FAQ s , o f f i c i a l l o g o s , infographics, and other relevant materials. Overall, 122 events from 42 countries were registered on the Campaign website by individuals or youth organizations, ranging from Australia to Zimbabwe and including discussion forums, conferences, workshops, rallies, film screenings, and contests. The most active countries were Kenya (26 events registered), Nigeria (12), and Australia (8). According to figures provided by the local organizers, it is estimated that over 10,000 people were directly involved in the events worldwide. Nonetheless, while we have encouraged the submissions of reports and pictures, we have experienced difficulties in reaching out to organizers in some developing countries, and are therefore continuing to verify these numbers. Video Campaign: we engaged with young people and experts in the international debate around the SDGs, including Yuan T. Lee, Tarja Halonen, Nebojsa Nakicenovic, and Jeffrey Sachs, to create a short campaign video on the importance of the SDGs and their influence on youth and local communities worldwide. We encouraged everyone to submit their own 1-minute video answering the following questions: “Why do you think the SDGs are important? Which SDGs are most relevant to you and your community?”. We then edited and disseminated a collective video which included many of these contributions.
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Youth 4 SDGs event: the main event of our campaign was held on September 22 at Columbia University in New York City. The event was attended by over 300 people and featured keynote speakers UN Secretary-General Envoy on Youth Ahmad Alhendawi, SDSN Director Jeffrey Sachs, SDSN Youth Global Coordinator Siamak Loni, UNDP Youth Policy Specialist Noella Richards, and SDSN and SDSN-Y partners. In addition, both the # K n o w Yo u r G o a l s c a m p a i g n v i d e o a n d Kontentreal’s short film on the SDGs premiered at the event.
A tweet by SDSN Director Jeffrey Sachs (@JeffDSachs)
Social Media Outreach: as a vital part of the campaign, we asked participants to share their local events on social media and contribute to the debate on the SDGs using the Twitter and Facebook hashtag #KnowYourGoals before, during, and after the UN Summit. Engagement with @SDSNYouth’s profile on Twitter grew by 1446 followers from August to October and added 112 followers in November, roughly representing a 100% increase from our earlier total. In September alone, out tweets were seen 198,000 times and our profile was visited another 13,800 times. Major figures/ organizations contributing to the social media outreach through the #KnowYourGoals hashtag included Jeffrey Sachs, Amina Mohammad, FAO Newsroom, and Ahmad Alhendawi.
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Analysis As SDSN Youth’s first major effort since the June 2015 launch, the Campaign was a great success. There are, however, some valuable lessons to be learned from the shortcomings of #KnowYourGoals. These include (i) the necessity of a longer planning horizon for our media campaigns, in order for us to be able to reach out to even more people, develop more stable partnerships, and avoid having to deal with unforeseen circumstances; (ii) clearer deadlines for the submission of event reports; and (iii) a better overall interaction with local organizations, which may help us monitor their activities and allow for an improved exchange of information. From this perspective, a larger campaign team and welldefined tasks will certainly serve the purpose. Regarding achievements, #KnowYourGoals helped establish SDSN Youth as a leading youth organization within the international discourse on the SDGs and valued partner in campaigns. This is shown by our partnership with UN youth initiatives, such as the Youth Gateway from the Youth Envoys’s Office. Hopefully, this greater visibility will translate into a bigger impact of our future initiatives, as well as improved access to funding
The over 10,000 young people that have taken part in our local events have the potential to become our primary constituency. If we can cultivate their interests and maintain a relationship with them, then we will have access to large numbers of local actors in many different regions around the world. To promote the SDGs globally, we must work with exisiting youth groups and encourage them to target a large number of people. In addition, now that attention has shifted from adoption to implementation of the SDGs, the enthusiasm generated by #KnowYourGoals gives us the momentum to encourage these local groups to begin working towards youth engagement into national and local implementation strategies, a process that we will support with the Local Pathways campaign. As a global, collaborative effort, it paves the way for our next steps.
Dario Piselli Project Lead, Solutions Initiatives #KnowYourGoals Campaign Coordinator
opportunities and other forms of partnership. The audience during the “Youth 4 SDGs” event, held at Columbia University in the City of New York on September 22, 2015.
