 Hello, everyone. Thank you very much for joining us today for this session where we'll be speaking about the local pathways fellowship, what we do, and some of our success stories from the fellowship. Welcome everyone to the fourth day of the Zero Emissions Solutions Conference, and I will start with the presentation just to be respectful of everyone's time as we are right at the hour. So I'm going to be sharing my screen, and I would like to start with a quick video just to get everyone in the mood of what we will be speaking about in this session. SDSN Youth is one of the world's biggest networks that is mobilizing young people for sustainable development. We do that by connecting young people to pathways for action and mobilization. We understand that the sustainable development goes, it might seem extremely audacious, but we believe that solutions to SDGs are within our grasp. They do not require moonshoot solutions. All they need is your ingenuity, determination, as well as willingness to take action. People around the world are working extremely hard to mobilize themselves, to mobilize their constituencies, and to mobilize their communities. And SDSN Youth, a wide array of programs is doing this by connecting them to pathways for local action. At the local pathways fellowship, we focus our efforts on building capacity in the youth, capitalizing on their energy, their creativity, but ultimately on their potential to advance problem solving in SDSN. And we do so by offering an interdisciplinary program that equips young urban leaders with the tools and resources they need to localize SDG lab, and implement solutions that address the challenges of our ever-changing urban environments. With four cohorts under our belt, we have successfully grown into a network of 350,000 from 108 different cities around the world who are leading change on the ground, and improving the quality of life in the cities they represent. Our program invites urban optimists who are ready to meet boldly. It's a quick teaser that we have promoting the fellowship as our call for applications are currently open. And now I'm going to go a little bit more in depth of what we do at the local pathways fellowship. As Reina mentioned at the beginning of the video, the local pathways fellowship is one of the programs from SDSN Youth. SDSN Youth has multiple programs that empower the youth to advance problem solving towards sustainable development. And the local pathways fellowship is the one that focuses in cities and specifically on SDG 11. So, while the goal is to implement a young urban leaders with the tools and knowledge they need to implement solutions in their cities. And then I would like to maybe just start a little bit on why we focus on youth and in cities. Well, in cities, because as you know, a large majority of the world population already lives in cities, and that is only forecasted to ramp up up to 2013 to 50% and 70% of the world population living in cities. And then why does our program focus on youth is because today more than 3.5 billion people are under the age of 30. This is half of the world's population is under the age of 30. And they are the ones that are more likely to be moving to cities. So cities are very young today and they they're only going to be receiving young people in the like moving in moving into cities. That's why we believe that the achievement of the sustainable development goals will either be achieved or will fail in cities because of the amount of people they contain the amount of fish they hold and the potential that they have. So here at the local pathways fellowship we support capacity building in cities by training young urban sustainability leaders. We create a support system where we recognize them as a partner in building better cities and communities. We have seen how many times decision making does not incorporate the youth despite the fact that they are the ones that are going to be living the consequences of the decisions made today the longest. Yeah, so for this, we have the local pathways fellowship program, which is a 10 month program. This is a 10 month course. The fellows apply. We usually open our applications through October and November. And we receive around 1000 applications from which we choose the 100 top applicants to be part of the cohort for that year. They begin the program in February and the program finishes in November. So we are graduating our current cohort this month. And throughout the 10 months they need to complete multiple pillars of the fellowship. One of them is completing the Sustainable Cities course, which is part of the SDG Academy. This is, of course, led by Armour Revy, who is the director of the Indian Impact Human Settlements in India. He is one of the urban leaders in the region. So this is one of the portions that they need to complete for the fellowship. Another one is parallel to completing this course. They also go on developing a project of their own, for which they receive monthly assignments that guide them through the development of their project. Another one is, we have a webinar series for them, where every month we invite an expert from the industry to share their insights and connect with the fellows so that they can see what's going on in the industry and get any tips. Then what I do is the strongest asset of the network is peer to peer contributions. We have more than 350 fellows that have gone through this program and this stands across 180 cities around the world. So the ability of them to connect with other fellows in other cities where they see a solution that has been implemented and be able to get some lessons learned so that if they're thinking of implementing the same solution in their project, they can skip through some errors is definitely very valuable or if you see two cities that are facing the same issue you can compare what solution would be better for one or the other. Then, just this past year, we launched the mentorship program where we invite former fellows to mentor our current fellows. So we recruited 50 alumni to mentor two fellows from the current cohort. So these fellows were heard either by the region that they are based in or by the topic of focus that their expertise lies on. So this was also very helpful and keeps the network alive and the alumni engaged. We also help with visibility opportunities, which includes getting speaking events and change the light on the projects that they have developed throughout the year, such as this, this session that we have here today. But we also spread the word of the projects through our social media channels, our website, blogs, we get the interviews of magazines or feature in books, and so on. And so I'm going to talk a little bit about the project development