By Andrew Herrera
America’s young people have a proud history of protest
and civic engagement. The 1960s were marked by famous anti-Vietnam War
demonstrations on college campuses and, in some cases, high schools throughout
the nation. Young adults also volunteered and campaigned for civil rights in
that decade, and continued to champion such important causes as the end of
apartheid in South Africa in the 1990s.
Young people creatively pursued boycotts, sit-ins, and
college endowment divestment campaigns as their means of influencing politicians
who might otherwise ignore their interests. With few young adults represented
in the federal and state governments, we have had to engage in protest actions.
And we have generally accepted that government positions in the United States
are held by older adults. But does it have to be that way? My recent trip to
the United Nations headquarters in New York perhaps suggests otherwise.
I went to the U.N. as part of a small group of Ramapo College
Honors students who had received the special opportunity to attend the United
Nations Economic and Social Council 2018 Youth Forum. The Youth Forum was a gathering
of representatives from throughout the world sent to open a dialogue on young
adults’ role in helping the U.N.’s member states achieve the seventeen
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that the organization set for 2030. Numerous
countries, such as Brazil, Thailand, and Canada were represented by young
people, in addition to adult professionals and United Nations officers.
The Sustainable Development Goals range from stable
employment to fair governance, and they also include environmental objectives
such as wildlife conservation and investing in renewable energy. Going into the
Forum, I was expecting to hear about strategies for young people to advance
sustainable causes by the familiar means I mentioned earlier. Instead, I
learned about how different countries’ governments address young people through
environmental education and outreach programs. Such initiatives hold critical
implications for the future of environmental sustainability; as can be seen in
the United States, young people tend to be more keenly aware of the severity of
problems such as climate change.
It should be noted that several of the representatives
were speaking on behalf of developing countries that still need to enact more
substantial youth programming if they hope to approach the educational
achievement of a country like the United States. Our education system, serious
warts and all, is still superior to many throughout the world because of our
country’s high concentration of wealth and skilled professionals. But the
discussions had me wondering what steps the United States is taking to improve
young people’s commitment to sustainability.
An official from the African nation of Cameroon noted
that it has begun incorporating the Sustainable Development Goals into its
education programs. Cameroon works with multiple partners in order to advance
SDGs in its society, including its young adults. Through a partnership with the
youth-run nonprofit AIESEC, Cameroon has recently begun a drive to encourage
youth participation and entrepreneurship in helping the country attain the Sustainable
Development Goals by 2030. Unlike the United States, Cameroon also has a
national council of youth consisting of young officials popularly elected by
youth groups and organizations.
Cameroon’s youth council has been criticized for being
yoked too closely to its national government to effect any meaningful policy.
And many of its partnerships with global nonprofits in service of sustainable
development and youth empowerment remain focused on small problems. But these
are nonetheless exciting developments. And they make one wonder how they might
impact participation among young adults in Cameroonian politics. If the
partnerships and the youth council manage to truly transform the civic
engagement of Cameroon’s young adults, perhaps inspired young people here in
the United States will want to push for similar projects.
Works Cited:
United Nations. Global Registry of Voluntary Commitments
and Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships. Partnerships for the SDGs. (n.d.). Cameroon. Retrieved from https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/partnership/countries/?country=142
Youth Policy Labs. (n.d.). Cameroon. Retrieved from www.youthpolicy.org/factsheets/country/cameroon/#
Youth Policy Labs. (n.d.). United States. Retrieved from www.youthpolicy.org/factsheets/country/united-states/
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