UNGA78: Accelerating SDG Commitments: 1.8 billion adolescents and youth transforming our world

Introduction

A number of ministers from member states convened to amplify adolescent- and youth-specific commitments at Accelerating SDG Commitments: 1.8 Billion Adolescents and Youth Transforming our World: High-level luncheon dialogue, a United Nations General Assembly side event hosted by the government of Honduras and organized by PMNCH, FIA Foundation, Plan International, UNFPA, the World Health Organization and UNICEF. The commitments had been made as part of the 1.8 Billion Young People for Change campaign in a bid to improve adolescent health in consultation with youth. Pushing those commitments forward, speakers at the 19 September event asked how such commitments can be actioned on a practical level and done so in partnership with adolescents and young people.

The Unique Population of Adolescents and Youth

There are currently 1.8 billion adolescents in the world today. Dr. Bruce Aylward, Assistant Director-General, Universal Health Coverage and Life Course at the World Health Organization, told attendees that they are not older children or young adults, but a unique population unto themselves with specific health and well-being challenges.

Creating Spaces for Youth Voices

“We’re late but we’re starting to get it,” he said, adding that various governments are now attempting to create spaces to hear the issues that are of concern to young people. The WHO, for example, has established a youth council to advise WHO on what issues are most pressing to them and Aylward said it plans to work with member states to create similar mechanisms, having already requested that member states include young people on their World Health Assembly delegations.

Ministerial Commitments

As a result of this advocacy, certain governments are starting to make youth-specific commitments in the areas of health and well-being as well as in cross-cutting issues as part of efforts to achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. This was highlighted in the number of commitments made within the event itself. Over 10 ministers took to the microphone to tell the event’s attendees of various actions they’d be taking and investments they’d be making in adolescent health.

• Kabo Morweang, Minister for Presidential Affairs in Botswana, shared the government’s commitment to implementing a new blueprint that will address the multifaceted challenges that young people face across health, education, employment, road safety and gender-based violence.
• Ahmed Hussein, Minister of International Development in Canada talked about the $1.4 billion it is investing in global health this year and how $700 million is dedicated to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) with youth SRHR a priority.
• Jean Sendeza, Minister of Gender in Malawi also shared that it would be increasing the government allocation for family planning to $1 billion, providing micronutrients to 50% of youth and increasing the gender budget allocation to 1% from 0.4%.
• Other country ministers that made pledges included Sint Maarten, Liberia and India while Amani Abou-Zeid, Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy of the African Union Commission, not initially scheduled to speak, asked for a moment on the stage to pledge to ensure every African has access to energy.

Challenges Faced by Adolescents

The hope is that these commitments will help in tackling just some of the challenges adolescents face when it comes their health and well-being. In her opening of the event, Paola, an adolescent champion from Bolivia with Plan International shared how for young people in her country the most common challenges include gender-based violence and depravity of education. Other challenges speakers highlighted include mental health challenges, access to family planning, exposure to substance abuse and the potential for injuries, including road traffic injuries and drowning.

What Young People Want

Beyond health, the What Young People Want Initiative found that young people are also most interested in furthering their education and developing skills and competencies for future employment.

Monitoring Commitments

While the commitments signify that world leaders are starting to see the value in ensuring young people globally have their health needs addressed, Rt. Hon. Helen Clark, Former Prime Minister of New Zealand and Board Chair of PMNCH, said in her remarks that there is very little in place to monitor such verbal promises. The 1.8 Billion campaign aims to find out what young people want when it comes to their health and well-being so that this can inform decision-makers and the upcoming Global Forum on Adolescents in October will serve as a platform to mobilize resources to realize these needs. With that in mind, she said it will fall upon civil society and the media to monitor progress on commitments and on adolescents and young people to continue raising their voices.

Conclusion

“Hold the decision-makers’ feet to the fire,” she urged. “My encouragement to adolescent and youth is to speak up. For those who have access to… platforms like this, take the message home, popularize it, encourage others to get involved as you are.”

“We’re all players of change and we all need to make commitments of change,” Paola said.