process, as you will be seeing after my presentation, some of the projects they have developed. So the first half of the program the first five months are focused on a lot of research and exploration. And basically digging deep into what issues their city is facing, what stakeholders are involved, if there are any policies around their issue if there's any data available. And then on the second half, they move on to the idea generation. So they start developing an idea and shopping it around with the stakeholders that they have found are active in the issue of their, of their project. They get feedback from other fellows as well, they get feedback from stakeholders, and, ultimately, they solve a problem. And a lot of fellows either pilot or roll out their project throughout these 10 months. And then, as we know, it's very ambitious to land a project at the city level in 10 months. A lot of them stay in the concept development, but keep on working on their projects afterwards and running on the ground a few months later. As I mentioned that we have a code for cohorts that have gone through the program so far that encompass 355 fellows from 190 different cities. And we have covered all regions through the program. And these are some of the phases of some former fellows. Just to speak a little bit about the distribution of where the fellows come from. We analyzed where applicants and the regions where the fellows come from just this year. And we realized that 85% of the applicants come from the global south, and then 65% make it into the program from the global south. And this speaks directly to the fact that today's large cities are concentrated in this region, and that 60% of urban growth will take place in this region by 2050. So this is just something to keep in mind that the solutions we design need to have a special focus on these regions as this is where most of the impact and change can happen. At least we have a team of nine. And we are based all over the world and basically Mexico City, we have people in France, Cyprus, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, and the US. And as I mentioned right now, we have our call for applications open. You can check the link for apply on our Twitter channel, which is at local pathways. And, unfortunately, our website is having a little glitch at the moment, but it will be fixed later today. Now, as I mentioned, we're going to be seeing some of the projects that were developed throughout the fellowship to start. We have a Regina Perez, she's based in Mexico, and she will be kicking it off today. So now, Regina. Thanks, Anna. Can you see my screen only can you tell me. Yes. Okay, perfect. Well, as Anna said, I'm Regina. I'm the founder of my text and I'm a local pathways fellow from this cohort and the, the project that I'm implementing it's called actualization of the database of public transport system in Toluca, Mexico, by the digital digitalization of the public transport and it is focused in the target 11.2 to have safe, affordable accessible and sustainable transport systems for all. So the global issue is that globally 6.2 billion people rely in public transport according to where is my transport and only half of the population has convenient access to public transport. This means that they can access to public transport in a distance of 500 meters if it's like urban buses and a kilometer if it's like suburban routes or metropolitan routes. And here in in Toluca, where where I live, seven of every 10 people spends almost two hours a day in public transport. And this means like more or less 500 hours a year. So it is like a lot, a lot of time. And the main problem in which I focus is that there is no open data. So if you want to go to a certain place you have to ask two other users or to the bus drivers without knowing if they are giving you like exact information. This makes it like a little bit complex for citizens to use it. Like only if you are a user that regularly uses a route, you know how to move from certain place to another. But if not, like it is a complete challenge to moving public transport. And other like other part of the problem that it is related, it's the shadiness in the subject. So this happens because there is a lot of conflict of interest between the stakeholders that I will explain to you later which which they are. Like they have, they have made like this information secret and only a few people can access to it. But we know without knowing if it's like the exact information of the routes. And then another problem is that the city center that you can see in the map here concentrates 70% of the total of the metropolitan routes. And imagine like there is a part of the city center where more than 100 routes superimposed, like in the same street. So it is like a complete mess public transport. So, like after doing the research and understanding like who are suffering the problem and why this is happening, why is this happening. And I found three main topics why does why this needs to be solved. The first problem is like that we have an equal service. So, as I told you before they are areas of the city with saturation of routes, and they are some other areas that have no coverage of public transport. And we have that there is a lack of transit oriented development, because these routes were established more than 50 years ago. So they haven't been like actualized to the citizens needs that that are currently happening, you know, and more with the pandemics, like the citizens behavior has changed a lot and the routes are still the same that were established, like many years ago. The third point is a sustainable development because we're not having efficient a public transport systems affects the economy the social well being and environment. So there are three main stakeholders involved. They are the users that are like the ones that use the service, the boss agencies or both enterprises and the government just like to give you a quick summary of how this works. The government gives the permission to the enterprises to operate, but like they aren't they are private agencies, but they rely in the government. And they establish like where are the areas of the city where they both route can be established. So one of them of the main objectives or models that that I have is that what can be measured can be improved. And so there I discovered the need of having actualized data of how the citizens move to develop a project that adequates to their needs. So the solution is a startup that I'm the founder of it's named Muevetex and Muevetex aims to improve the experience in the journeys of public transport users through open data. And we facilitate the cooperation through a channel of communication among the stakeholders. As I told you