Amplifying Youth Voices for Sustainable Community Development
Nigeria Youth SDGs Network
(
Civil society organization
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#SDGAction33816
Description
Nigeria Youth SDGs Network is a coalition of youth-led and youth-focused civil society organizations localizing the United Nations 2030 agenda via youth leadership, advocacy, storytelling and collaboration for sustainable community development. Our mission is to inspire youth engagement in the developmental agenda of Nigeria by creating a platform that will amplify the voice of youth. We believe that the Sustainable Development Goals are Youth Goals and hence youth are critical stakeholders if we must meet the targets in Nigeria by 2030.
We provide training for our youth leaders to organize focused group discussions in their communities to raise awareness about the Sustainable Development Goals. We host conferences and special events in cities and universities on advocacy and accountability for the SDGs to ensure that no one is left behind. Our website is a one-stop information shop to amplify the work of young people working on the SDGs. With the support of 3,700 volunteers, we are working with state governments in Nigeria to ensure that the development needs of young people are prioritized.
Through the Youth SDGs Cafe which is a partnership with the United Nations Information Centr, we have been able to train 2,500 youth leaders on the Sustainable Development Goals. In 2020, we worked with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs to design a survey to understand the aspirations of young Nigerians on decent work which had 212,000 responses and created a road map for the implementation of the Nigeria Youth Employment Action Plan. It is a policy document that focuses on education, employability, entrepreneurship, equality and rights of young Nigerians.
The network leverages on partnerships to succeed and the sheer strength of the volunteers and champions across Nigeria. We have Whatsapp groups across all the states where we plan our events. We host specialized training sessions for our youth leaders and encourage them to leverage networks for their personal growth.
Currently, the network has five systems leads who work with champions and coordinators across Nigeria towards fulfilling the mission of amplifying youth voices for sustainable development. We work with diverse partners in the states and approach our work on a case by case basis. The best way this practice can be replicated is by providing opportunities for youth interested in social justice to lead change and giving the enabling environment to grow through on the job training. We currently have a presence across Nigeria and we are working with state governments to localize the SDGs for sustainable community development.
https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2020/09/12/nigeria-to-implement-y… https://businessday.ng/news/article/fg-undesa-ilo-collaborate-to-develo… https://www.connecteddevelopment.org/the-nigerian-youth-sdgs-forum-abuj… https://www.local2030.org/event/view/386 https://www.africannewspage.net/2017/09/2017-nigerian-youth-sdgs-summit… https://www.africannewspage.net/2017/12/actualizing-sdgs-meet-nigerias-… https://www.africannewspage.net/2017/09/joshua-alade-founded-nigerian-y… https://www.africannewspage.net/2018/03/ngsdgsyouths-to-recognize-100-y… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPvWOFRidC8&t=4s
COVID19 provided us with the opportunity to fully embrace online advocacy and strategize on our offline engagement. We used our whatsapp group to organize and zoom to train our leaders. 70 percent of our events were online and this provided us with a new reach. We hosted three UN75 dialogues were youth leaders engaged with heads of United Nations agencies in Nigeria on creating a better Nigeria with young people. We created a compendium of stories to share how young Nigerians are taking positive actions irrespective of the pandemic called COVID Positive Stories to inspire youth leadership in Nigeria.
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Other beneficiaries
Our beneficiaries are young people between the ages of 16 and 30. We have 74 young champions who lead our effort across 36 states of Nigeria and the Federal Capital and are supported by 3,700 volunteers. Our partners are Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports, United Nations Information Centre, Lagos, Oxfam Nigeria, United Nations Department of Economics and Social Affairs, International Labour Organization, Abuja, UNICEF Nigeria, United Nations Association of Nigeria.
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Contact Information
Joshua, Project Coordinator