Kids 20 goes to the UN to present their ideas to the Pact of the Future

Reporters Vitória and Pedro, part of the Young Press project in São Paulo, were invited to the UN's Summit of the Future for a 13-day mission. In addition to providing coverage, on the model of those held at the G20 meetings in Brasil, young people also participated in high-level meetings in which they shared their ideas and proposals.

There are no borders for the youth of the Young Press. After visiting China in July, at the invitation of the Chinese government, they now traveled to the United States to participate in the UN's Summit of the Future. Young reporters Vitória Calado and Pedro Murilo, from the Paulo Duarte Municipal Elementary School in São Paulo, were invited to take part in the Action Days events at the UN headquarters in New York City to discuss the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which guide various initiatives within the G20. 

"We need courage and political will to change, creating the tomorrow we want", said the President of the Republic of Brasil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, at the opening of the Summit of the Future. Lula is also the president pro tempore of the G20, and stressed the importance of the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty at the time. 

Thinking exactly about creating this tomorrow, the young people who are part of Kids 20 were in the city for 13 days of the mission, participating in high-level meetings in which they shared ideas and proposals for the Pact of the Future. In addition to acting as speakers, they provided educational and communicative coverage, as well as those carried out during G20 events in Brasil, of the various Action Days events, interviewing representatives of international organizations, and highlighting the new generations' role in building global solutions.

The trajectory of Vitória and Pedro began when, after contributing an article to the Imprensa Jovem magazine, they were invited by the UN consultant, Renata Juliotti, to participate in the Foro de Niñas, Niños, Adolescentes y Juventudes de América Latina y el Caribe, which was part of the Organization's Sustainable Development Forum, which took place in Chile in April. This time, with the support of the Educommunication Center of the Coordination of CEUs and Integral Education, Vitória, and Pedro, young delegates of the “UN Coalition We Need” traveled with their teachers Regina Nara and Kelly Ventura and the coordinators Carlos Lima and Aparecido Sutero.

In one of their most remarkable interviews, they were received by Minister Viviane Rios Balbino, Head of the United Nations Division of Peace and International Security, who addressed Brasil's challenges in the bilateral dialogue. The experience of young people was widely shared in a podcast with the participation of ten schools, in which Vitória and Pedro answered questions from students and highlighted the potency of young voices in policymaking

The Brazilian delegation, possibly the youngest to participate in Action Days, showed the world the importance of including adolescents in global discussions. For Carlos Lima, coordinator of the Educommunication Center, "Young Press takes a significant step by showing other countries the program's potential to interact with the Summit of the Future. Students not only have a voice, but they must take ownership of the proposals they advocate," he said.

As a result of this participation, the Young Press Program, a partner of G20 Brasil, will offer a course for 200 schools focused on the role of students as mediators of the SDGs, with activities centered on SDG 13 – Climate Change, and completion of projects along the lines of the presentations made by the Youth Delegates.

Check out the podcast PodConversar about the agenda:

Translated by PGET-UFSC

See also