before the stakeholders are the users the government and the boss agencies. So we do it first we involve citizens in the collaborative mapping. We believe that the only way to solve a problem is by involving everyone who suffers from it. Therefore, we obtain and process data from the experts of public transport that are the users. We launched a collaborative mapping and the users were able to do the route and send it to us so we can process it and have like the first map of public transport in in the metropolitan area of the lookup. Then we process this information and we offer the routes information through a web app that we developed. So this was the first web app of public transport in this area so it was like amazing because for the first time, the users can know which which are the best routes to move from certain place to another. And then with the mobility that obtained from the patterns that they that they use we we obtained this mobility data and the feedback from the users process that information and afraid to the boss agencies and to the government so they can improve the service and the government can can know what are the citizens needs to implement public policies. So we started we in June 2020 with the beginning of the collaborative mapping and field work. We had 10 routes map. Then at November 2020 we launched a crowdfunding campaign where where we obtained money to develop the first version of the web app. Then on February of 2021 I joined to the local pathways fellowship that helped me a lot to establish the best methodology to follow and how to make an approach with the government and other stakeholders. And then with that with the beginning of that knowledge I'm at March of 2021 I signed an agreement of collaboration with the local government to restructuring the bus stops. At July, we launched the pilot of the web app and the next steps are the official launching of the web app and we are in talks to sign an agreement of collaboration with the state government and the boss agencies. So this was really amazing because as I told you before for the first time we had the metropolitan area routes map and we had we gathered a total of 95, 95% of the public transport routes that they are 296 routes that correspond to 29 enterprises. And here is where you can see the the web app that I developed and you can assign as a user you can establish where you are where you want to go. And then the app will give you information of the different routes that are like 300 meters near to you, and you can also see information of the most important places that the route goes by the time that it takes to use that route. And also you can rate the service. And also I implemented these that is the real time alarms because we aim to build a community of people that that are interested in improving public transport. So with this, the user is able to meet security alarms, traffic alarms, gender violence alarms, and give feedback of the driver and both conditions. And as I told you before, all this information we process it. So we know which is the rate that each user is giving to every route of every boss agency, and we obtain this data and process it. So this is a little bit of the impact of the solution. And at the, the, in this picture, you can see how do the users move through the city using the app. We can see the mobility patterns obtained. And then we can compare like if the service actually gives service to the citizens needs. And then we can also see, like, if where are the concentrations of the users and know which is the quality of the service that they are obtaining. So we can identify which are the principal areas where users need the service, and then give this information to the government so they can see which are the, the points where, where the service is required and where they aren't like both routes to give these users. And well, through all this time and in the fellowship and like in the road as an entrepreneur, I have found like a lot of things that I want to share it with you. First is that, well, this chart is like how I thought it would be and I thought that it would be like super easy that only you, you have like to pick a problem and decide to choose to solve it and it would like eventually everything will take place. But the truth is that it has been like a roller coaster of, of emotion and of experiences, but like, I intend to share with you that it has been like amazing this, this journey, and I know that it is only the beginning so at the end it is all worth it. No, like to see that you can have a real impact in your community and that you can build also a community of, of people that, that not only complain about a problem, but that have like this, this emotion or this passion for solving a problem. So I invite you like if you have a urban problem in your context, like to see the way that you can also do something to solve it and, and start like today. And just like to end this is one of my favorite quotes, and I, maybe you can, you have heard it, but it says, and it is a festive jobs that the people who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world are the ones who do. So I invite you like to be crazy enough and think of a problem that your cities are facing and develop a solution that can help, not only in your local context, but you can like expand it to every other city of the world that has the same issues. And I invite you to follow us on social media and be part of the transformation of public transport. Thank you so much. And thank you very much for sharing your project with us today. This is certainly very impressive and it showcases how the use of data can improve the quality of life in cities and how we can use it to our advantage. I apologize at the beginning I didn't introduce you properly, just so you know, in a passionate social entrepreneur, she graduated from urban planning. And as you can see she's transforming urban mobility. And in, well, now we are going to move on to our next speaker. His name is a Boniface Abudo. He is the lead urban planning planner and GIS analyst at EcoBuild Africa. This is an environmental architectural unsustainable urban development firm based in Nairobi, Kenya. And since 2016 he has used his expertise in various urban development projects, including leading the team that developed the integrated urban development plans for Cebuño and Cebote towns. He holds a bachelor in urban and regional planning from Massino University. And without further ado, I pass on the word to you. Thank you so much. I trust you can hear me. Let me just share my screen so you can follow up. Yeah, so my project is about sanitation, it's about improving a slum sanitation through a step called as an engagement, a case study of Kebra slum in