After an insightful session on Engaging Youth on Social Cohesion, next in line was the session on learning about Sustainable Development Goals. This session was organized on 25th July 2021 and was facilitated by Juan Pablo Ramírez Miranda, Head of Social and Human Sciences, UNESCO New Delhi Cluster Office for Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. The current focus of his programs in South Asia is youth, sports, gender equality, and social inclusion.
As part of the Society Module, the fellows are informed of different global agendas, economic development goals, and the range of social realities that exist in the country and locally in their immediate communities.
This session aimed at introducing the fellows to the Sustainable Development Goals and also learn ways by which they can contribute towards achieving the same. The session started with a brief overview of UNESCO and how the SDG framework is being used by them for supporting government, societies, communities across the world.
UNESCO is a specialized agency within the UN system that is mandated to support its member states, societies, and government around the issues related to cooperation, education and scientific (social and natural sciences) aspects. There is one more area that UNESCO works on which is called Communication- freedom of expression, encouragement of ideas, protection of journalists, and recently on the issues related to artificial intelligence and technology.
But, how exactly United Nations was born? The facilitator explained. The United Nations was born after the atrocities and disruptions that came after the second world war. UN become an agency to support other organisations and communities and was responsible for providing technical and other resource support. After giving a brief overview of the history of UNESCO, the facilitator briefly introduced fellows with the Sustainable Development Goals.
Development experts realised that the global agendas should not just focus on development but also on sustainability – using resources in a way that we do not compromise the resources for the future.
The Global Goals are the most ambitious agreement for sustainable development that world leaders have ever made. It integrates all three aspects of sustainable development; social, economic, and environmental. The new Goals are unique in that they call for action by all countries, poor, rich, and middle-income, to promote prosperity while protecting the planet.
The facilitator further shared how fellows can contribute towards achieving SDGs through their social action projects as part of the YnD Fellowship program.
Example of how different SDG’s are related to each other.
The facilitators briefly explained UNESCO’s work with youth in South Asia. UNESCO believes that young people are not the future but also the present. What young people are doing today can change today and tomorrow, and therefore, youth should be considered as partners in change and not just beneficiaries.
The session was concluded with Q/A round with the facilitator. Some of the fellows asked questions related to the role of academia in taking SDGs to the communities? If there is a curriculum for school students to make them more responsible and committed? Several others asked questions related to the role they can play in achieving SDGs, the effect of pandemics, and initiatives of UNESCO for promoting SDGs within the education sector.