Turning classroom SDG posters into a 2000-member network

Posters on classroom walls. That, Derin Ege Sezgin says, was how he kept seeing the SDGs treated, "as nothing more than inspirational posters hanging in classrooms rather than being a tool young people can utilize." SDG Youth Connect was created out of that frustration, he says.

Today it is a youth-led network of 2000+ members in 65+ countries. Derin, a high school student at Dwight-Englewood School, is open about the gap that has come with it. "we have experienced rapid membership growth compared to financial growth," he says.

“Youth should not only be the leaders of the future, but must be the leaders of now”

Derin Ege Sezgin

The network receives invitations into key spaces, he says, including United Nations events and IMF events, but often cannot provide travel for the youth representatives who should be taking part. Members live on five continents. "it is travel expenses, conference fees, and logistics that determine which voices will be represented at these critical meetings," he says. Locally based initiatives, he adds, rely on sponsorship to produce tangible outcomes.

He points to what the network has done when the resources were there. Through the SDG Design Challenge, SDG Youth Connect helped engage over 380 innovators from more than 60 countries and connected youth-led solutions to over $50,000 in funding.

His reason is a single sentence. "Because I believe that all youth deserve equal opportunity for participation regardless of their background and means," he says.

"SDG Youth Connect aims to create a bridge between local action and international policy-making; however, today this bridge remains limited," he says.