Mobilizing Youth for DRR

 14:15 - 15:15 CET
 25 November 2021
 EFDRR Virtual Platform
 Virtual

As the Sendai Framework rightly indicates, youth are agents of change and should thus be given the space and modalities to contribute to DRR. Therefore, it is crucial that youth participation and leadership is encouraged, supported and included, as part a whole-of-society approach to DRR to achieve the targets of the Sendai Framework. 

At a higher scale, DRR is pivotal for the achievement of the Agenda 2030. A key priority for UNDRR is thus linking the DRR agenda with the sustainable development and climate change agendas. Therein youth is a key actor for advancement of the implementation of all three above-mentioned agendas. 

In all the efforts to involve youth, leadership of the youth for DRR action must not remain a theoretical concept, but should be consistent and anchored in concrete action and decision-making driven partnerships to help achieve the set targets and bring about real change or even transformation. 

The session wants to bring forward actions by young people in Europe, Central Asia and ultimately all over the whole world taken to advance SFDRR, Paris Agreement and the SDGs. This shall help to amplify the role of youth as agents of change towards a sustainable, resilient, and risk-informed development.  

The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the UN Major Group for Children and Youth have therefore joined forces to organized this side event, to take stock on youth actions in DRR and to explore avenues for amplifying action of youth leadership in particular through initiatives such as the “1 Million Youth Actions Challenge” (1myac.com).  

Ultimately, this joint side event shall act as an important milestone of a larger mobilisation process of concrete actions by young people.  

Speakers

Moderator

Daisy Hessenberger
Nature-based Solutions Stakeholder Engagement Officer, IUCN 

Opening remarks

Sergio Perez
Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), Switzerland 

Panelists

Insaf Abdelmoula
1MYAC ambassador, Tunisia

Willard Phinifolo
1MYAC ambassador, Malawi & Zambia 

Erik Kuschel
PhD-Student, University of Life Sciences and Natural Resources, Vienna

Alex Opgenoort
MSc, Risk, Disaster and Resilience, UCL, London

Regina Gujan
Deputy Head, Multilateral Affairs Division, Swiss Humanitarian Aid, Federal Department of Foreign Affairs

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