100 Days In -- Young People Leading the Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals


NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - Apr 8, 2016) - Friday, 8th of April marks the 100th day of 2016, which happens to be the first year of implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In December 2015, AIESEC, being the world's largest youth-led organization, committed to shoulder the responsibility of leading the youth movement around these Goals, and launched the campaign "Youth for Global Goals" in February 2016. As of today, the YouthSpeak Survey, the global vehicle to gather the youth opinion on how they want to shape their world as a part of the campaign, gathered more than 160,000 responses from around the world.

Throughout this week, AIESEC is organizing YouthSpeak Forums in Mainland China, Bulgaria, Ivory Coast, Egypt and Colombia that will see an attendance of 1,500 young leaders from more than 120 countries and territories, who will integrate the insights from the YouthSpeak Survey to contribute to the implementation of the SDGs.

The underlying theme of the survey results was brimming with optimism. 68% of the respondents believed in a better future in the next 15 years with the need to work on quality education, eliminating poverty and maintaining good health and well-being.

36% of the respondents agreed on governments playing the strongest influence in the society with 21% of them placing their faith on youth-led organizations to follow that. A detailed analysis will obviously reveal different trends based on demographics, understanding which will allow any organization, institution or entity to engage young people around core issues and inspiring them to act on them for betterment of the society.

The complete report of the YouthSpeak Report shall be released by AIESEC in May 2016 for influencers to understand the direction of the global youth voice and lend support to ideas that need to be executed. The Youth 4 Global Goals campaign has roped in cross-sector stakeholders, namely PVBLIC, UN-Habitat, Plan International, Asian Development Bank, who are working with AIESEC with a mission to reach one billion young people.

About YouthSpeak Forum
AIESEC's YouthSpeak Forum is a major platform that brings together young leaders and seasoned professionals from across different sectors and has been successful in hosting conversations around pressing global, regional, and national issues. Through the unique and interactive framework of Inspire, Engage, Act, the YouthSpeak Forum is a unique platform for individuals from diverse backgrounds to share insights but, most importantly, create actionable outcomes that drive the world forward. For more information, please visit: http://youthspeak.aiesec.org/

About Youth 4 Global Goals
Youth For Global Goals is an initiative that supports the achievement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by engaging and mobilizing young people through purposeful and cross-cultural projects. These projects will be designed to support the implementation of the SDGs in local communities. Currently, AIESEC is partnering with organizations such as ADB, UN Habitat, PVBLIC Foundation, and Plan International to lead this multinational initiative. For more information, please visit: http://youth4globalgoals.org

About AIESEC
AIESEC is an international non-governmental not-for-profit organization that provides young people with leadership development and cross-cultural global internship and volunteer exchange experiences across the globe, with a focus to empower young people so they can make a positive impact on society. For more information, visit: http://aiesec.org

This press release was made possible through our media partner PVBLIC Foundation, an organization focused on using media to drive impact and social change. PVBLIC utilizes existing and emerging technologies to increase issue awareness around important causes and to help non-profits amplify their message.

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Contact Information:

Media Contacts

Karolina Piotrowska
PVBLIC Foundation
press@pvblic.org

Ivana Gusic
AIESEC International
ivanag@ai.aiesec.org