We are in the Anthropocene.
The world’s geological age puts us in the heart of what’s called “Anthropocene”, an era where human activity has been the dominant influence on the climate and the environment. The world is youngest at this moment, in terms of its population, with the youth alone accounting for 18% of the world’s population. The number of youth between the ages of 15 and 24 is 1.1 billion, and account for nearly 40 percent of the world’s population!
With so much young energy on the planet, there is plenty of room for change to come from these quarters. The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals forms a ‘roadmap’ which allows us to have an understanding of where we want to see the world in 2030. Some choose to see the SDG’s as unattainable. But, I would say, as idealistic as it may seem, the aspiration should centre around getting there as closely as possible.
Channeling the youth towards being impactful agents of change is vital. In the thirteen years that remain from now until 2030, young people can create the world they want to go into when we enter the phase after the SDGs run their course. To ensure that we include our youth as major stakeholders of the future, we need to create an enabling environment. Through the course of this article, I will explore how to create this kind of conducive environment.
Creating Awareness
The first step is to break down the SDGs for cogency and to create a bridge that travels from ignorance to understanding. The SDGs are written in English and have been translated into the six official languages of the United Nations on their own website.
However, this is not enough as a sizeable number of youth and children have no access to the internet, and many of those who do, might not know these languages. We should factor in illiteracy levels too. The goal then should be to make this information accessible and to do so, customise the manner of communication to help spread the word. If one has access to information on SDG’s, one should take the initiative to translate and disseminate them. Better still, you can educate yourself and teach children and young people around you verbally, visually, or by action.
Building Opportunities
Once youngsters learn about SDGs, the next step is creating, making available or building opportunities for engagement with SDGs, and perhaps, beginning to take action. It is important to start small. What actions can they take to improve their everyday lives while falling in line with the SDGs?
A simple way is to engage in critical thinking, in not wasting resources, in choosing to consume responsibly and to pay forward. This will help create a mass of young people with similar goals drawing from overarching themes of the SDGs, to create an interesting pool of futuristic action.
Access To Resources
The next step is to help our youth translate their vision into action that goes beyond themselves, their immediate families and friends. This step requires access to resources, in order to implement change.
Do they want to create an initiative of their own? Do they want to learn how to do so? Do they need help with paperwork, with accessing training, technology or even money? When we facilitate opportunities at the grass-root, state, and national levels, we can create a massive action plan. Resources can be anything from space and online bandwidth, money, and planning support, from conferences and training programs to volunteers and support staff.
Collaboration, Not Competition
When we open up the doors to access resources, the first thing we’re bound to encounter is the astounding reality that resources are few, but actors are many! With the help of limited resources, we can still accomplish tremendous change. How can this be done? Through the rubric of collaboration. When we have ten young people working for the environment, we should aim to enable their work by facilitating collaboration, and not forcing or foisting competition. When we collaborate rather than compete, we make an impactful difference that does not come at the cost of anyone’s interests and that does not come with negativity.
Inter-Generational Mentorship
Intergenerational partnerships can infuse the exuberance and enthusiasm of youth with the calculated pragmatism and cautious practicality of age, thus enabling the two to come together and facilitate change. We should also understand that the world is increasingly turning digital and that on a digital platform, the ‘digital’ age of a user varies tremendously from their actual ages. This means that a person aged forty using the internet for the first time and a person aged fifteen also using the internet for the first time, start out at the same digital age. Think about how that can be leveraged!
Institutional Support
It is unfair to ignore the reality that there is tremendous pressure on young people to perform well at school and to balance skills acquisition through extracurricular activities. The pressure to perform has also had an adverse impact on mental and physical health. To channel enthusiasm effectively in a way that it does not feel like there is pressure to perform, and creating institutional support, is necessary.
Educational institutions should restructure their focus in favour of encouraging their initiatives under the SDGs. How will grades matter if the world is around us is being destroyed? Furthermore, there are many young people who do not have the privilege of being able to attend educational institutions. They should be co-opted into the change-making stream of efforts through support and encouragement from institutions that have the bandwidth to offer help. That in itself can be an endeavor in pursuit of SDG 4, achieving ‘inclusive’ and ‘quality’ education.
Creating A Culture Of Patience
Creating impact and watching change unfold can take time. Securing a good future, acquiring skills and even recreation needs time to develop. A good program to engage the youth in change-making for the SDGs would account for the inclusion of realistic time commitments and clear milestones and deadlines that they should to be aware of. This will also encourage a sense of commitment and dedication.
Creating And Nurturing Safe Spaces
Working with the current state of problems can be overwhelming and can be threatening in a lot of ways. From the wilderness and natural calamities to extremism, resistance and political turmoil can be threats to safety as well as their peace of mind. Not achieving immediate results in a world that is built on speed can also be disparaging. Encouraging the youth to act, therefore, needs the functional support of safety. Preparing our youth for what they may face, identifying where they can go for help if needed, installing safety measures to protect them from vulnerabilities, will go a long way. Having experienced counselors and therapists on-board can help young people heal from traumas they may encounter in the process of achieving their goals.
Technological Support
Technology offers support in a number of ways, and the benefit of automation, the accuracy, and the expediency it gives make technology a seemingly important tool to leverage action, and facilitate global collaboration.
Facilitating access to technology is one way to encourage youth action for the SDGs. Avenues to use technology to generate awareness, opportunities, collaborations, and mentorships for young people need to be explored thoroughly. I am of the opinion that it could also be leveraged to deliver on the SDGs themselves.
Checking Privilege
Young people may have the enthusiasm and eagerness to create impact, we cannot ignore the fact that there is a massive divide between the privileged and the unprivileged. The former live in a bubble thinking they don’t need the SDGs for a secure future. Teaching young people to check their privilege, and bridging gaps between the privileged and the unprivileged through empathy-driven training will have a huge impact.
Kirthi Jayakumar is an Advisor at One Future Collective.