Sustainability: A present to the Future

As we continue to advocate to free women from sexism, LGBTQIA+ from homophobia, the poor from poverty, and war-stricken communities from the threats and vestiges of war and terrorism; these issues remain to be fully addressed. The regularity of challenges in the lives of people shows that the traditionally applied “solutions” need to be upscaled to keep the challenges at bay.

More than a barrage of ideas and theories, what the world truly needs are development projects that will not just temporarily ease the target community from the constraints causing their discomfort, but projects that will make them feel confident that a better future awaits the next generation.

In 2012, to address the issue on temporary comfort, the United Nations Conference held at Rio de Janeiro gave birth to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). This is a set of 17 objectives to “foster peace, reduce inequalities, eradicate poverty, and help economies prosper”. Luckily, in the Philippines, we have a plenty of organizations committed to championing the thrusts of the SDG. One of them that stands out is 2030 Youth Force in the Philippines (YFPH).

Established in October 2016, YFPH started as a dream conceptualized by Mr. Jules Guiang through a Facebook post, looking for equally passionate youth interested in working to achieve the Global goals. From there, he was able to convene six like-minded young people who then served as the founding Directors for the organization. Today, the Organization has over 3,400 transformed members, each committed to developing sustainable initiatives.

 

In 2017, YFPH launched the #OnWheelsCaravan, its first flagship project. The aforementioned project paved a way for the conceptualization of SDG Bayanihan Summit.

The Summit, which was first held in 2018, served as a platform for the youth to discuss sustainability, allowing them to realize their potentials to contribute to sustainable development, and imbuing them with further sensitivity on social issues which the Philippines face today. The participants, through extensive discourse, were challenged to design initiatives and projects which they started implementing into their communities after their gathering.

Among the many transformed youths, Ninna Adriana said that “through YFPH, I get to learn more about myself; about what it truly means to be a youth advocate and a youth leader. I get to live a life of purpose and passion, and the chance to inspire action and make a difference.” Truly, a manifestation that purpose comes to us by default once we have already redirected our energy and our passion in the same trajectory – as it is the case, making a difference.

It is reassuring to note that young people, who will be the next generation of leaders in our country, are trained to think in the context of sustainability. Our consistent push for a more sustainable world depends so much on how serious we are as a people to tackle the challenge of sustainability.

 

Make more SDG heroes, YFPH. Make our dream for a more sustainable Philippines possible.