Nairobi, Kenya. Yeah, so that you may use a Kebra is one of the biggest slums, not just in Kenya, but also in Africa. That is where I grew up in. And as I was growing up as a young boy in Kebra, I made a promise to myself that when I get into a position where I can help this, this will be my very first priority. There is a phenomenon happening in a Kebra that is not very friendly. People don't have access to proper toilets, so they tend to relieve themselves in containers, some use plastic bags that they throw them probably on a drainage on pathways and so on and so forth. I went through this as a young boy, and therefore when I got the chance to make to work on a project, I couldn't think of anything else but this one I want to eliminate this one completely so we can have a cleaner cleaner cleaner Kebra cut the sea of of me. So, this phenomenon we call it flying toilets because people tend to throw these things as far as, as far as they can, they say out of sight out of mind once you will leave yourselves and throw them as a way as you can mostly in drainage, as you can see that picture on the screen, that is part of Kebra actually and that's those are some places where they throw these, these pickle waste. The reason why I thought this should be solved, apart from just losing the dignity, you can just imagine, you are pressed and you need to relieve yourself but you can't access a proper toilet system. This has also contributed a lot to water bond diseases, including cholera, the same tree during time point, which in most cases are fatal, especially to the young children and the expected mothers. So I thought, if at least we can solve this one that we can save a lot of lives. So this problem as you can see, as you can see, an excerpt from an excerpt written by male guardian says that where there are no latrines, girls and women have to wait until it is dark to look for a place to relieve themselves inside his compact but native and tidy home having two children play video games. He says it's hard to take them to the doctor on more than one occasion to two diseases they picked up after playing these tricks. This is truly a crisis. Then the lastly another part of article from a jazzy as well says that flying toilets are a symptom of people's lack of proper sewerage system. Hardly any in this impoverished corner of Nairobi at the luxury of a toilet system in their home, inside their home. Some have an outdoor toilet shell between multiple dwellings, but these are simply like things that need to be emptied every now and again. So let's look at the situation in Kenya, what it feels like. So, ideally, almost 50% of all the band residents is staying in Kenya, living in slums. Kenya has so many slums, give us just one of them. So the whole idea really is to ensure that once this is implemented in Kibra, then we can implement it to other parts of the country, other slums as well, because it is not only happening in Kibra, although Kibra is adversely affected, that's why it is my case study. But the whole idea is to start in Kibra, then spread out other parts of the slum. So my solution is three-fold, and it's quite simple really. I realized that the past government efforts in eliminating this practice in Kibra failed majorly because the stakeholders, the local people were not engaged in the process. People set in offices in Nairobi, came up with plans, then came to impose them on the people. So my approach is different. I want to involve the people from the beginning. I want to ask, I want to create awareness to them, teach them the importance of having proper toilet system, and the legacy of using the flying toilets. So that's what I'm saying that it's three-fold, the first part is called engagement of creating public awareness. Then this initiative, I baptize it as adopt a knowledge initiative where I will ensure every household in Kibra has an access to a proper fashion in toilets. And I will do this through digging more things, because the ones are few and encouraging communal use rather than individual use. My whole goal really here is to promote public participation. It may look simple, but I could have done other more complicated projects, but to me this was the thing. Because my family grew up here and I know what it feels like to be in this kind of a condition. So I'm thinking that if you import public participation from the beginning, at least we may have a change, because these people will feel they own this project. And by doing this slowly, by slowly, probably by the next probably five years or even a decade, this is the thing of the past. So my approach is to work this out differently through an approach I call bottom-up approach, where decisions should be made from the best of levels. The impacts, once I manage to implement this project, I will tend to have a clear community, a clear Kibra, where everyone staying in Kibra will have an access to a proper fashion in toilet facility and the complete elimination of the persistent plain toilet menace in Kibra. And of course, I tend to face some challenges while doing this. One of the major challenges I tend to face is insufficient funding, because we need money to dig the specialist trains, we need money to hire skilled labor, and then we don't have existing data. For example, we are not aware of how many toilets exactly exist in Kibra. If we knew this, then we can table it against a number of people and know how many we need to construct. We have bureaucracy that has been proposed to be followed. For example, when sitting building permits, you need to go to a city planner, you have to introduce yourself, and so many other places. And of course, we have insufficient support from stakeholders, for example, most so the political leadership, but these are some intelligible. I may face when implementing this project, but nonetheless, that thing comes easy and prepared to face them as I implement the project, because it was to work. So in a nutshell, really, as I indicated earlier on, the government's efforts have been in cutting out these challenges. Really, really, because the people are not involved from the onset. My approach is different. Kibra is my home, was my home and still my home. I want to go from the onset and ensure that at least by the end of it all, this project is eliminated. Thank you. Thank you very much for your presentation. This is a big challenge, not only in this region of the world, but also in regions such as Asia and India. And having the proper infrastructure cities need will ultimately dictate the emissions the city produces. Having the community involved in the decision making and the solution design is definitely should be a top of the top of every local agenda. And now we're going to go, Bonifat, if you could stop sharing your