Largest youth-led contribution to the SDGs
As world leaders gather in New York this week at the annual United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and SDG Summit, World Scout Youth Representatives are calling for concrete action to deliver the sustainable development goals (SDGs), the greater involvement of young people in identifying issues, finding solutions and implementing them, and increased investment in youth-led change.
“This week is an incredibly important moment as the half-way point to the SDGs. It’s a moment in time for every single person to stop, reflect on the last few years of incredibly hard work towards the goals, and recognise how much further we have to go to ensure the promise of a better world comes to fruition by 2030”, said Meg Cummins, one of World Scouting’s Youth Representatives who will be in attendance during the UNGA.
According to the UN’s SDG Progress Report released earlier this year, only 12% of the SDG targets are on track, which is particularly concerning at the halfway point to the deadline for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. However, even though ongoing crises have either stalled or reversed progress towards achieving the SDGs, the Scout Movement is making good on its commitment to put our planet on a path towards sustainability by contributing nearly 3 billion hours of community service and millions of local youth-led actions towards the Global Goals.
The largest youth-led contribution to the SDGs is made possible through a global mobilisation initiative called Scouts for SDGs, which aims to promote youth-led sustainable development, increase volunteerism, and raise awareness about the most critical global issues of our time. Discover Scouts for SDGs in this short video. The Scouts for SDGs initiative is the result of a longstanding partnership between the World Organization of the Scout Movement, the World Scout Foundation and Alwaleed Philanthropies, the impact of which is detailed in a new five-year conducted by Owl RE, an external evaluation and research consultant company, and released alongside World Scouting’s involvement in the UNGA.
Through humanitarian efforts to respond to the recent earthquake and floods in Morocco and Libya, to building urban gardens and coordinating ocean cleanups to stem the tide against the climate emergency, 57 million Scouts are leading community action and youth-led change in towns, cities, and villages, in every corner of the world. Scouting’s global network and deep local roots drive action in underserved remote and rural areas where the challenges related to the SDGs are often the most entrenched and hardest to tackle. And Scouts can do more.
According to the Scouts for SDGs evaluation, Scouts for SDGs-funded activities have positively inspired, informed, and motivated National Scout Organizations (NSOs) in all regions to take non-funded actions towards achieving the SDGs. Together with contributions from other World Scouting initiatives, from NSOs and Scouts themselves, the Scouts for SDGs initiative has achieved extensive reach across the Scouting Movement and in the communities in which Scouts live and volunteer:
- 164 NSOs have integrated Scouts for SDGs into their youth programmes
- 73 NSOs have benefited from funded projects under Scouts for SDGs
- Over 60,000 participants in funded projects under Scouts for SDGs
- Over 112 million participants in non-funded actions under Scouts for SDGs
- 112 funded capacity building and community projects
- Over 16.4 million non-funded actions for the SDGs
- Over 2.7 billion service hours carried out in non-funded actions under Scouts for SDGs
- Over 521,000 service hours carried out in funded projects under Scouts for SDGs
- Estimated 5 million beneficiaries of funded projects under Scouts for SDGs
- Estimated 7.9 million beneficiaries of national action plans funded by Scouts for SDGs
“We are grateful to HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, Chairman of Alwaleed Philanthropies, and HRH Princess Lamia Bint Majid Al Saud, Secretary General of Alwaleed Philanthropies, for their unwavering commitment to invest in young people and their communities through Scouting. We would also like to thank all National Scout Organization leadership, Scout Leaders, and Scouts for activating this incredible mobilisation effort and contributing to the evaluation.” Mark Knippenberg, Chief Executive Officer of the World Scout Foundation and Ahmad Alhendawi, Secretary General of the World Organization of the Scout Movement.
By investing in young people from an early age and instilling a commitment to sustainability through educational programmes and activities, Scouting empowers younger generations with the knowledge and skills they need to be champions for sustainability, creating an impact lasting well beyond 2030. Scouting will be working closely with partners at the event, including the UN Foundation, SAP, Project Everyone, Generation Unlimited, UNFPA, World Health Organization, and the Greening Education Partnership.
"The contribution of Scouts and young people to the SDGs is essential and must be amplified and better resourced if we are going to continue to make progress towards the SDG targets set by the international community”, said Mark Knippenberg, Chief Executive Officer of the World Scout Foundation. “By investing in young people and youth-led change, we can accelerate the impact we want to have in the world.”