Big Question:
How can young people make a meaningful global impact on today's problems that need solving, in the face of climate disasters, anxiety, war, forced displacement, and seeming permacrisis?
In Summary:
By focusing on opportunities for engagement, how each person can make a tangible impact in their immediate community, and by building bridges to connect people working on similar paths, we can catalyze a global movement towards a better future. The interconnectedness of the crises we face demands an approach with systems-level thinking with human-to-human dialogue and action.
Background:
In 2019, I joined UNA-Greater Boston (UNAGB) and in 2020, I was accepted as a member of the UNA-USA Emerging Leaders Fellowship. Concurrently, I joined the UNAGB's SDG Committee, recently launched with a focus on organizing SDG panel events, and populating the SDG Action Corner project to provide concrete steps towards achieving measured progress on the SDGs locally, which would in turn create progress globally,
In 2021, I joined the 4th cohort of UNITE 2030's Youth Delegate Program to collaborate with a broader international community of changemakers.
From late 2022 - early 2024, I've focused on making a direct impact through Workaway, which encourages SDG-focused work/volunteer/cultural exchange projects.
Problem:
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, we faced an epidemic of isolation, compounded by a feeling of powerlessness in the face of global forces that seem to be on a collision course for global catastrophe. Historically, successful movements for positive change have come from united action for progress, however, numerous factors have limited this collectivity on international problems such as climate change.
Alternative Solutions:
Attempting to create communities of change online organically, such as those that emerged through Clubhouse.
Organizing local actions independent of broader communities.
Focusing exclusively on one area of impact.
Implementation:
UNA-USA: 2020 | Organized and co-moderated the October 2020 Virtual Panel "Uniting in Hope #UN75" and Led the Education and Advocacy Session "Sustainable and Equitable Food Systems"(slides linked) as a part of the Fall 2020 UNA-USA Emerging Leaders Fellowship.
The advocacy session was focused on bills supporting indigenous food sovereignty, a health equity-focused federal farm bill, and multilateral food security funding.
Supported advocacy and convening efforts, such as at the Global Engagement Summit in New York City at the UN General Assembly in 2024, and annual virtual advocacy actions.
UNITE 2030 Youth SDG Summit: 2021 | Coordinated virtual events on Hopin, bringing together changemakers and organizations empowering youth through sport. Youth SDG Summits:
June 2021 Organizer and Moderator: "Sport: Empowering Young People to be Changemakers"
September 2021 Session Moderator: “Why are Sports Important for Development?”
UNITE 2030 Youth Delegate Program: 2021 | Completed a curriculum in design thinking for progress on the Global Goals and served on the outreach team dedicated to organizing cohort-wide panels.
UNAGB: 2019 - 2022 | Contributed to a platform identifying local indicators and actions for progress.
Supported the mission of the United Nations through advocacy, planning local events, and taking local steps towards advancing the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the 2030 agenda. Notably, this has included contributing to the build-out of the SDG Action Corner, a robust resource for Greater Boston-specific impact evaluation and action.
Check it out (and take some action!) at SDGActionCorner.org.
Check it out (and take some action!) at SDGActionCorner.org.
Workaway: 2022 - 2024 | Helping others around the world, through the platform Workaway. Supporting a model of global exchange based on mutual aid to share in skills, housing, food, and culture as a reflection of the richness we all have. Many Workaway project align themselves with the SDGs and track their progress against them.
After two years of global pandemic, needing to participate in a simultaneously global and hands-on approach to the Sustainable Development Goals, Workaway was a great fit.
During this time, I have supported family-run farming in Nepal, photography and sports performance coaching in Oman, motorbike safety and sustainable tourism in Vietnam, permaculture in Tunisia, and villa maintenance in France. Recently developed logos for a community-run fruit grower’s association and eco-tourism project in Ica, Peru. Also supported community health through sport at a rock climbing gym in Arequipa Peru.
Results:
This created impact by educating and mobilizing people for change, and paving the way for more changemakers to follow.
With the UNA-USA Emerging Leaders Fellowship, we created important partnerships around New England, reaching more than 50 attendees for our session, among a host of #UN75 celebrations.
The series of panels for UNITE 2030 and in the Youth SDG Summits generated substantial youth engagement and action. For example in the June 2021 summit, we reached a total of 2,200 attendees across all sessions and post-summit surveys showed that attendees were inspired to take action on their own projects and in their own communities.
Making much of this unpaid work was made possible by delivering more than 7,000 Uber passengers and meals (while offsetting over 50,000lbs of carbon emissions with TerraPass, more than triple my annual auto emissions), in addition to fundraising, and maintaining other remote and flexible part-time work to make these projects feasible. Related to that rideshare work, I'm now advocating for better rights for gig workers.