screen, we're going to go now with Fatima. Fatima Mahmoud is an environmental specialist from Islamabad, Pakistan. She's currently the program manager at the green box working on things of climate change, sustainable development and the environment. Besides this as a local pathways 2021 fellow, she is the development of a project addressing 11.6 in her city through the creation of a targeted education and training program called a brief Islamabad, which she will be talking to us about right now. Thank you so much, Anna, and just share my screen. I hope everyone can hear me and see my screen as well. So hello everyone, I'm so grateful to be here to talk about my fellowship project, which definitely is still in the design phase, but I'm thrilled to share my vision about read Islamabad. So I will begin with the issue overview my project is targeting SGT 11.6 which states that by 2030 cities are to reduce their adverse per capita environmental impacts. And the project will be focusing on air quality which aligns with the relevant indicator 6.2. Now it's no secret that air pollution is one of the biggest challenges that the world faces currently, and there are a number of reasons to it. Foremost are definitely the health costs. So particulate matter is a criteria pollutant which can constitute to a very high risk for health, majorly as it increases the mortality rate from respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. And there is mounting evidence and studies that it is linked with mental health problems as well. The WHO states that out of 10 people nine in the world nine out of 10 people in the world breathe highly polluted air, which is, which leads to approximately 7 million premature deaths each year, and 600,000 of these are children. Now apart from the devastating and alarming health implications the estimated cost to the global economy by air pollution cumulates to about 3.3% of the global GDP. And this is further mounted by the range of environmental problems it also gives rise to. If I then shift my focus to my city Islam what it is ranked the 10th most polluted city in the country, and in global rankings it's the 11th most polluted world capital. The city's data records reveal that the annual average of the PM 2.5 levels exceed both the national environmental quality standards and the WHO guidelines. Now the photographs that you see on your screens have been taken by me last year. And the first two indicate good air quality, and we're taken during the peak of the pandemic lockdowns when much like the rest of the world Islam but to was experiencing clear blue skies. And the last one is taken from a day with unhealthy air quality and was taken later in the year. So you can just see the clear contrast between them. Now in the following graph I've collated the air quality indices for the months of February and March and it reiterates the fact that apart from the two day post rain, which washes away the pollutants, the air quality remains moderate to unhealthy. This trend is also verified by the IQ Air report that suggests that 71% of the days in Islam but the air quality is an exceedance for the WHO safety target. In terms of sources there are plethora of point and non point sources, ranging from open garbage burning firewood for cooking the slums or informal settlements, industrial units mining and vehicular emissions. Now it's safe to say that at this point of my research I was definitely very overwhelmed because you know how very complex the problem was supposed discussions with my mentor I decided to tackle only one of these sources to begin with so I can create a really realistic solution. And so I redirected my study to focus on vehicular emissions, mostly because of the repetitive emphasis on it in literature and also it's here in the problem. Now again I feel like these pictures show the stark change from the 90s Islam but and to that that is now matched with statistics which report that there's an addition of around 200 to 230 vehicles per day. And the same or probably more for motorbikes. So having critically reviewed this data and living through the reality of lockdown clean air it felt natural to believe that addressing this will reduce emissions immensely in the city. Now delving into how the problem is being addressed currently in terms of policies and laws there are some city specific and then national standards that exist that have that I have analyzed. So starting off with the original master plan of Islam but which was designed in 1960. And this had the philosophy of incorporating green spaces or buffer zones to counter air pollution city and reduce mobility by providing access to basic services within each sector that was planned out. However, with the expansion of the city from a quaint administrative unit to a buzzing metropolis, and the territorial expands the population growth and easy acquisition of vehicles led to a very negative tip and point of pollution levels. And today, the plan failed to sustain. Similarly, we have the capital development authorities regulation, which prohibits emission of air pollutants above certain permissible limits. Now although there are no city specific standards that have been explicitly described, even in the regulation, the environmental protection agency in the city is responsible for monitoring and reporting of pollutant levels. Now in terms of the any cues the standards have become more stringent over the years. However, by large, Islam but has failed to comply as you've seen the introductory slides. There are also motor vehicles specific national standards but that which have become outdated and really needs strict upgradation. And finally, we have the Pakistan Clean Air Program. This by far is a very welcome step in identification of the gaps that exists and the need for capacity building and monitoring, something which definitely aligns to the city's specific action plan that I'm working on as well. But overall, regardless of the laws and policies and paper the implementation of environmental quality standards is pretty much non existent and not stringent enough due to the lack of compliance and monitoring. So whenever solution ideation begins the first step is definitely to know your stakeholders and since air pollution is such an expansive issue that it impacts literally everyone. And it to a lot of extent is driven by the behaviors of the community, which is why for me this could only be resolved by including everyone in it, although at different stages and through different modes. So major stakeholders in my city would include the public that includes the users and non users of vehicles, organizations with vehicular fleet such as schools and offices, the local administration which works on implementation, and then NGOs, I