SDSN Youth

In 2015, the SDSN launched its official youth initiative (SDSN Youth) to empower youth globally to create sustainable development solutions. SDSN Youth educates young people about the Sustainable Development Goals and provides opportunities for them to pioneer innovative solutions to address the world's biggest challenges.

What Is the SDG Students Program?

The SDG Students Program is an initiative of SDSN Youth that aims to engage students in higher education in the global effort to achieve the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs, as well as empower them with the knowledge, skills, and pathways to action to be effective agents of change today.

VISION: A global network of student hubs, where students can come together to learn about, engage with, and take action on the SDGs.

MISSION: To transform the world’s universities into hubs of learning and engagement for the SDGs, as well as drivers of new solutions to local problems.

OBJECTIVES:

• Transforming Universities: Ensuring universities become hubs of learning and engagement for the SDGs.
• Transforming Communities: Ensuring students can become drivers for new solutions to local problems.

SDG Coordinators (formerly, Campus Coordinators), who are committed to work to promote the SDGs on their campus, are selected by SDG Students Program Global Team which responsible for providing training, online hub management, global engagement coordination, and program design & support for SDG Coordinators. 

SDG Coordinators support SDSN Youth’s mandate by working in SDSN member universities around the world to mobilize students around the SDGs. With the SDG Student Program, SDG Coordinators work with local SDSN networks to ensure that all students in their university/campus are aware of the SDGs, understand their importance to the wider community and have opportunities to take action towards their implementation during their studies, and after they graduate.

 

SDG Student Hub at AGU

The SDG student hub at the Abdullah Gül University was established in 2018. Since then, they have been focused on sensitizing students and youth on SDG issues and organizing events to make them into drivers for change. Below are some examples of activities organized by its coordinators since then:

• Plastic Re-Usage Workshop

The purpose of this workshop was to create a discussion around SDGs and especially GOAL 11 (Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns). The Hub created an environment in which students could understand the side effects of plastic usage and how disposable plastics could be reused in a creative and esthetic way. Workshop participants used plastic bottles, caps, as well as plastic bags to create a "tree monster".

• Design Your Cloth Bag

The purpose of this activity was to attract attention to the Turkish Government’s implementation of ending the distribution of free plastic bags in shopping centers. Students learned about SDGs and got involved, especially with GOAL 11. The hub logo was printed on cloth bags and participants were asked to bring their old clothes to design their cloth bags. At the end of the workshop, more than 20 cloth bags were created and members discussed the SDGs.