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Some of the #KnowYourGoals Events When: September 10, 2015 Where: Cartagena, Colombia Organization: Fundación Universitaria Tecnológico Comfenalco
“Within the Engineering week, on September 30th, we had an event called 'II Foro Ciénaga de la Virgen: un ecosistema potencialmente RAMSAR', which was dedicated to the protection of an important salty marsh located in the northeastern part of our city. Restoration projects for the area are related to several of the SDGs, especially 1, 6, 11 and 14. That is why we thought it was a good point to combine the forum with the #KnowYourGoals campaign, so we performed both events together and shared the discussion topics. Tw o P r o f e s s o r s a n d t e n s t u d e n t s o f t h e environmental engineering program presented materials related to the #KnowYourGoals.
When: October 9, 2015 Where: Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania Organization: University of Dar Es Salaam “The event included different officials from the country including Ms. Stelka Vuzo from United Nations Information Center (UNIC), Mrs. Rose Kayombo from Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, Prof. Cuthbert Kimambo, Deputy Vice Chancellor Research from University of Dar Es Salaam, Prof. Charles Lugomela (Director Knowledge Exchange), Jangwani High School students, Benjamin Mkapa High School students, Youth Along Development (YAD) and also audience from different Universities including Ardhi University, University of Dar Es Salaam, Institute of Finance and Management, Moshi Cooperative University and Open University of Tanzania. About 75 people were in attendance, and 95% of them clearly understood the new global goals discussed during the event. This encourages us to keep sharing knowledge on the new global goals with society through our upcoming projects. I would like to suggest that this campaign shouldn't end here. We need more projects to explain to local communities how to take part in achieving the SDGs. A one-time event or a global goals campaign is not enough for the coming 15 years.
Over 250 people attended the event, including professors and students from our institution and also people from Fundación Colombo Universitaria, Instituto Carl Ros, SENA (Technical institution) and representatives from EPA Cartagena, Pacaribe (solid wate management company), SACSA (Airport management company, located next to the marsh area), Instituto von Humboldt and representatives of the City Mayor.”
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When: September 24, 2015 Where: Cotonou, Benin Organization: CRADDES
When: October 24, 2015 Where: Istanbul, Turkey Organization: SDSN Youth Turkey
“A s p a r t o f t h e i m p l e m e n t a t i o n o f t h e #KnowYourGoals Campaign in Benin Republic, CRADDES NGO co-organized a Worksop on Youth and the SDGs with action/2015 Benin. In preparation of the UN General Assembly, the A c t i o n Te a m C h a m p i o n s / 2 0 1 5 a n d yo u n g parliamentarians from Benin held a brainstorming session in Cotonou. This is a workshop which focused on the theme “Role of Beninese youth to achieve the objectives of Sustainable Development”. Over 50 young people participated in this activity. During this meeting a presentation was made on action/2015 Benin, #KnowYourGoals and the UNGA by the organizers of the campaign. Then one of the champions of action/2015 Benin, Arnaud Kogblévi from Terre des Jeunes, introduced the Sustainable Development Goals. We also discussed how the goals are important to the population, especially young people, and Beninese youth actually participated actively to this activity.”
“Our event has given a chance for several associations, including Bogazici University Sustainable Development and Cleaner Production Center (BU-SDCPC), Bogazici University Environmental Club (BUCEK), Yesilist, and GelecekDahaNet (GDN) to present their work and discuss with participants about what are the the main challenges that humankind is facing and possible actions for solutions, also including previously taken steps and potential projects in following years.”
When: August 11, 2015 Where: Nairobi, Kenya Organization: Action 2015 Kenya National Coalition “Our program for the forum enabled us to obtain very unique contributions from all the participants, including through a panel discussion with representatives from the Government of Kenya, the UN and NGOs and group discussions by the participants where they explored their priorities in the SDGs, challenges for accomplishing them, and recommendations. Further, young people highlighted the importance of their full participation in the post-2015 development agenda. This led us to develop a proposal for a Kenyan youth delegation to the summit that is being championed by the Kenya UN youth representative.”
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Š SDSN Youth
This campaign report is an open access publication, subject to the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/)
All photographs by the organizers of #KnowYourGoals' local events.
Acknowledgements: Thanks to Yacinthe VidĂŠou Agbadjagan, Purity Mwangi, Jorgelina Pasqualino, Hubert Ruhuza, Sila Temizel (for the local events reports). Written by Dario Piselli. Layout by Michelle Huang. For further information, please contact: Sustainable Development Solutions Network - Youth 314 Low Library 535 W 116th Street New York, NY 10027, United States Website: http://www.sdsnyouth.org E-mail: youth@unsdsn.org
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