Children’s Day, 14th Nov – ‘The SDGs need engagement from today’s youth to thrive, so let’s empower them!’
Ahead of Children’s Day on the 14th November, we wanted to offer you a feature on the role of the youth in achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. We represent the Founder and Global Chief Executive of social impact enterprise, The World We Want. Natasha is also the India Director for the Global Goals campaign by Project Everyone, co-founded by filmmaker and UN SDG Advocate Richard Curtis in 2015 to popularise the SDGs to 1.27bn people in India.
With just a decade left for the delivery of the SDGs, The World We Want has launched the inaugural SDGs Impact Summit, a high level international gathering in New Delhi, India between the 15th and 16th of November. The Summit will catalyse the commencement of the 10 year strategy for the Global South and the North to collaborate across governments, public and private sector, academia and activists to accelerate progress on achieving the SDGs by 2030. Environment and Governance, part of SDG 11 (Sustainable cities and communities), SDG 13 (Climate Action) and SDG 15 (life on Land) will be a big focus at the summit, to discuss the means to mitigate the pollution crisis in the city and the country.
Ahead of World Children’s Day, Natasha believes the youth will have a critical role to play in achieving the sustainability of humanity.
Please see below for the comments of Natasha Mudhar, who is also available for interviews in the coming days:
“Today, with 1.8 billion people between the ages of 10-24 globally, representing the largest youth demographic in history, the next generation of young changemakers are integral to the progress of the SDGs. Much like the goals cannot be achieved without a collaboration between stakeholders across the Global North and South, the goals cannot be achieved without the engagement of today and tomorrow’s youth.
When the Goals were first established at the United Nations General Assembly in 2015, it was made apparent that young people are a driving force for development – but only if they are provided with the skills and opportunities needed to reach their potential, support development and contribute to peace and security. Today’s youth are made up of critical thinkers, adopting pragmatic solutions to the challenges around us. They are agents of change, not content with being passive passengers in the action towards the sustainable development of our planet, but instead proactive characters going one step further to embark on entrepreneurship or research, directly making headway in challenging topics such as renewable energy, future economic growth, gender equality and more.
They are amongst the most connected demographics in the world, growing up in the age of technology and social media – firming their position on the information highway and giving them increased access to participation and observation of global conversations. They have the capacity to identify and challenge barriers, pilot innovation and spread awareness as the right holders of today and the future in every society.
By implementing an economic citizenship strategy for children and youth, it would help national policy-makers and leading youth-serving organisations achieve many of the SDGs and sub-targets in the drive to create a viable economic and social system for the future. We need to ensure that nobody is left unaware of the challenges we face as a human race and more importantly what is required to solve them.”