NGOs are like minded organizations, which can be collaborated with to network outreach or fundraise. Now moving on to the solution design then my solution will be realized through a multi dimensional and stepwise approach preparing the ground where before introducing measures to ensure that there is acceptability, and therefore sustainability of the solution, you know, just enforcing the ideas and mechanisms. So in the first phase, I will be developing an effective communication and knowledge to dissemination plan for raising awareness amongst the targeted stakeholders. This will include both educational material in English and the local language which is for do. This can be designed as a self paced virtual or in person course according to the needs and literacy level of our target targeted stakeholders. And this will be supported by social media campaigning to reinforce the message and ensure public outreach and holding webinars or workshops to involve the local schools, universities organizations and public offices in a citywide clean air network. And once the baseline is formed in the phase one and informed city can hopefully welcome more strategic plans. We can then move towards formulation of a working group panel of experts that continues to engage with stakeholders and administration and in the public regarding an inclusive and effective vehicular testing or emission reduction plan, which is in line with global best practices. Now, an additional thing that I really want to incorporate here is to engage young students and early career professionals who can provide the energy and resources on ground and advance this as an intergenerational ownership of the cause. In terms of the impact through this project I hope to mainstream the idea and awareness with regards to vehicular emissions in the community by increasing public access to information and data in a very simple and comprehensible manner. Secondly, I hope to pave the way for an on ground effective effort for vehicular testing and emission control through technical capacity building of the administration. Lastly, I can hope that this will create a dedicated and well resource program, which can be expanded within the city and beyond. The success of the program very much depends on the intent and willingness of the stakeholders to receive and then work upon the strategies behavioral changes and acceptability definitely takes time. This will require some persistent efforts continuously and not as a one time event only. And to carry out effectively, especially in terms of the quality and outreach, the engagement, all of this requires resources whether it's financial, human or technical. And so this can definitely be a restricting factor. Before I end this last few words to sum it up challenges exist everywhere but what is important is to know that you have to start somewhere. To me my vision for my city is boundless and I really believe that consistent efforts and educating and creating acceptability prior to regulation will definitely set the ball rolling for achieving STG 11 for my city. Thank you so much. Thank you Fatima for your presentation. I think these outlines perfectly how overwhelmed that we can feel by these big challenges and when you hear sometimes create a sustainable city and you have it in front of you, you can feel it's impossible. You have taught us how if you dissect the issue and are able to focus your efforts we can definitely make progress for making this a reality. So, this is definitely the way to go. And this was our last presentation. This is just a sample of the potential. The corporate use of the decision making table has. This is the type of idea that we can bring to to help a emissions and ultimately city solutions. And now I would like to invite all the speakers to turn on their cameras for a Q&A portion. As questions come into the Q&A box, maybe I would like to start asking all of you, if you could share what the challenges were for you, what the biggest challenges were for you in localizing STG 11 in your city. Like when you're developing a project that addresses sustainability in your city, what was the main challenge for each one of you. I don't know if you'd like to start in the order that we have the presentations. Yes, thank you. I think that the main challenge and it is like similar to what Fatima just told us is like identifying like where are you going to, like the problem is a huge problem, you know, like for example, public transport like it has like a lot of challenges. But like I couldn't define at the beginning, like in what part was in the one that I was going to focus, you know, like the environmental impact or like the quality of the voices. So like identifying in which part you can develop a solution and the impact that it will have. You know, like for me it was like defining how with my project I could help to like to reach the goal of STG 11.2. So then I knew like it was like developing a solution that helped to actualize the percentage of the population that has access to public transport through the development of a tool. And that that was like the main challenge and then like the stakeholder involvement because like it has been an issue for many years that many people have tried to solve. But like when they discovered that it's like a lot of conflict of interest they they call this industry like a mafia, I don't know how to say it in English. Like involving with with these people and like teaching them or sharing with them that this will like help them to have a better city and a better context. I think that they those are the main challenges. I definitely feel you and that's why I feel the sustainable development goals are a very good way of splitting the challenges we are facing today and gives us a guiding frame for how to tackle this. And if we each focus our expertise on where we can, where we can, that's how we will keep moving forward. Boniface, for you, which one was the biggest challenge when you were developing your project. Thank you, Anna. My biggest challenge was what they were to actually one was lack of data. Then to us financing financial constants, as I told you earlier on my projects. It looks simple but needs financial financial muscle for you to just, you know, engage these people sometimes you ask you, what are we going to gain in the long run we've been saying this way for years and years. If you don't buy us lunch, you won't come to your meeting. So yes, financial constant was a major problem when I was going around the stakeholders sharing my idea with the local people in Kibra. The lack of data, as I said earlier on I was presenting. I don't exactly know how many toilets we have in Kibra that have existing. So I can't exactly know how many we need. So at least we can