Nagrik Dialogue

The Power of Youth in Shaping a Fairer World

World Children Conference #WCC2020

World Children Conference #WCC2020 #SDGChildrenChoupal was the collaborative effort of SDG Choupal, Nagrik Foundation, UN-Habitat and SDGs For Children. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a set of 17 goals and 169 targets that all 193 UN Member States, including India have committed to achieve between 2016 and 2030. The SDGs are universal in scope, and their call to leave no one behind puts the World’s most vulnerable and marginalized people – including children – at the top of the agenda. The first and the biggest ever World Children Conference (#WCC2020) attended by over 1600 participants from over 30 countries was held on 22nd August involving 25 children speakers along with other EduLeaders from around the world. The conference was hosted by SDG Choupal, powered by ‘SDGs for Children’ in association with UN-Habitat Youth, Nagrik Foundation, Rotary International RCGP RI Distt 3011 and Dainik Bhaskar.SDG Choupal is a multistake holder community led initiative supported by NITI Aayog, UN-Habitat Youth Nairobi ,Commonwealth Secretariat London ,UNESCAP ,UN Global Compact ,Rotary International, Dr. Ambedkar International Centre, Ministry of Social Justice Govt. of India, MSME, NSIC, RIS, TERI and many others front led by Nagrik Foundation. It is dedicated to support the mission of localizing the SDGs while empowering communities and stake holders to make it truly a peoples movement.

Mr. Deepak Dwivedi, Chairman SDG Choupal, Nagrik foundation and Director Rotary Foundation along with Mr. Sandeep Saxena, the National Convenor SDG Choupal, Director Youth Services were the strong pillars for making this dream of World Children Conference into a reality. Their mentorship and support helped to frame the event into an everlasting memories for many children globally. The technology behind the event was very well managed by Mr. Aveek Datta, the SDG Choupal Youth Ambassador .The WCC 2020 was curated by Ayush Chopra SDGChoupal Global Youth Ambassador .

SDGs For Children was founded in 2014 by the young Indian teenager Ayush Chopra . It is an initiative to give platform to children across the globe to CONNECT, CREATE and COLLABORATE. In 2019, SDGs For Children got officially incorporated under the Canada Not-For-Profit Corporation Act.

Ayush Chopra, Founder of SDGs For Children is also an Author of ‘Shaping A Fairer World With SDGs and Human Rights’. Being one of the Most Influential Young Change Makers around the world, Ayush has been awarded with the most prestigious – The Diana Award. Ayush is one of the pioneer Indian Ambassador for the TeachSDGs project, initiated by the Global Goals Education Task Force. Ayush also has his own Podcast– ‘Shaping A Fairer World’. The Podcast is an attempt to connect Educators, Students and Parents together and to share their voices and unheard stories across the globe. 

The WCC2020 was the Grand Finale, the celebration for the SDG Children Choupal Project launched in June 2020, where children across globe came forward to share their SDGs Stories. No matter how big or small children are doing in their daily lives to help achieve any of the 17 Sustainable development goals, they shared their #SDGsStories and their voices were amplified by SDGs For Children

The Conference brought together more than 1,600 young participants from more than 30 countries all around the world. The event was hosted by Ayush Chopra, the young Changemaker, an author, the Diana Award holder and the Founder of SDGs For Children along with his co- hosts and SDG Champions /SDG Choupal Young Ambassadors , Ananya Kamboj, Aarav Seth and Ananya Chopra. Ayush announced the opening of the Conference with his enlightening speech. He believes that children have the right to have an opinion and expect to be heard. Across the world, children and young people have been protesting and speaking up on the issues concerning them or which have an impact on their future. In his speech, Ayush Chopra urged to all the parents who had joined on this virtual platform to empower their Children by imparting knowledge about their rights, life skills and supporting them to participate in decision-making processes as today is more important than tomorrow. He said that when children are empowered, they gain self-esteem and more confidence; they feel valued and able to influence their lives and futures. It was followed by the Indian National Anthem.

