Yunga-UN

Sustainable Development Goals

The 193 Member States of the United Nations adopted in September 2015 a new sustainable development agenda entitled “Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”. This agenda contains 17 goals relating to future international development and aims to end poverty, promote prosperity and people’s well-being while protecting the environment over the next 15 years. This agenda builds on the achievements of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which were adopted in 2000.

One important aspect of this new agenda is that the negotiating process on the sustainable development goals involved the unprecedented participation of civil society and other stakeholders. Many young people were also involved from the beginning on social media platforms and the UN’s global My World survey that received more than 7 million votes from around the world, with approximately 75% of participants under 30 years of age. 

The world’s population is young. Approximately 1.2 billion youth live in the world today and represent over 14 percent of the global population. The international community has recognized young women and men as a critical resource to society which can be nurtured and mobilized to achieve higher development goals.

It is for this reason that the Youth and United Nations Global Alliance (YUNGA) has committed to the creation of resources and opportunities for young people to reach their full potential as skilled, creative and resilient people. YUNGA has developed and supports different youth capacity programmes that aim to help young women and men to understand that all of our actions and our behaviors have an immediate impact on the sustainable development of our societies. Empowering youth today and providing them with the knowledge and abilities they need to engage as responsible actors and innovators of their communities will allow them to actively participate in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals tomorrow.

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) are: