Sustainable Development Solutions Network - Youth �1

Contents

About SDSN Youth …………………………………………………………………………… 2

Key Facts ………………………………………………………………………………………….. 3

Assessment ………………………………………………………………………………………. 4

Analysis ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 6

Reports from Local Events …….………………………………………………………….. 7

About SDSN Youth Launched by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in August 2012, the UN Sustainable

Development Solutions Network (SDSN) mobilizes scientific and technical expertise

from academia, civil society, and the private sector in support of sustainable

development problem solving at local, national, and global scales. The SDSN aims to

accelerate joint learning by promoting integrated approaches to the nexus of

economic, social, and environmental challenges confronting the world. The SDSN

works closely with United Nations agencies, multilateral financing institutions, the

private sector, and civil society.

SDSN Youth is the youth division of this global network and its mission is to empower

youth globally to create sustainable solutions.

Sustainable Development Solutions Network - Youth 314 Low Library

535 W 116th Street

New York, NY 10027, United States

Website: http://www.sdsnyouth.org

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SDSNYouthSolutions

Twitter: @SDSNYouth

E-mail: youth@unsdsn.org

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Quick Facts

122 | Number of events registered on the Campaign website

42 | Number of countries involved (no. of events in brackets):

Australia (8); Austria (1); Bahamas (1); Bangladesh (2); Benin (7); Botswana (2); Brazil (1); Bhutan (1);

Cameroon (3); China (1); Colombia (1); Democratic Republic of the Congo (1); Egypt (1); France (2);

Germany (2); Guatemala (1); India (4); Indonesia (2); Italy (1); Jamaica (2); Kenya (26); Malawi (3);

Mali (1); Morocco (1); Nepal (2); New Zealand (1); Nigeria (12); Pakistan (3); Palestine (1); Peru (2);

Philippines (2); Poland (1); Spain (1); South Africa (1); Tanzania (2); Thailand (1); Togo (2); Turkey (4);

Uganda (2); United Kingdom (2); United States of America (7, including the 'Youth for SDGs' Main

Event in New York); Vietnam (1); Zimbabwe (1).

August 11, 2015 | The date of the first event…

…and that of the last one (Warsaw, Poland) | December 15, 2015

More than 100 | Organizations got involved . Their names are provided on the

spreadsheet here.

More than 10 000 | Estimated Total Attendance. Estimates for 122 events are in

the tens of thousands. These numbers are provided by the organizers on the Campaign

website.

Pictures from the campaign are available here.

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Assessment Introduction

The #KnowYourGoals Campaign was officially

launched by SDSN Youth on 12 August 2015, in co-

operation with Action/2015, Oikos International,

Project Everyone, The World's Largest Lesson and

Eco Boys and Girls. Its main objective was “to

introduce the SDGs to communities of young

people all around the world,” exploring questions

such as “What are they? Why are they important?

What do they mean for your community?”.

Consistent with this statement, our underlying

purpose was to encourage communities of young

people, on campuses, work places, and anywhere

else, to take ownership of the goals and explore

how they apply to them and their communities,

u s i n g t h e i r o w n w o r d s , s u g g e s t i o n s a n d

perspectives.

Through #KnowYourGoals, SDSN Youth aimed at

building a worldwide constituency of youth

organizations and individuals concerned with the

implementation of the SDGs in their communities,

envisioning it as the first step of a global, long-term

c a m p a i g n f o r y o u t h i n v o l v e m e n t i n t h e

implementation of the SDGs at the local and

national level.

Campaign Activities

The #KnowYourGoals campaign comprised the

following activities:

Local #KnowYourGoals events: we asked young

people from around the world to register to the

Campaign website (hosted on the Mobilize.io

platform) and express their interest in either (a)

working with the facilitators of an already existing

local event on the SDGs to organize a session for

the #KnowYourGoals campaign; or (b) working with

individuals, groups or other organizations and plan

their own events to support the adoption and

localization of the SDGs. Initially, we recommended

participants to hold such events between August

12 and October 12, but later decided to allow

submissions until December 1, when our members

from India were going to host a workshop in

Visaktahpatnam. SDSN Youth also hosted an event

in Warsaw, Poland on December 15, the last one for

the campaign.

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As a means of assistance for the organizers, we

circulated a Campaign Guide outlining the vision of

#KnowYourGoals and providing them with an

o n l i n e t o o l k i t w i t h FAQ s , o f f i c i a l l o g o s ,

infographics, and other relevant materials.