at least have some good number that each household in Kibra will be able to access the toilet. Yeah, so lack of data is something that a many of the global south cities experienced as Regina and I can speak for Mexico many times. So the data is either not non-existent and therefore Regina is creating a system to capture it, or it's very poorly organized. So, yeah, this you're not alone on this challenge for sure. Maybe on that thought I would like to follow up with a question that we received through the Q&A, and this is from Carol Bottle. He's asking if you've heard about an initiative called Adopt a Light, that was unsuccessful due to some vandalism, if you have given any thoughts on how this could affect your adopt a toilet proposal. He also speaks about the, as you mentioned, lack of financial support and lack of belief from the government for these type of solutions. So do you have any thoughts on that? I believe Boniface got disconnected for a second. So hopefully he'll jump back on and we can circle back on this question. For you Fatima, which one was the biggest challenge when localizing as the G11? I mean, like everyone just said here, for me, it was also lack of data, especially in the development part of my project. I felt like at times it was either non-existent or it was outdated and then sometimes we had different sources of data and there was a lot of discrepancy between them. I felt like if you can't make data-driven solutions if it doesn't exist or it's outdated, so I felt lack of data was definitely something that was limiting for me as well. And secondly, I'd also like to add that although I'm not at the implementation phase just yet, I've already experienced that a lot of stakeholders show reluctancy when speaking to youth, as individuals, there's a lot of reluctancy to engage with youth. So I felt like both of those points were definitely limiting in developing my project till now. Yeah, so from what we've heard from all of the fellows that have gone through our program, these are definitely some of the main challenges, the lack of data, the lack of funding to actually roll out the projects, but also the lack of pathways or access to local government. Many times, as you have shown, the ideas are there. There are a lot of people that have the ability to design these solutions so the challenges our cities are present, but sometimes the youth who are the most creative ones do not have their voices heard at the municipality. So something we've heard from former fellows is that being part of the fellowship gives them a credibility and some like pre-validation to go and introduce themselves to the local government. Fellows that have said that in the past maybe they tried to get an appointment with the local government and they just like either didn't receive an answer or the answer was no. But when they came back and introduced themselves as I'm a local public fellow this is a program from the Sustainable Development Solutions Network youth. We are a group of 100 people that were selected because of our expertise skillset and so on and I'm working on this project that is part of this organization. It opens up so many doors for them so we always push the fellows to make the most out of this and to leverage their role as a fellow as much as possible. And now for another question which I opened up the floor for would be did you find any challenges related to your age when implementing this project? In the same order that we answered? Yes? Okay. Yes I think that just as you said like maybe I think that they relate that we are young and we don't like they think that because we are young we don't know what we are doing or what we're talking about. For me it was like a double challenge because first like being young and the other it's like it is a male industry and they are only like male leaders. So like I remember the first time I went with all the leaders from the host agency they were like 30 men sitting and they told me like why was I the young girl that wanted to change public transport? You know but not like in recognition it was like she's crazy and she wants to change public transport. So I think that like they see us like young and like they have been there for many years so they think that they are the ones that have the expertise to solve a certain problem but like we have seen that they aren't experts enough because the problems are still there you know. So like I think that that was with a sector but then with the government they see it like okay maybe they are young and they have like fresh ideas and you know like they know like new ways to solve it so let's give them an opportunity. So I think that it could be like used for obtaining like a recognition or maybe they can see you as if you don't know but there is like our opportunity to show them that being young isn't a disadvantage. It's like we have all the power and the creativity and this optimism of thinking that we can change the world. I think that it's like what gives us like a leverage from the other people. I don't know Fatima and Boniface. Yeah I think we just like spoke my mind like I feel the same way. In my experience I felt like the NGOs or the social enterprises were more open to talk to me when I was engaging with them, but not so much the local government. Basically maybe in the future they will cooperate and like Regina said there are people who still have conventional thinking who think that you know you are we shouldn't take you very seriously. Yeah I felt like that was a huge challenge as well like they see like more roadblocks and they don't want to like you know take it on take the projects on that you have to you know basically if you bring up any transformative or innovative ideas. But I'd also like to share like my experience through the local pathway fellowship that couple of months ago I got to basically put my idea to one of the key stakeholders in the city and having that backing from LPF. They really gave me a very positive response. So you know having that network with you is very important maybe sometimes people won't take you very seriously as an individual but when you have a backing of something like LPF, you know it really puts confidence into that engagement. So yeah. Well that's good to hear if that's what keeps us working so hard at night. Boniface do you have any comments on this the question was, if you found any challenges because of your age on your project. Yes, I did I found a number of challenges because I am young and a number of people really doubted if I was genuine if I wanted to help them for free. I actually some thought I was doing this for political mileage, because my people are used to being helped, then getting something else in return so when I, I walked around Cobra and