Children and youth have the greatest stake in the future so they must be engaged as agents of innovation and change. Young people around the world have made valuable contributions to sustainable development, and these efforts must be considered when developing policy that aims to support and encourage innovation.
To shed light on how young people are using new approaches and perspectives to develop solutions to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), an interactive session on The Experience of Youth in using Science, Technology and Innovation for Sustainable Development was held on 7 June 2016 at UN Headquarters as part of the first annual Multi-stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals (STI Forum). Energy turbines and innovation labs were discussed as examples of how young people have initiated change in communities around the world.
Elenita Daño, Asia Director of the Action Group on Erosion, Technology and Concentration (ETC Group), moderating the discussion, asked the panellists about the science behind their innovations, their journey from idea to reality, the challenges they faced and policy implications.
Hannah Herbst, 2015 Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge winner, described a small turbine she had designed to provide a stable power source and fresh water to developing countries around the globe after learning that her pen pal in Ethiopia had no access to lights or a steady flow of drinking water. As a young female scientist in a mostly adult and male dominated field, she pointed to a lack of resources and exposure as a barrier in science and technology for young people. Alluding to her own opportunities to work in an engineering lab at high school alongside people her age, she highlighted the importance of classrooms in providing equal opportunities for students to learn hands-on at an early age.
Co-fouder of Global Minimum Inc. and 2014 TED fellow David Moinina Sengeh, discussed creating innovation labs in Sierra Leone and Kenya where young people could tinker and create by using advanced technology. Adults needed to help youth access their creativity and thus make an impact on the world, he said. There was no reason why young people in Freetown who understood the challenges they faced were not given to tools to think about the solution. He described how a student in Sierra Leone developed a way to use GSM mobile telephone “flash calls” to address the problem of solar refrigerators which broke down with stocks of temperature-sensitive vaccine inside. To unlock this potential, he emphasised the need to shift toward a more flexible and responsive educational system that better promotes creativity, critical thinking and problem solving skills.
Gusti Ayu Fransiska Dewi, co-founder of the Asia Pacific Youth Network on Climate Change and Field Coordinator, Climate for Rainforest Alliance, described mobilising young people in Indonesia who were interested in solving problems, but who were often unemployed and had not finished high school. Her group focused on how young people could address climate change. In coastal areas, for instance, the group trained youth to collect primary environmental data, and analyse institutional data. In that way, they came to understand the scientific process. One outcome had been the development of recommendations for their government, which empowered participants by making them part of the policy process. Her group emphasised what could be done at the local level, using local knowledge.
To learn more about the STI Forum, please click here.
Source & Copyright: UN News