Overall, 122 events from 42 countries were

registered on the Campaign website by individuals

or youth organizations, ranging from Australia to

Zimbabwe and including discussion forums,

conferences, workshops, rallies, film screenings,

and contests. The most active countries were

Kenya (26 events registered), Nigeria (12), and

Australia (8). According to figures provided by the

local organizers, it is estimated that over 10,000

people were directly involved in the events

worldwide. Nonetheless, while we have encouraged

the submissions of reports and pictures, we have

experienced difficulties in reaching out to

organizers in some developing countries, and are

therefore continuing to verify these numbers.

Video Campaign: we engaged with young people

and experts in the international debate around the

SDGs, including Yuan T. Lee, Tarja Halonen, Nebojsa

Nakicenovic, and Jeffrey Sachs, to create a short

campaign video on the importance of the SDGs and

their influence on youth and local communities

worldwide. We encouraged everyone to submit

their own 1-minute video answering the following

questions: “Why do you think the SDGs are important? Which SDGs are most relevant to you and your community?”. We then edited and disseminated a

collective video which included many of these

contributions.

Youth 4 SDGs event: the main event of our

campaign was held on September 22 at Columbia

University in New York City. The event was

attended by over 300 people and featured keynote

speakers UN Secretary-General Envoy on Youth

Ahmad Alhendawi, SDSN Director Jeffrey Sachs,

SDSN Youth Global Coordinator Siamak Loni,

UNDP Youth Policy Specialist Noella Richards, and

SDSN and SDSN-Y partners. In addition, both the

# K n o w Y o u r G o a l s c a m p a i g n v i d e o a n d

Kontentreal’s short film on the SDGs premiered at

the event.

A tweet by SDSN Director Jeffrey Sachs (@JeffDSachs)

Social Media Outreach: as a vital part of the

campaign, we asked participants to share their local

events on social media and contribute to the debate

on the SDGs using the Twitter and Facebook

hashtag #KnowYourGoals before, during, and after

the UN Summit. Engagement with @SDSNYouth’s

profile on Twitter grew by 1446 followers from

August to October and added 112 followers in

November, roughly representing a 100% increase

from our earlier total. In September alone, out

tweets were seen 198,000 times and our profile

was visited another 13,800 times. Major figures/

organizations contributing to the social media

outreach through the #KnowYourGoals hashtag

included Jeffrey Sachs, Amina Mohammad, FAO

Newsroom, and Ahmad Alhendawi.

Sustainable Development Solutions Network - Youth �5

Analysis As SDSN Youth’s first major effort since the June

2015 launch, the Campaign was a great success.

There are, however, some valuable lessons to be

l e a r n e d f r o m t h e s h o r t c o m i n g s o f

#KnowYourGoals. These include (i) the necessity of

a longer planning horizon for our media campaigns,

in order for us to be able to reach out to even more

people, develop more stable partnerships, and

a v o i d h a v i n g t o d e a l w i t h u n f o r e s e e n

circumstances; (ii) clearer deadlines for the

submission of event reports; and (iii) a better

overall interaction with local organizations, which

may help us monitor their activities and allow for an

improved exchange of information. From this

perspective, a larger campaign team and well-

defined tasks will certainly serve the purpose.

Regarding achievements, #KnowYourGoals helped

establish SDSN Youth as a leading youth

organization within the international discourse on

the SDGs and valued partner in campaigns. This is

shown by our partnership with UN youth initiatives,

such as the Youth Gateway from the Youth Envoys’s

Office. Hopefully, this greater visibility will

translate into a bigger impact of our future

initiatives, as well as improved access to funding

opportunities and other forms of partnership.

The audience during the “Youth 4 SDGs” event, held at Columbia University in the City of New York on September 22, 2015.

The over 10,000 young people that have taken part

in our local events have the potential to become our

primary constituency. If we can cultivate their

interests and maintain a relationship with them,

then we will have access to large numbers of local

actors in many different regions around the world.

To promote the SDGs globally, we must work with

exisiting youth groups and encourage them to

target a large number of people.

In addition, now that attention has shifted from

adoption to implementation of the SDGs, the

enthusiasm generated by #KnowYourGoals gives us

the momentum to encourage these local groups to

begin working towards youth engagement into

national and local implementation strategies, a

process that we will support with the Local

Pathways campaign. As a global, collaborative

effort, it paves the way for our next steps.

Dario Piselli Project Lead, Solutions Initiatives #KnowYourGoals Campaign Coordinator

Sustainable Development Solutions Network - Youth �6

When: September 10, 2015

Where: Cartagena, Colombia

Organization: Fundación Universitaria Tecnológico

Comfenalco

“Within the Engineering week, on September 30th,

we had an event called 'II Foro Ciénaga de la

Virgen: un ecosistema potencialmente RAMSAR',

which was dedicated to the protection of an

important salty marsh located in the northeastern

part of our city. Restoration projects for the area

are related to several of the SDGs, especially 1, 6,

11 and 14. That is why we thought it was a good

p o i n t t o c o m b i n e t h e f o r u m w i t h t h e

#KnowYourGoals campaign, so we performed both

events together and shared the discussion topics.

