UN SDSN LOCAL PATHWAYS FELLOWSHIP

"The Sustainable Development Goals are a young and urban affair"

Half of the world’s population today is under the age of 30, with a large majority of them already living or aspiring to live in urban areas. Young people are 40% more likely to move to cities, and what they bring along is an unwavering belief in a great future and readiness to contribute their energy, creativity, ambition, capacity for activism, boundless imagination and ability to conceive of a better world. And still, young people's potential to affect positive change has not yet been entirely realized. Young people can be viewed as passive recipients rather than enablers of change, a problem rather than a solution. Young people are rarely invited to the decision-making table and too often, they have limited means to participate in public life.

This is the gap that the Local Pathways Fellowship aims to fill. Widely referred to as 'the future', young people have the potential to play a vital role in achieving the SDGs by transforming the cities they call 'home' into sustainable communities. From Tokyo to Sao Paulo, the Local Pathways Fellowship will provide young people across the world with the tools and resources to promote local ownership of the Goals and to create more prosperous and liveable cities and neighbourhoods. 

As a Local Pathways Fellow I am a member of the 2nd Fellowship cohort, running from 2018 to early 2020. I focus on the implementation of SDG 11 and 5, by focussing on gender equality and public space design. 

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Read all about the fellowship on www.localpathways.org.