Coalition Youth Advisory Board members lead roundtables during Youth SDG Summit
Last February 11, UNITE 2030 launched its second Youth SDG Summit – a global convening of young people and other allies that find ways to mobilize, empower, and inspire youth to take action toward the Global Goals.
The SDG Youth Summit is a virtual event that utilizes technology, digital opportunities, and far-reaching partnerships to reach more people in different corners of the globe.
The goal of the summit is to help young people meet the goals set in the 2030 Agenda.
The Summit had different themes for the two days; the first was For People and the second was For Planet. The first day focused on human beings as the root of the global goals while the second day was on saving the planet.
The first day brought different round tables where young people can convene and talk about the most pressing issues they face as youth. Youth Advisory Board members Thiago Gruner and Omnia El Omrani led two sessions during these round table discussions.
Thiago led the session on Road Safety and Mobility while Omnia led the session on Good Health.
In his session, Thiago talked about how governments can work with young people to ensure road safety and sustainable mobility in local communities. Participants of the round table emphasized the importance of education and infrastructure in ensuring road safety and how more organizations need to commit to ensure the quality of both.
It was also raised that governments needed to include more young people in decision-making efforts and have youth representation on their projects, initiatives, and advocacies.
“It is important to consider young people’s creativity in ensuring we are safe on the road. It’s hard to plan for people without involving them”
In the discussion for Good Health, Omnia asked the participants about what effective solutions governments and policymakers can implement to tackle good health and well-being on a local, national, and global level.
As a response, participants raised the importance of setting up institutionalized governance mechanics with meaningful involvement of youth-led organizations. To achieve this, participants also emphasized the need to invest in equitable educational and capacity-building opportunities that focus on the most critical health issues on all levels.
During the roundtable on health, Omnia discussed road safety as one of the most urgent public health issues that young people face across the globe.
“We need policymakers to develop safe systems that put the most vulnerable ones, especially youth at the center. It must be developed and co-created with the meaningful participation of young people”
