By Aliz Pinto Aspiazu

When we bring a topic to the table for discussion, we notice a recurring pattern: global sustainable development increasingly seeks to incorporate youth perspectives and invites young people to become active participants. Their enthusiasm and commitment are celebrated, and then they are sent back to their communities, often without the necessary tools to continue generating meaningful impact. Because, if there is one thing we must understand, it is that ideas do not change the world… projects do.

Education is the fundamental foundation of everything, because it shapes critical thinking and opens the path toward active participation. However, without capacity building, education alone does not represent true empowerment and can become merely a symbolic gesture.

According to the latest data, of the 139 SDG targets with available trend data, only 36% are on track or making moderate progress, while nearly half are making only marginal progress and 15% have regressed below the 2015 baseline. Therefore, if young people are going to be part of the solution, and they must be, the international community cannot only invite them to “occupy spaces”; it must begin investing in the development of their capacities.

The two sides of youth participation 

Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), with the backbone of their mountain ranges, are home to more than 165 million people between the ages of 10 and 24. This represents one of the largest youth populations in history, concentrated in a region facing inequality, climate vulnerability, and stalled progress toward the SDGs. For this reason, we can affirm that its potential is enormous.

However, youth who represent the lifeblood of this region face a harsh reality every day, marked by high unemployment rates, widespread informality, and persistent barriers that limit their active participation in decision-making processes.

Although some may believe this is a matter of “lack of motivation,” reality proves otherwise. Climate strikes, community organizing, and youth-led advocacy initiatives throughout the region demonstrate that political apathy among young people is a myth.

The data reveal the urgent need to transform institutional spaces to guarantee meaningful and purposeful participation, narrowing the gap between youth mobilization and formal participation mechanisms.

And there is a simple but true thought: the gap is not in willingness; it is in structured support. Being present at a forum is not the same as being prepared to lead. Signing a declaration is not the same as knowing how to design a project, build partnerships, or transform a local challenge into a public policy proposal, because passion is the starting point, not the final destination.

What does capacity building look like?

This is where the conversation must take a different direction and embrace another perspective.

During the 2026 Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development, youth organizations made a clear demand: participation must mean having the ability to influence, make decisions, and co-create public policies. Furthermore, these spaces must belong to young people themselves, because no development agenda can be sustainable if it does not reflect their realities and priorities.

However, ownership requires preparation. It involves understanding the SDGs not as a simple list of goals, but as an analytical framework, and recognizing how key areas such as climate change, inequality, education, and governance are interconnected.

It requires mentorship from people who have already navigated these systems, as well as peer networks that provide support, collaboration, and a sense of belonging, with real and not symbolic opportunities to develop and implement solutions within their own communities.

This is not an abstract ideal. It is already happening.

OJICAC: A model from the middle of the world – Ecuador 

In Ecuador, a youth-led initiative called OJICAC (Youth Organization for Innovation, Science, and Climate Action) was founded on a premise that is both simple and transformative: adolescents and young people should not have to wait until adulthood to lead. They need structured development opportunities from the present.

OJICAC was created as a platform for training and action, aimed at preparing a new generation of Ecuadorian youth with a broader reach across Latin America and the Caribbean to address the social, environmental, and technological challenges of the 21st century.

Its model is built on three interconnected pillars: education, innovation, and climate action. These are not separate areas of work, but rather an integrated approach to youth leadership.

What distinguishes OJICAC is its rejection of passive participation. Its members do not simply attend workshops; they develop sustainable projects. They do not only learn about sustainability; they apply that knowledge to solve real problems within their communities. The organization promotes a culture of science and civic engagement among young people who have often been excluded from these spaces.

For girls and young women, those from rural areas, and those coming from vulnerable socioeconomic backgrounds, OJICAC understands inclusion not as an administrative requirement, but as the foundation upon which its entire existence is built.

Its vision is clear: to become a regionally recognized organization for developing young leaders in innovation, science, and climate action, reducing educational, cultural, and socioeconomic gaps while empowering a generation committed to sustainable development and the transformation of their communities.

Investment the region needs 

OJICAC is only one node within a much broader network that must be built. Institutions must ensure that young people from diverse backgrounds have equitable opportunities to engage in the localization processes of the SDGs, supported by capacity-building programs that teach them how to participate meaningfully and accompanied by financial investments in initiatives led by and for young people.

Governments, international organizations, and the private sector all have a fundamental role to play.

The Green Jobs for Youth Pact, promoted by the International Labour Organization (ILO), the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), has begun moving in this direction by committing to youth empowerment through training, meaningful participation, and intergenerational partnerships. However, the scale of investment must match the scale of the challenge.

Young people in Latin America are not waiting to be discovered. They are already working in classrooms, community centers, WhatsApp groups, and Google Meet sessions. They are designing solutions that, in many cases, their own governments have not yet imagined.

What they need is not more applause. They need mentorship, funding, technical skills, and the institutional trust required to implement what they already know how to do.

A generation that does not have time to wait 

The 2030 Agenda was written for a world that young people will inherit, and therefore it is only fair that they also participate in shaping it. But justice without investment is merely a sentiment.

Youth organizations such as OJICAC demonstrate what becomes possible when structured training meets genuine commitment. The model works.

The question now is whether those who hold resources and decision-making power are willing to scale these efforts before the 2030 Agenda’s deadline expires and before the generation that could have changed everything loses the opportunity to do so.

Because young people are ready.

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Aliz Pinto Aspiazu is the founder of OJICAC (Youth Organization for Innovation, Science, and Climate Action), an Ecuador-based organization dedicated to strengthening youth leadership in innovation, science, and climate action across Latin America and the Caribbean.