Generation17 leaders striving for social justice

February 18, 2022

For youth leaders, achieving the Sustainable Development Goals is a social justice imperative.

UNDP

To mark World Day of Social Justice, UNDP asked four Generation17 young leaders to share their thoughts and experiences in relation to this key development priority. 

From Mali to Brazil, from South Korea to Argentina, issues of social justice sit at the core of these young leaders’ expertise, purpose and work, as they are inextricably linked to the causes of the many complex development challenges that UNDP and partners, including youth, work to address.

Generation17 supports a group of inspiring young leaders aged 18 to 32 dedicated to innovating for humanity and mobilizing global communities. It is an enabler initiative born from an innovative partnership between UNDP and Samsung. UNDP strongly believes it is time we scale-up investments in youth-led development actions. Through Generation17, support, spaces and opportunities are provided to young leaders who mobilize their communities, work hard to leave no one behind, raise awareness on the Global Goals and build and implement impactful  solutions that help promote prosperity, intergenerational equity, and peaceful, inclusive, just and resilient societies.

In this first edition of our Generation17 series, young leaders Sadya Touré, Daniel Calarco, Yejin Choi and Máximo Mazzocco share their takes on social justice from different angles.

A gender perspective by Sadya Touré, Mali

"In a society that upholds social justice, human rights are respected."

Sadya Touré

“For me, social justice is a question of fairness, equality, and redressing the injustices that have been created socially, culturally, politically, economically and even legally. It is a moral and political construct which aims at collective solidarity. This implies that privileged groups recognize that there is a need to bridge this gap to build more just and equitable societies. Usually, the groups that are victims of social injustice are women, young people and people with disabilities. In a society that upholds social justice, human rights are respected, and the most disadvantaged social classes can access opportunities for development.”

Having experienced female genital mutilation (FGM) when she was four, Sadya started educating older, all-male village councils about the disastrous effects of FGM on women’s health. She founded an organization, Mali Musso, that provides full university scholarships, housing assistance and career training to girls from rural Mali.

Intersectionality by Daniel Calarco, Brazil

"To build resilient and inclusive realities, we need to unleash young people’s power."

Daniel Calarco

From a different region of the world, Daniel Calarco explains the importance of taking an intersectional approach to his daily work.

“As young intersectional people, we are not part of the problem. We are disproportionately impacted by several social issues that hold us back from creating and implementing solutions. To build resilient and inclusive realities, we need to unleash young people’s power by fully supporting us to be the author of our trajectories. We need to create new narratives based on the perspectives of people that have been systematically excluded from decision-making and power.”

Daniel experienced the impact of unjust institutions daily in the favelas in Río de Janeiro. At 11, he won a competitive academic placement that set him on a path to answering his mounting questions about social inequality. At 18, he founded Observatório Internacional da Juventude (International Youth Watch), a tech-enabled community educating thousands of young people around the Global Goals and improving opportunities for marginalized communities. Daniel recently graduated as a human rights lawyer, and he continues his work at the International Youth Watch as the president.

Education & technology as enablers by Yejin Choi, Republic of Korea

"I prefer to live a life running a high-value company that solves big social problems."

Yejin Choi

As these examples demonstrate, education and empowerment of children and young people is key component of justice and access to opportunities. Yejin shares her experience creating DoBrain, a video-based learning programme that kids can access on a smartphone, tablet or PC. 

“As one of the leaders who want to achieve justice through entrepreneurship focused on education, I believe that solving social problems is justice. Lack of educational resources is a social issue. Before I created DoBrain, I used my cognitive therapy training to devise a year-long curriculum to help hundreds of families. But after just one month, only 5 percent of parents still used it. That is why I came up with my business idea. I believe that the value of a company is not simply the amount of money the company makes, but the real profit is = (the size of the problem targeted) X (the number of people affected). For this reason, I prefer to live a life running a high-value company that solves big social problems. I believe that it is our duty to provide quality treatment and education to children with disabilities. Every child, no matter where they were born, has an amazing potential.”

Two months before starting at Seoul National University, Yejin began tutoring children in a neighbouring community known for its widespread poverty. Almost immediately, she noticed that the children, especially those with disabilities, lacked educational resources. That is when she turned to technology, creating DoBrain. Today, DoBrain is growing internationally and has positively impacted tens of thousands of children around the world.

Climate justice by Máximo Mazzocco, Argentina

"It is necessary to change the rules of the game or, failing that, the entire game."

Máximo Mazzocco

Small actions can add up to big changes, and youth are at the forefront of global movements creating positive change, notably on climate. Máximo shares his views from an environmental standpoint.

“Social justice includes climate justice, and environmental rights are part of it. Social justice is the same as targeting sustainability, because one cannot exist without the other. In order to achieve this, it is necessary to change the rules of the game or, failing that, the entire game. In addition, social justice as climate justice is intergenerational justice. We must consider those who were here before us, those who are here today, and those who will come after. And that's what we do at Eco House, and with other global environmental advocates, we work today for a better future for the next generations.”

As a teenager in Buenos Aires, Máximo wondered what he could do about his city's garbage problem. A few years later, he created the non-profit Eco House. Now the group operates 30 programmes and soon will be in 23 countries – advocating for the environment, teaching companies to recycle and compost, mobilizing youth, and educating more than 70,000 children in Argentina, in addition to youth in many other countries.

These inspiring stories give a flavour of what Generation17 young leaders accomplish to improve lives in their communities and build stronger, peaceful and resilient societies. Through the UNDP-Samsung partnership initiated in 2019, the Samsung Global Goals app was launched to educate and raise awareness on the Sustainable Development Goals, followed in 2020 by the Generation17 initiative. In February 2022, six new young leaders joined this group of changemakers from the USA, Denmark, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Indonesia and Vietnam. To learn more about this initiative and meet all the Generation17 young leaders, the visionaries, advocates and entrepreneurs building a better future, visit generation17.undp.org.