With the start of 2020, we enter a new decade, and the world will watch as the invisible timer counts down the 10 years we have left to achieve the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Branded the "Decade of Action" by the UN, this decade needs to be defined by a significant global increase in financial, operational and group action toward the SDGs. The consequences of failing on this are dire.
The devastating bushfires unfolding before our eyes across Australia are the latest, and arguably one of the most dramatic, wake-up calls to the impact that insufficient action has on making our world more sustainable. The millions of people still living and being born into poverty each day around the world, although no longer as shocking as it once was, are one of our most persistent and insidious warnings that we still have a long way to go to achieve the SDGs.
As the new decade dawns, one group will be pivotal in pushing the world to achieve the SDGs: youth change-makers. UN Secretary-General António Guterres echoed this with his 2019 end-of-year remarks, stating that as we enter 2020 with "uncertainty and insecurity all around," the world’s young people are its "greatest source" of hope.
“From climate action to gender equality to social justice and human rights, your generation is on the front-lines and in the headlines,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
When looking for leaders to collaborate with and drive impact in achieving the SDGs, people and nonprofits of all kinds should cast their eyes toward the world’s youth. Strategy-makers, in particular, are well advised to factor the role of youth into their planning if they want to accelerate their progress toward the SDGs this decade.
Why youth?
The complexity of today’s problems must be matched with collaboration instead of individualism. In the countdown to the SDGs deadline, nonprofits need to leverage all of the resources available to them, and youth are a particularly valuable resource when it comes to creating positive global change. According to "The Deloitte Millennial Survey 2018," millennials overwhelmingly feel that business success should be measured by more than just financial performance -- a view that Gen Z also shares (83% and 80%, respectively), with generating employment and improving society as two top priorities.
Along with their drive and enthusiasm to do good, youth bring a diversity of fresh perspectives and interpretations of the challenges and opportunities the world faces. They are a source of new energy and solutions to the persistent, wicked problems of our time.
Youth are the native speakers of the global language of this decade; they are the most tech-savvy, digitally enabled and media-driven generation of all time. They are the instigators of movements that speed through our digital and physical worlds and shift culture and attitudes in a manner and with a pace never before seen -- as demonstrated in the past year with the likes of Greta Thunberg.
Where do you find them?
If you are looking to engage with youth to help drive your efforts toward meeting the SDGs, then you are in luck. There are many organizations and nonprofits that exist solely to convene youth and bring together change-makers. These are great places to look for and connect with youth.
One such example is One Young World, a forum for global youth leadership. The organization has amassed over 10,000 youth ambassadors who have impacted 20 million people since 2010 through their initiatives. Another is the World Economic Forum’s Global Shaper Community, which has nearly 500 hubs in cities across the world with close to 10,000 members and brings a global perspective to local action. As a One Young World Ambassador and WEF Global Shaper, I have seen both of these communities galvanize youth leaders firsthand.
How do you activate youth?
Once you’ve found youth to work with, the next step is activating them. But this is often easier said than done. To enlist them to contribute to your mission, you'll need to develop a deep understanding of what motivates them. Today's youth respond to challenges, are excited by building networks and knowledge, and thrive off of cocreating projects.
Thomson Reuters Foundation, for instance, successfully created its own change-maker program to bring youth leaders in the media and human rights space together to meet global leaders at their Annual Trust Conference, which I attended las October. At Hult Prize Foundation, we launched an annual global SDG-based challenge in which hundreds of thousands of youth take part. We crowdsource the best ideas and fund them, and we build a community of collaborative entrepreneurs along the way.
Many leading philanthropic foundations have also captured the hearts of today's youth and rely on these change-makers to embrace their missions and act as advocates, spreading the work that needs to be done to achieve the SDGs. The Gates Foundation is a prime example. It created the Goalkeepers initiative, which asks youth and other leaders to make real commitments toward the SDGs and helps keep them accountable. As a Goalkeeper myself, I have found being part of a shared community of action has furthered my own commitment to social impact.
It's clear that there are countless viable models for engaging youth in the global race toward the SDG deadline -- conferences, challenges, idea platforms, communities -- but the opportunity to engage them is one that the world cannot afford to miss.
