 today and welcome to those who've joined us for the first time. I am Gabriela Murino from the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences and welcome to those who've joined us for the first time. I am Gabriela Day and welcome. And I would like to pick off with some housekeeping. So I would like to inform you that we have Spanish, English, Spanish, simultaneous interpretation. So please look for the globe on your screen. Please use a headset with microphone if possible when you're speaking because it makes it easier for us and the interpreters to hear you. The event is streamed live on YouTube on SDSN's channel so you can invite your friends and colleagues to watch as well. If possible, keep your cameras on because we'd love to see you and do use Zoom reactions like hearts, thumbs up, down, etc. Close your questions via the chat box to specific panelists and please state your city and country. Feel free to also post ideas and comments and introduce yourselves in the chat box so that we can generate new ideas maybe and help you all connect. And I also would like to remind you that if you tweet or post on social media, please use the hashtag VYS2020 and mission for 0.7. Thank you so much and so welcome back again and next service session. Thank you very much Gabriela. My name is Sam Loney and I'm the program director of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and I'm also the founder of Global Schools. For the past few years I've had the privilege of chairing this symposium with Monsignor and Professor Saks, the two wonderful patrons and mentors. Seven years ago, Pope Francis started this symposium through his commitment to Laudato Si and human rights and sustainable development and it has since become an intergenerational space dedicated to important conversations between leaders of various organizations and movements around the world, especially on the issue of sustainable development. And over the years we've had some incredible initiatives and partnerships emerge from this symposium and that's what the very idea of it is. And thank you to our wonderful partners at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences for your partnership and leadership and support over the past several years, in particular Monsignor and Gabriela. We would usually be in the beautiful halls of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences for this meeting but global circumstances have essentially made us use of technology and do it this way instead and this has also enabled us to reach a wider audience. Yesterday we had the first day of the symposium. It was quite action-packed. We were graced with the presence of His Holiness Pope Francis, the general of UNESCO, and her deputy Stefania Giannini, Dr. Jeffrey Cia and many many other exciting speakers. And today I can say is even more exciting and is dedicated to discussions around human rights, the Green Deal, climate justice, indigenous rights and of course the exciting launch of the fourth edition of the Youth Solutions Report. We are very excited. Many are watching this also live on YouTube so please feel free to share the link and to get even more people to join the conversation. It's great to be here with you all and with that I want to welcome you to session four of the Vatican Youth Symposium, Human Rights, Dignity and Fractal Utility. COVID-19 has presented the imperative need to recognize both the ills and strengths that have been exposed and the urgent reforms that are needed to address future challenges. This session will discuss human rights and human dignity as a core to achieving the sustainable development goals and its principle leaving no one behind. Key topics will include community-based efforts to end modern slavery and human trafficking, social inclusivity in respect of race, sex, ethnicity and cultural diversity and of course the bigger issue of human rights and how to foster that. We have six wonderful speakers including Miss Henrietta Ford, Executive Director of UNICEF, Miss Kerry Kennedy, the President of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights, Mr. Antonio Zapula, the CEO of Thomson Reuters Foundation, Mr. Felipe Belize, the coordinator of Nuevos Derejentes, and Miss Hindu Ibrahim, the Secretary General's SDG Advocate and Indigenous Rights Advocate and of course Miss Alejandra Costa, President of Breaking the Silence. First we will have a discussion with her Excellency Miss Henrietta Ford followed by a number of statements but our other distinguished guests and panelists. So with that I would like to introduce Miss Henrietta Ford. Miss Henrietta Ford became UNICEF's seventh Executive Director in 2018. She has worked to champion economic development, education, health and humanitarian assistance in public and private sectors and her non-profit leadership career spans more than four decades. See she previously served as the Administrator and the Director of the United States Foreign Assistance and USAID and she has served as the Undersecretary of State Management and the Chief Operating Officer for the U.S. State Department. In 2005 she received the Alexander Hamilton Award with which is the Department of Treasury's highest honor and we are incredibly thrilled to have her here with us. Your Excellency you have the floor. Thank you very much Sam and hello to everyone, my fellow and sister panelists. It's delighted just delighted to see you all this morning for me. On behalf of everyone at UNICEF thank you for helping us to shine a spotlight on the critical importance of human rights especially today as we start to emerge from a global pandemic which has placed all of these