A high-level event on the role of youth in implementing and monitoring the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), held on the sidelines of the UN Sustainable Development Summit, highlighted the role young people have played in shaping the SDG agenda, how they will be crucial to achieving the SDGs, and the role they can play in monitoring and accountability.
Youth advocates with the organization Restless Development took the lead in designing the event's programme, which included high-level representation from Member States, the UN and civil society, and was co-moderated by young leaders.
27 September 2015: A high-level event on the role of youth in implementing and monitoring the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), held on the sidelines of the UN Sustainable Development Summit, highlighted the role young people have played in shaping the SDG agenda, how they will be crucial to achieving the SDGs, and the role they can play in monitoring and accountability. Youth advocates with the organization Restless Development took the lead in designing the event’s programme, which included high-level representation from Member States, the UN and civil society, and was co-moderated by young leaders.
Titled ‘#Generation2030: Torchbearers for the SDGs,’ the event convened on 27 September 2015, in New York, US, and was hosted by the Permanent Missions of Burkina Faso, Denmark, Rwanda and Sri Lanka, the Government of UK, the Office of the UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and Restless Development.
Mogens Lykketoft, President of the UN General Assembly (UNGA), underscored that the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is for youth, in particular, since the coming generations will “harvest the results” of a more peaceful and sustainable world. He said failure to deliver on the 2030 Agenda will lead to more devastating conflicts, massive forced and uncontrolled migration due to climate change, and fewer resources for human development. He commended the involvement and participation by young people in the preparatory process leading up to the adoption of the 2030 Agenda, and called on youth to be the “driving force” for their realization. Lykketoft said he will strengthen the relationship with the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Youth Ahmad Alhendawi in order to provide a platform for all stakeholders, particularly youth, to identify opportunities for partnerships and change.
Other speakers at the event included: Crown Princess Mary of Denmark; Jeannette Kagame, First Lady of Rwanda; Helen Clark, UNDP Administrator; and Alhendawi. [Event Website] [UNGA President Statement]