Ms. Paramjeet Kaur, Chair & Mentor SDGEduChoupal and Principal Kamla Nehru Public School was the Keynote speaker and addressed the participants as Chairperson. She congratulated children for the initiative and inspired them for global actions.
Mr. Douglas Ragan, the Programme Management Officer Specialist, Children and Youth Human Rights and Social Inclusion Unit represented UN-HABITAT Youth. It was an honor to have him as an eminent Speaker at WCC2020. He mentioned, “there is no more important time for children and youth to stand up and be heard and work with us to meet the challenges the planet faces.”
Dr. Jennifer Williams, the co-founder of TeachSDGs and Take Action Global gave her heartfelt message for children. Dr. Williams is the board president of ISTE education leaders PLN. Her message inspired and encouraged children globally to engage and take actions for Sustainable Development Goals.
Dr. Ashok Kumar Pandey, Director Ahlcon Group of Schools was one of the Keynote Speaker. Dr. Pandey is the Chairperson of the Council for Global citizenship education and Former Chairperson of National Progressive schools Conference (NPSC). He is an active partner to the United Nations Act4SDGs campaign and has been at the forefront of fostering Sustainable Development Goals through his initiative SDG4QEducation. Dr. Pandey inspired children with his words of wisdom. Listening to him is always a treat to ears.

Special attraction at the conference : Kahoot on SDGs with Ananya Chopra

Ananya Chopra, 12 years old Student, Author of book ‘Save Our Planet’ and Chief Kid Officer of ‘SDGs For Children’ very cheerfully hosted the online Quiz using ‘KAHOOT’ on UN 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The game was played by more than 200 participants at same time. It was a great learning experience on SDGs. Everyone enjoyed playing ‘Kahoot’ with Ananya.

The Conference, which brought together more than 1,600 young participants from more than 30 countries all around the world, highlighted individual achievements through a virtual session  focusing on today’s most relevant topics such as gender, peace, nature, youth and entrepreneurship, sustainable energy and partnerships. Children as young as five years old participated with great enthusiasm and came out with flying colours.

The Conference took stock of global progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs); share knowledge, success stories and good practices; identify particular areas of concern and main challenges; and suggest ways forward in terms of policies, partnerships and coordinated actions at all levels, as well as specific ways to leverage the interlinkages between different SDGs.

Cohort-1

Hemang Vellore from India is a 13-year young unschooled experiential learner, climate change driver and global goals keeper, TEDx speaker and NASA space apps local lead organizer 2018. He founded YOUNG CEO at the age of 8 years. Currently he is the youngest founding class trailblazer 2020 of Fellowship for Climate Action at Anant National University. 

Tiara Puri is a 8th grade student from India. Her passion includes theatre, dance, gymnastics and drawing. She is a compassionate person who can connect well with her peers and adults and her connect with nature inspires her to think inward and reach outward.

Ashneet Kaur Sukhija from India is in 10th grade and is committed to work for Sustainable Development Goals and Human Rights. Her projects on Sustainable Farming and Cleaning of River Ganga won accolades at National Level. She has worked to protect the interest of Disabled section of the society and currently working towards   ensuring inclusive society for all through her STEM Projects.

Kinley Deki Yangzom is from Bhutan, known as the land of the thunder dragon. She is a 14 year old young correspondent for the football for friendship, global program. Kinley believes that in this ever-growing society, we are leaving behind something very important and that is nature.

Cohort-2

Tanaka Chirombo from Africa has been inspired by Mother Teresa to work for the community and he thinks that the youth should make noise for change in our lives as the youth hold the future of a sustainable world. Mother Teresa once said that if you judge people, you have no time left to love them.

Izza Sajjad from UAE is a student studying in grade 6 at Shining Star International School. She is working on SDG 16 that is, Peace, Justice and Strong institutions and she thinks that it is one of the foremost goals which needs to be achieved by us, in order to live a peaceful life.

Ronit Mathew from India is a grade 6 student. He has been part of Global Goals projects, Climate action project 2019 and Teach SDG Project. Ronit has been searching on Peace and conflict resolutions and has established a Kindness project to spread awareness on Peace and Harmony.

Shiza Fatima studies in grade 3 at UAE. Her passion is to do painting and loves to see people around her happy. She wants every human and every child to be happy irrespective of the global condition of peace around the world.

Cohort-3

Vaibhavi Vasudevan from United Arab Emirates is 11 years old. She is an environmentalist and helps keep the environment clean. Today, she will be speaking about World Peace.

Divisha Bajaj from India is a 4th grader from Pathways World School, Aravalli, India and is working for SDG goal 5 that is Gender Equality.

Myra Punia from India is a young global citizen and a student of Grade 5 from Pathways World School, Aravalli, India. She is a swimmer, a classical dancer and an ardent music fan and also has developed few games and applications too. She has a great love for the outdoors and wildlife.