Tw o P r o f e s s o r s a n d t e n s t u d e n t s o f t h e

environmental engineering program presented

materials related to the #KnowYourGoals.

Over 250 people attended the event, including

professors and students from our institution and

also people from Fundación Colombo Universitaria,

Instituto Carl Ros, SENA (Technical institution) and

representatives from EPA Cartagena, Pacaribe

(solid wate management company), SACSA (Airport

management company, located next to the marsh

area), Instituto von Humboldt and representatives

of the City Mayor.”

When: October 9, 2015

Where: Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania

Organization: University of Dar Es Salaam

“The event included different officials from the

country including Ms. Stelka Vuzo from United

Nations Information Center (UNIC), Mrs. Rose

Kayombo from Ministry of Education and

Vocational Training, Prof. Cuthbert Kimambo,

Deputy Vice Chancellor Research from University

of Dar Es Salaam, Prof. Charles Lugomela (Director

Knowledge Exchange), Jangwani High School

students, Benjamin Mkapa High School students,

Youth Along Development (YAD) and also audience

from different Universities including Ardhi

University, University of Dar Es Salaam, Institute of

Finance and Management, Moshi Cooperative

University and Open University of Tanzania.

About 75 people were in attendance, and 95% of

them clearly understood the new global goals

discussed during the event. This encourages us to

keep sharing knowledge on the new global goals

with society through our upcoming projects.

I would like to suggest that this campaign shouldn't

end here. We need more projects to explain to local

communities how to take part in achieving the

SDGs. A one-time event or a global goals campaign

is not enough for the coming 15 years.

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Some of the #KnowYourGoals Events

When: September 24, 2015

Where: Cotonou, Benin

Organization: CRADDES

“A s p a r t o f t h e i m p l e m e n t a t i o n o f t h e

#KnowYourGoals Campaign in Benin Republic,

CRADDES NGO co-organized a Worksop on Youth

and the SDGs with action/2015 Benin.

In preparation of the UN General Assembly, the

A c t i o n Te a m C h a m p i o n s / 2 0 1 5 a n d yo u n g

parliamentarians from Benin held a brainstorming

session in Cotonou. This is a workshop which

focused on the theme “Role of Beninese youth to

a c h i e v e t h e o b j e c t i v e s o f S u s t a i n a b l e

Development”.

Over 50 young people participated in this activity.

During this meeting a presentation was made on

action/2015 Benin, #KnowYourGoals and the

UNGA by the organizers of the campaign. Then one

of the champions of action/2015 Benin, Arnaud

Kogblévi from Terre des Jeunes, introduced the

Sustainable Development Goals. We also discussed

how the goals are important to the population,

especially young people, and Beninese youth

actually participated actively to this activity.”

When: October 24, 2015

Where: Istanbul, Turkey

Organization: SDSN Youth Turkey

“Our event has given a chance for several

associations, including Bogazici University

Sustainable Development and Cleaner Production

C e n t e r ( B U - S D C P C ) , B o g a z i c i U n i v e r s i t y

Environmental Club (BUCEK), Yesilist, and

GelecekDahaNet (GDN) to present their work and

discuss with participants about what are the the

main challenges that humankind is facing and

possible actions for solutions, also including

previously taken steps and potential projects in

following years.”

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When: August 11, 2015

Where: Nairobi, Kenya

Organization: Action 2015 Kenya National Coalition

“Our program for the forum enabled us to obtain very unique

contributions from all the participants, including through a

panel discussion with representatives from the Government of

Kenya, the UN and NGOs and group discussions by the

participants where they explored their priorities in the SDGs,

challenges for accomplishing them, and recommendations.

 

Further, young people highlighted  the importance of their full

participation in the post-2015 development agenda. This led us

to develop a proposal for a Kenyan youth delegation to the

summit that is being championed by the Kenya UN youth

representative.”

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© SDSN Youth

This campaign report is an open access publication, subject to the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/)

All photographs by the organizers of #KnowYourGoals' local events.

Acknowledgements: Thanks to Yacinthe Vidéou Agbadjagan, Purity Mwangi, Jorgelina Pasqualino, Hubert Ruhuza, Sila Temizel (for the local events reports). Written by Dario Piselli. Layout by Michelle Huang.

For further information, please contact: Sustainable Development Solutions Network - Youth 314 Low Library 535 W 116th Street New York, NY 10027, United States Website: http://www.sdsnyouth.org E-mail: youth@unsdsn.org