The Global Observance of World Cities Day under the auspices of UN-Habitat took place in Ekaterinburg (Russia) on October 30-31. The international holiday was established in 2013 in accordance with the resolution of the UN General Assembly. The Day is expected to greatly promote the international community’s interest in global urbanization, push forward cooperation among countries in meeting opportunities and addressing challenges of urbanization, and contributing to sustainable urban development around the world.
The observance of World Cities Day in Ekaterinburg was supported by UN-Habitat, the Ministry of Construction Industry, Housing and Utilities Sector of the Russian Federation, the Administration of the Sverdlovsk region and the City of Ekaterinburg.
This year, the theme of World Cities Day was «Changing the World: Innovations and Better Life for Future Generations». Undoubtedly, discussions about innovations and the future do not make sense without participation of young people.
On October 30, the National Youth Council of Russia together with UN-habitat held a youth session «Generation 2030: Implementing the Urban Dimensions of SDGs».
The event brought together all the 17 SDG Youth Ambassadors in Russia from Barnaul, Kaliningrad, Krasnoyarsk, Moscow, Nazran, St. Petersburg, Ulyanovsk and Yaroslavl for the first time. More than 80 young people from different parts of Russia, CIS region (Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, etc.) and other countries (Brazil, Canada, Malaysia, Philippines, etc.) took part in the event.
The opening ceremony of the session was addressed by the Under-Secretary-General, Executive Director of UN-Habitat Ms. Maimunah Mohd Sharif, Director of the United Nations Information Center in Moscow Vladimir Kuznetsov and the first Deputy Chairperson of the United Nations Association of Russia Aleksey Borisov.
The session was co-moderated by Valeria Dubravina, Head of International Department of NYCR, and Sharmaarke Abdullahi, Programme Management Officer of the UN-Habitat Youth and Livelihood Unit.
Ms. Maimunah Mohd Sharif in her welcoming speech urged young people to be active, think critically, gain experience, create jobs themselves in order to overcome unemployment. According to her, young people around the world need to work together and use innovative technologies for the benefit of future generations. «I believe in you and I challenge you: turn impossible into “I’m possible”!” Ms. Maimunah Mohd Sharif concluded her speech.
Vladimir Kuznetsov emphasized that the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals is impossible without engagement of young people and highlighted the successful partnership between the UN Information center in Moscow and the National Youth Council of Russia in the youth field. «Young people adapt well to new ideas — and this is a key element of sustainability,» Vladimir Kuznetsov noted.
According to Aleksey Borisov, «A modern city will not develop if the voices of young people are not heard.»
The second part of the session included a panel discussion on the role of youth in achieving the SDGs. Among the panelist were: Deputy Chairman of the National Youth Council of Russia Olga Popova, program coordinator of the National Assembly of Youth Organizations of Republic Azerbaijan (NAYORA) Azer Aliyev, representative of the Ministry of Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change of Malaysia Zurina Moktar, Director of the Institute for the development of local communities Sergey Kochnev and Editor-in-Chief of the “Urbanist” Ekaterina Sharma. The panelists shared the best practices of engaging young people in the implementation of the SDGs and urban development at the local, regional and national levels.
The representative of the UN Major Group for Children and Youth Regina Guevara, presented a report about the activities of her organization and invited anyone who is interested to join to the Asia Pacific Inter-Agency Network on Youth.
The section culminated with the presentation of the «SDG Youth Ambassadors in Russia» program. The SDG Youth Ambassadors are 17 young people selected through a multi-stage competition. Each of them is responsible for advancing one of the Goals in their city, region and country during their mandate. The Ambassadors shared their achievements in implementing the SDGs and explained the links between theirs SDGs and sustainable cities and communities (SDG 11).
Following the results of the youth session a number of key proposals were formulated:
- To multiply the SDG Youth Ambassadors program at the local, regional and national levels in Russia and abroad;
- To create an all-Russian city youth councils network, which will include youth councils for urban development, created under the heads of municipalities;
- For the National Youth Council of Russia together with UN-Habitat to prepare a report on the state of youth in Russia.
On October 31, the outcomes of the “Generation 2030: Implementing the Urban Dimensions of SDGs” were presented at the closing plenary session of the World Cities Day by the Head of International Department of the National Youth Council of Russia Valeria Dubravina and the 17 SDG Youth Ambassadors in Russia.
