Greatest Hits in 2023
2023 has been a busy year for the UN Foundation's Our Future Agenda program to support the United Nations in transforming the international system through young people's vision and recommendations.
Much of our success can be credited to our collaboration with the United Nations and influential civil society organizations committed to intergenerational cooperation.
It's also worth highlighting the dedication and leadership of young people and emerging nations in preparing for the 2023 SDG Summit and the upcoming Summit of the Future.
Let's take a look at some key achievements...
Empowering the Next Generation
After an eight-month-long recruitment process, our Next Generation Global Fellows program brought together ten dynamic young changemakers from diverse backgrounds and geographies.
Over 600 young individuals applied for this program, a testament to the younger generation's passion and drive for global change. The Next Generation India Fellowship was launched to empower young Indian leaders, offering them a platform to influence the Summit of the Future and World Social Summit. This program aligns with India's G20 theme and focuses on shaping a shared global future.
Big Brainstorm 2023
Young leaders worldwide collaborated on a two-week design sprint to explore, prototype, and launch initiatives to tackle humanity’s greatest challenges.
This event attracted over 2,500 young people from 136 countries, resulting in 975 innovative solutions for the SDGs. It served as a dynamic platform for young minds to contribute their ideas and visions for addressing global challenges.
Leading thinkers, entrepreneurs and policymakers from UN ambassadors to representatives from Nike, Mastercard Foundation, and the New York Times shared a wealth of information to inform, inspire and advise Big Brainstorm participants.
The Unlock the Future coalition CEOs and Leaders meeting set the year's direction, emphasizing youth engagement, policy interlinkages, and effective storytelling's role in shaping global policies and actions. Unlock CEOs have requested deeper engagement through similar conversations and exchanges moving forward.
Road to 2100
This five-year strategy designed by the Unlock coalition aims to unlock improved investment, action, and financing for young people to accelerate SDG delivery in the final stages of the 2030 Agenda and beyond. It provides a long-term, strategic vision for an intergenerational movement, ensuring that the voices and needs of the next generation are central to shaping the future.
New Partnerships
Our partnerships with Search for Common Ground and AIESEC have significantly expanded our coalition's reach. These partnerships enhance our capacity to influence global systems and support emerging nations.
The Funders Collective Design
This design advanced through an extensive process, mapping 115 funding mechanisms, conducting 10 workshops, and holding 25 interviews. The aim is to create an accessible, flexible, and sustainable philanthropic method of financing young people.
Powering the Future
The Engine Room, our dynamic hub designed to involve 44,000 young minds at the SDG Summit, has been a game-changer. This initiative has bridged the gap between young change-makers and global policy discussions, providing an empowering platform for youth to actively shape global dialogues. The Engine Room aligns perfectly with the Secretary-General's vision in Our Common Agenda, symbolizing our commitment to fostering a future led by our younger generation.
Below are three remarkable Engine Room Innovators from 2023 who have successfully accelerated action to address the world’s greatest challenges:
Esther Ajudeonu — Empowering Africa's Next Generation
Esther's dedication to Africa's youth is what brought her to the Engine Room. Her youth mentorship project leverages mentors and outreach coordinators from 11+ countries, with the aim to reach over 1,000 young people in secondary schools across Africa.
Esther's Engine Room journey has equipped her with the tools to mobilize resources and volunteers for pan-African symposiums. Esther has since celebrated successes such as initiating the African Youth Mentorship project, securing her first paid consultancies, and achieving international recognition. Esther has worked closely with other young leaders from the Engine room such as Venessa Ominde to bring this vision to life.
Felipe Bosch — Forging Inclusive Futures through Foresight and Collaboration
Along with other young changemakers in the Future Generations Action Group, Felipe orchestrated 20 interviews and conducted a global survey, providing primary data pivotal for an article currently under review at the Journal of Future Studies. During his time in the Engine Room, Felipe developed powerful collaborations with other young leaders like Daouia Chalali and Alimi Salifou, whose efforts elevated the Action Group’s contributions to systemic transformation through the founding of ICGA.
Felipe’s efforts have led to the launch of the Intergenerational Center for Global Action (ICGA), a collective effort toward inclusive, sustainable futures across regions and generations.
Michal Tuczapski – Mental Health Rescuers
Michal joined the Engine Room with the aim to address the youth mental health crisis by emphasizing the cultivation of mental resilience and bolstering the well-being of young people. It involves training volunteers as Mental Health Rescuers (MHRs) to identify and assist their peers with mental health issues, ensuring immediate support and access to specialists when required.
Michal's initiative resulted in a partnership with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to implement a mental health program assisting Ukrainian refugees in Poland.
Credit- Office of the UN Youth Envoy/Joel Sheakoski
Credit- Office of the UN Youth Envoy/Joel Sheakoski
Intergenerational Action
Our SDG Summit Insights Paper for the ECOSOC Youth Forum made significant waves, contributing immensely to policy discussions and the future of multilateralism.
We've also been part of numerous influential events, such as the ECOSOC Youth Forum, SDG Summit, COP28 side-event, and virtual Engine Room moments. These platforms have been pivotal in giving young people access and insight into global dialogue and processes.
Partnering for Progress
Our collaboration with the African Union Youth Envoy has been a cornerstone of our Road to 2100 movement. Together, we've been able to empower young African leaders and thinkers through a range of initiatives.
High-level retreats, virtual brainstorms, spotlight sessions with global leaders, and creative content development have all played a part in this empowering journey. And we're not stopping here!
An op-ed by African leaders underscores the vital role young Africans play in shaping the future of multilateralism. It will feature prominent voices like the African Union Youth Envoy, Chernor Bah, Sierra Leone's Minister of Information and Civic Education, and Stephen Omollo, CEO of Plan International.
Decoding Our Future
Our Common Agenda Decoded by the UN Foundation provided impactful summaries of policy briefs released by the UN Secretary-General, making policy language visual and accessible to young people and engaging them in designing a collective future.
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