The Young Generation and the SDGs: Stories and Lessons from the 2019 SDG Global Festival of Action
By: Toyyib Oladimeji Abdulkareem
Tags: Sustainable Development, Inclusion, Young People

The SDG Global Festival of Action is a global event to celebrate action on the Sustainable Development Goals and help scale the global movement up. This year, I decided to join as part of the Festival’s SDG Storytellers to tell stories about the participants and share stories coming out of the Festival.

The third edition of the Festival was remarkable for many reasons: the event’s size in comparison to previous editions, the geographical diversity from speakers and participants. One of the things I found more outstanding was the amount of young people attending the event.

Throughout the event, I met with young champions helping create a better world. These are some of their stories, journeys and thoughts on how to advance the SDG conversation.

Luise, Maya and Abigal: Learning about the SDGs in their school

Photo credit: Yaroslav Senchuk

Luise Schwenzer, Maya Mufson and Abigal Zaslansky are three young students enjoying the experience of being at the Festival. From Berlin Metropolitan School, in Berlin, they first learnt about the SDGs in their classroom; through their history and geography teacher who introduced them to the goals. They have internalized the message and have started taking action; starting with participating in the climate school strike. When their teacher mentioned the SDG Global Festival of Action, they got a recommendation from her and applied.

“We would like to and scaling up the work of organizations that are focused on schools and young people by volunteering with them”

Their aim is to put their school in the spotlight and help their friends gain more information and get involved in more action. With new information on climate change and the urgent need for action, they plan to join the youth group of the green party. In their feedback, they highlighted their challenges in accessing the contents of the festival especially as they seem complex for starters and young minds still evolving in the SDG space.

Safia Southey: Art comics to reach young people

Safia Southey works with PCI Media to make the SDGs accessible to the young population through art and comics. The organisation was started to connect young people to the SDGs and include more youths in SDG action.

“I am attending the SDG Global Festival of Action to meet with other young people and share ideas on how art can be used to create change”

Speaking on the 2019 SDG Global Festival of Action, she is excited to have met a lot of young people and listen to their amazing work. She, however, lamented about youth representation on panels and sessions. She believes we can’t motivate youths without adequate inclusion.

Manuk: The youngest Festival-goer

Photo credit: Ullah Lohmann

Manuk Hofmann, a 10 months year old boy is the youngest participant at the 2019 SDGs Global Festival of Action. He is a child that has been raised within a project around SDGs — climbing the highest mountains in European countries to raise awareness about climate action. He has been to 25 countries. His mother, Ullah Lohmann, offsets his carbon footprint and believes he is going to be aware of the SDGs growing up. The mother of our youngest champion believes the young generation has a place in actualising the SDGs. To achieve this, ‘they will need to be listened to and mentored’. To the young champions, she asks them to be persistent and make their voice heard the right way using innovations and creative ideas.

Photo credit: Ullah Lohmann

Next, I met the young people using pictures to make cities better under the Canon Young People’s Program — Nathaniel Colompal, Pauline Abajadi, Manuela Barbosa Draps, Janniella Heimig and Jana Carolien Scholten. They are spreading the SDG message in an unofficial way by empowering communities using photos. They attend the festival as young reporters and had a session at the SDG Studio. They enjoyed the festival atmosphere and the people they have met.

Speaking on youth participation at the festival, they love that there are a lot of young people attending. They will use the knowledge and contacts to influence their work moving forward — Nathaniel who was previously thinking about studying science will now be studying in the area of sustainable development. Their challenge with accessing the festival had to do with the complex nature of the number of sessions and participants. They are convinced that if there was a particular section or stand devoted to young people, it will make it easier to network and share ideas.

They believe working with young people in planning future sessions will make this possible. This can also be helpful in sharing applications with young panellists and speakers.

On youth engagements on the SDGs, the young champions believe SDG messages can be more youth-friendly especially using media and art that speaks to young people — making it attractive to young people. They believe the message is not spreading and their colleagues feel frustrated about what they can do especially because they do not know. They believe incorporating SDGs into the school curriculum and training of teachers on SDGs will help.

Photo credit: Yaroslav Senchuk

Hatim Aznague is the President, The Sustainable Development Youth Organisation, Morocco. After participating in the first edition of the Global Festival of Action in 2017, Hatim started the Sustainable Development Youth Organisation, Morrocco as a youth organisation by youths for youths. He mobilised over 20,000 people and in the subsequent year won the SDG Award for the Mobiliser Category.

This year he is attending the Festival of Action with renewed energy as his organisation has grown to be the leading organisation on SDGs in Morrocco. When he sat with me, he reiterated that the SDGs Festival of Action is a good opportunity for youths to present their achievement and share success stories. He also indicated the opportunity for new partnerships and friendships to engage the SDGs. In his thoughts on youth participation, he feels a balance between high level experienced stakeholders and youths to achieve SDGs is important to get results and secure the future.

Overall, sitting with young leaders was exciting and filled me with energy and enthusiasm for change. An overarching issue across board is how young people feel engaged in the SDG conversation and action. It is necessary that this moves beyond physical presence (which is some substantial gain) to more engagements in the process (from planning to execution). In terms of the Global Festival of Action, young people recognise that they were able to attend. However, they challenge organisers to create youth-friendly zones and spots for starters (with basic knowledge of the SDGs) to be more engaged. This zone can also serve as an area for discussion, sharing of ideas and making new friends.