Janya Vishnudev from India is a grade 5 student, studying at Pathways World School, Aravalli, India. She enjoys learning about SDGs goals and participate in projects related to them and believes that learning about SDGs helps us collect information of various things. 

Cohort-4

Mohammad Yusuf from Pakistan is anambassador and a coach at an international forum named Football for Friendship. He strives for excellence, that’s why he is able to achieve so much at a young age.

Zuha Sajjad from Pakistan believes that gender equality should become a goal which everyone needs to achieve. Spreading more and more information about this goal and educating people is something very much needed to achieve gender equality.

Yana Kundu from India is a 9th grader and has great interest towards online conferences and forums. According to her, everyone should use the global platform of internet wisely for learning, interacting and voicing out their opinions.

Alishah Sajjad from United Arab Emirates seeks interest in different economies and is working on SDG goal 8 that is Decent Work and Economic Growth.

Special Cohort -5 (consist of Child speakers from the age group of 5 to 6 years)

Kabir Sharma from India is 5 years old Kindergartner from Pathways World School, Aravalli, India and a promoter of sustainability. He constantly talks about saving trees and not to use plastic so as to make Earth happy.

Myra Arora from India is 5 years old and a student of Ahlcon International School. She learnt about SDGs from her teachers and is determined to achieve them wholeheartedly.

Naira Malhotra from India is 5 years old enthusiastic girl studying at Ahlcon international school, New Delhi, India. She is a change maker and wants everyone to believe in herself.

Nakshatra Prem from India is a 6 years old girl who wants to help the less privileged group of kids. She is greatly interested in public speaking, environmental friendly activities and charity works. She is passionate about dancing and her greatest hobby is reading.

Cohort-6

Namya Joshi from India is a 13 years old wonder girl studying in grade 8 at the Sat Paul Mittal School, Ludhiana, and is a Minecraft whiz! She has been honoured by CEO Microsoft, Satya Nadella for creating herself the course material in #MinecraftEdu and training 100+ teachers. She is a winner of the ‘UNESCO Clubs Worldwide Youth Multimedia Competition’ for creating a Virtual Library of books mapped to UN’s Sustainable Development Goals or SDG 2030. She has conducted multiple Skype sessions with many countries for teachers and students alike on the use of Minecraft in their classes. She is a budding poet, Yoga practitioner and a voracious reader!  She believes in #EachOneCanTeachTen  

Saachi Saxena from India, a 14 years young SDG Child Ambassador, Rotary Interactor mission SDGs awareness and action, shared her thoughts on “How SDGs impact Children and how Children can impact SDGs”.

Sabya Saxena from India a 11 years young SDG Child Ambassador. She is a proud Rotakid engaged in SDGs awareness and action and is working on SDG goal 4 i.e. quality education. She is following a program of Each One, Teach One by Rotary for a better World.

Umme Hani from United Arab Emirates is studying in 11th grade in shining star international school. She believes that the more youth begin to recognize that they have a voice, the more change is possible.

Ms. Abhilasha Singh, Principal Shining Star International School, Abu Dhabi gave the closing speech on behalf of SDG Choupal at WCC2020. As expressed by her, it was one of the best student conferences she has attended so far as the diversity of age range was special and the participants spoke with so much passion that it was immensely impressive and inspiring.

Abhilasha appreciated SDGs For Children for being a pioneer as always in organizing a first of its kind event. Agenda 2030 is a collective Responsibility. Each one of us must ensure that we make it happen. Right from conservation of environment by improving air quality, saving the oceans by reducing plastic use, saving life under water n on land to building just institutions by spreading peace and message of social equity and equality. All participants gave a clear message to the world. It clearly showed that children are more bothered about the world than the adults. We saw Global Citizenship in action. The event was heartwarming and heartfelt.

The event ended with the thank you note by Ayush Chopra, the host of the World Children Conference 2020. This Conference was a milestone and also a starting point to join in the global call for action, entering the final decade towards Agenda 2030.

It was a powerful and motivating experience for young children engaged in creating a better world and coming together to learn from each other.

At the end of the conference, the team took a pledge to come with a much bigger WCC2021 next year with participation from all over the continents.

Ayush Chopra, Founder SDGs For Children, SDGChoupal Global Youth Ambassador

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Nagrik Dialogue is the face of Nagrik Foundation’s communication skills that comes in the form of a monthly magazine. It will work as a bridge for those working at the grass roots level and those who support them in any form and manner.