shared my job with them and told them what I wanted to do. They asked me a young man, what position are you are buying for are you buying for MCA. Do you want to be an MP. Why are you doing this. I made a challenge that I faced because they felt I'm not genuine. Why, why Cobra why am I helping people of Cobra. I'm just a nobody son of a nobody. Why would I want to go to them to try to help them and getting nothing in return. But at the same time there were also some advantages that I got by being young. The fact that I grew up in Cobra. I knew every corner of Cobra. The challenges people went through I went through them me as a person I understand them very, very well. I know the people staying in Cobra at the local leadership understand them so when I went to them and told them whatever I had. I also got some support from them. So they were those who doubted my what I was doing. There are also those who believed in me. They were twofold. Well, I think the message is kind of unified. We've all experienced this. However, we believe that a talent is talent and it doesn't matter your age. Like we very much respect experience. But as we've seen some of the some some of people's greatest work is developed in their early careers. Like one example can be over 18 years old, the theory of relativity early in his 20s. So the talent is there and it should be tapped into. So now I want to take a break from the questions. We have an attendee Jane, you have your hand up wondering if you want to make a question. Okay, she put her hand up so and and well maybe boniface. Well, you've got this connected. We've got a question from the audience asking if you've heard about a project called adopt a light that also experienced a lack of a financing government support and experience on vandalism if you Well, it's suggesting you to take this into consideration. And if you've given a call to this and how this could be addressed. Yes, I can respond to that Anna. The reason why adopt a light, a light fail in Kybra is because of what I'm doing right now. The community was not involved Anna. They, they, as I said, they said in that if you just in Nairobi came up with this and took it to the Kybera residents. Those who are hungry people have not been explained the importance of having this floodlights. So when they saw a picture of vandalizing these and selling them to get money in return to put food on the table. That's what they did. So my approach is different in that I want to involve these people in whatever I am doing. I am going to spend to them. Hey, you guys, we're doing this, we're doing 123. We're doing it because of ABC. So when they own the project from the onset, I feel that they want, they want to be less resistance, they will be less opposition because already they know whatever they are doing and what they will gain from that. Yeah, I think that's definitely the way to go if you want the community to accept a new proposal, you need to make them part of it in order to for them to understand the benefits that they get but also to take care of it and to take ownership of it. Well, I don't see any more questions coming through. So maybe I would just like to wrap up the session with a final thought that you want to share and what are a good strategies or advice you want to give the youth out there and when when they're trying to improve their city. Yes, thanks Anna. Well, I think that the first one would be like, look for this kind of support, like as Fatima said I think that having a backup such as the SNN and the LPF, it is like a support that you will need to have this kind of pre-validation of a renowned organization. So if you have like this idea or interest in SDG11 applied to the program, it will give you like a huge network and a lot of tools that you will need to develop your project. And my other advice would be like the start today with whatever you have, like sometimes we think that we need like the super project, super developed and a lot of financing and a lot of things to start and well that is true but like you can start now and give like little steps and then you will achieve like a long time impact. And also like look for people that support you and create this awareness in your community because if you don't create this awareness, like people won't own the project and it won't succeed. And the last one is like believe that you can, you know, like I always say that I think that we can really change the world with the right team. So like be crazy enough and think that you can change the world and you will be like halfway there. That's it. Thank you Fatima. Let's just go ahead. Right. So my message would be that I think that everyone should educate themselves and you know acquire the skills so you know that you're coming from a place of knowledge when you're addressing issues right. And secondly, I'll also say that sometimes we are so living in such a bubble that we forget that there are people who are very much different from us, and some issues which might seem small to us may mean a lot to others. So we should always be empathetic of others. And yeah, like Regina said, I think you should start today start now start small, and we will get somewhere. So yeah, I'm best of luck to everyone. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. My advice to the young person watching me right now is to believe in themselves. They always tell us that the youth are the leaders of tomorrow, but I believe that the youth are the leaders of today. Believe in yourself if you feel there's something that you can do to change your community. Go for it, go for it. Then to avail this kind of programs like the LPF that you availed for us. So because this is like the place where you get the knowledge and the expertise and the skills that we need to move forward. I just want to direct the youth to have a positive attitude and generally towards towards making a change in the community because it's only through this that I will remember you with one day. Thank you. Thank you very much. I think this is the perfect statement to close with. Thank you for all our attendees here today. If you are part of an organization that does not have a young person in your team, we highly encourage you to bring them on board they come in with very different ideas if you're a young person out there, and making your starting of your career. I think and try to inform ourselves on the issues that we're trying to make an impact or inform ourselves before we make any statements or we try to speak about other situations. And we are the present, not the future. And so thank you very much everyone for being here with us today. And that will be from our side. Thank you. Thank you everyone. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Bye bye.