Youth empowerment and sustainable development are interconnected concepts that highlight the importance of involving young people in the process of achieving long-term social, economic, and environmental progress.
Youth Empowerment:
This refers to the process of providing young individuals with the tools, knowledge, skills, and opportunities they need to make informed decisions, take action, and influence their own lives and the world around them. Empowering young people involves recognizing their potential and valuing their contributions to society. It encompasses aspects such as education, employment, civic engagement, leadership development, and access to resources.
Education and Skill Development: Access to quality education and skill-building opportunities is crucial for youth empowerment. Education equips young people with knowledge, critical thinking skills, and the ability to analyze complex issues, which are essential for active participation in society.
Civic Engagement: Encouraging young people to engage in civic activities, such as voting, volunteering, and participating in community projects, empowers them to have a voice in shaping the future of their communities.
Leadership Development: Providing leadership development programs helps young individuals develop the skills needed to take on leadership roles, make decisions, and influence positive change.
Health and Well-being: Empowering youth includes addressing their physical, mental, and emotional well-being. Access to healthcare, mental health services, and information about healthy lifestyles contributes to their overall empowerment.
Employment and Economic Opportunities: Offering job training, internships, and employment opportunities to young people not only helps them financially but also builds their confidence and self-reliance.
Social and Political Awareness: Encouraging young people to be informed about social, political, and environmental issues enables them to advocate for causes they care about and contribute to meaningful change.
Inclusivity and Diversity: Ensuring that youth from all backgrounds, including marginalized and underrepresented groups, have equal access to opportunities is a crucial aspect of empowerment. It promotes inclusivity, diversity, and social equity.
Access to Technology and Information: In the digital age, access to information and technology plays a vital role in empowering youth by connecting them to a wealth of knowledge and enabling them to amplify their voices through various platforms.
Safe and Supportive Environments: Creating safe and supportive environments where young people can express their opinions, voice concerns, and share ideas without fear of judgment fosters their empowerment.
Sustainable development:
This refers to a holistic approach to economic, social, and environmental progress that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It involves balancing economic growth, social equity, and environmental protection. The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a comprehensive framework for addressing various global challenges, including poverty, inequality, climate change, and environmental degradation.
The current dominant political, social, and economic systems favor short-term gains and quick fixes at the expense of longer-term planetary and human well-being and prosperity. A paradigm shift is required in how we measure and value what matters to people and the planet. To uphold the initial promises of sustainable development, it is crucial to awaken to the fact that future ways of living, interacting, and doing business are non-linear and will look very different from now on. Thus, it is of utmost importance to re-think systems based on intergenerational solidarity.
A paper published by the UN Secretary-General on the policy brief between March and July 2023 intended to propose concrete actions under Our Common Agenda and to inform the discussions of Members States in advance of the 2023 SDG Summit and the Summit of the Future in 2024. The first brief, published on 9th March under the title, ‘To Think and Act for Future Generations,’ provides several suggestions and practical steps in ensuring that intergenerational solidarity becomes the guiding star of sustainable development and renewal of the multilateral system.
Based on the Secretary-General’s paper, this Policy Brief aims to shed light on why it is important to adopt a future generations approach in policy design as a way to achieve long-term sustainability and to examine how the UN intends to embrace this approach in practice.
The Secretary-General’s policy brief proposes four steps to be taken at the global level. The first step is the appointment of a special Envoy for Future Generations. The envoy would have an advisory capacity focused on: intergenerational and future impacts of policies and programs; facilitating collaboration and best practices on the topic of future generations; and better use of foresight methods. The brief recognizes that there are many examples of this approach from Member States. One notable example is the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales.
Related to the mandate of the special envoy, and linked to the notion of long-term sustainability, the brief argues that it is necessary to enhance the capacity of the UN system in applying strategic foresight methods. Strategic foresight can help us assess, understand, and adapt policies and practices that will affect generations yet to be born. This will require a significant shift in mindsets towards the long term and moving away from our current short-termism. A combination of forecasting models and foresight practices within institutions and society will help expand our collective thinking and policy-making towards systems that are centered around human values and aligned with the planetary boundaries we live in, ultimately securing the needs of present and future generations.
Third, the brief encourages Member States to adopt a political declaration on the “duties to the future.” This declaration should serve to put existing commitments made to future generations into action by making these concrete, including clearly defining what is meant by future generations.
Finally, and related to the political declaration, the Secretary-General’s policy brief suggests establishing an intergovernmental forum for future generations. This forum would play a key role in making sure commitments in the political declaration do not just add to the extensive list of previous commitments made to future generations but are put into practice. Again, in this regard, the brief acknowledges the inspiration from Member States that have been working to implement a future generations perspective into policy.
It is noteworthy that in the Welsh and Finnish examples mentioned above, working for future generations is associated with bringing in a diversity of voices, including civil society, to understand and jointly assess the impact of current activities on future generations. Thus, in addition to supporting long-term thinking, this model can also serve to encourage multi-stakeholder collaboration, with the recognition that we need diverse expertise and diverse representation to adequately consider the effects of our actions on the future. Furthermore, Wales’s Well-being of Future Generations Act aims to improve social, economic, environmental, and cultural well-being. This is distinct from the 2030 Agenda, as it specifically includes culture as an additional dimension of sustainability.
At The Youth Cafe, we are creating a network of empowered young people who can drive their community’s transformation growth. The African Youth Foundation, an organ of The Youth Cafe is working towards empowering youth to take charge of their lives by giving them necessary opportunities while seeking to create African-based, youth-led cooperation activities that pursue long-term impact and positive change for African youth.
The above aligns with The Youth Cafe Vision: To advance youth-led approaches towards achieving sustainable development, social equity, innovative solutions, community resilience, and transformative change.