rights at risk. At UNICEF human rights are at the heart of everything that we do specifically children's rights. While children's rights are inherent they are not self-executing. We need more than commitment we need action and investment to bring them to life especially today. COVID-19 and the measures put in place to contain it have exposed long-standing inequalities between the haves and the have-nots. In terms of access to vital services like health nutrition vaccinations education protection and even water and sanitation and with lockdowns and school closures they place children's rights at risk their right to an education their right to protection from violence and abuse both online and at home and their rights to future. For children living in poverty or under the shadow of discrimination or in fragile settings like conflicts and natural disasters the situation can be far worse and we expect tens of millions more children to be pushed into poverty in the coming year the direct result of the pandemic and the devastating economic impacts. But as we prepare to close out what has been a devastating year there is hope. We know what to do and we know what we can achieve when together we are working to get behind children's rights. A recent report from UNICEF and the Universal Rights Group outlined a series of examples where we've worked with our partners to bring human rights to life for millions of children around the world. From a 50% decrease in the number of children in residential care over the last decade in Montenegro to a one-third decrease in the number of girls in Kyrgyzstan who are married to a prohibition of corporal punishment in Scotland, Wales and Jersey to a 20% rise in the number of girls attending secondary school in Uruguay and the generous support of our partners means that we're taking action to reverse the rights crisis imposed by COVID-19. We're providing education including learning kits and radio and online platforms. We're providing cash transfers to keep families afloat and information and tools to keep them safe and virus free. We're delivering personal protective equipment diagnostic kits, nutrition, water, sanitation, hygiene supplies to communities in need and we're restarting vaccination programs, the campaigns that make a difference to a child's life early in their life and playing a front-run role in the delivery of the COVID-19 vaccine through the COVAX facility. In humanitarian emergencies our teams are staying and delivering providing nutrition, healthcare, education, water and sanitation and we're bringing new partners financing and funding around our work not only to support children now but to help their communities and countries reimagine and rebuild stronger systems for the future. Because we cannot do it alone all of children's rights victories that we've achieved together have depended on partnerships with businesses, with faith-based groups, with governments, NGOs and innovators. So UNICEF is calling on the world to adopt a six-point plan to support children through and beyond this unprecedented crisis. So number one is to ensure that all children learn which includes closing the digital divide. Two to guarantee access to nutrition and health services and make vaccines affordable and available to every child. Third to support and protect the mental health of children and young people and bring an end to abuse, gender-based violence and neglect in childhood. Fourth to increase access to safe water, sanitation, hygiene and address environmental degradation and climate change. And fifth to reverse the rise in child poverty and ensure inclusive recovery for all. And sixth to redouble our efforts to protect and support children and their families living through conflict, disaster and displacement. As a global community let us use this moment to redouble our commitment to children's rights everywhere and to emerge from this historic period stronger and more united behind children. So UNICEF looks forward to walking this path with you. Thank you very much, Sam. Thank you very much, Ms. Foran. Thank you for your inspiring comments and an overview of the challenges that have been created as a result of the pandemic. And I read and you recently said in a news article that when a devastating pandemic coincides with conflict, climate change, disaster and displacement, the consequences for children can be catastrophic. How has this pandemic been catastrophic for children and adolescents and perhaps if you have any specific cases? Well, Sam, let me go to mental health because that's one where you hear the voices of children that often do not get heard because you cannot see the scars of mental health on the outside of a child. You can only hear it inside when they are in those quiet moments and they're able to share and say something and break the silence. So the help lines have really been used. Children are calling in from all over the world and one of the things that they are saying in the help lines in their own countries is that there's much more violence at home and that they need help to find a safe place. They want the schools reopened so that they can see their friends and a teacher. They want someone that they can turn to, a counselor, someone who can be there as a friend to hear them. They are also finding and they're reaching out about a need for knowing more about the internet. They're online a lot more. There are many predators online. So mental health is an area that we really need the world to pay attention to and to hear their voices and there are a number of hot lines and help lines that I'm sure you'll be discussing today but all of them should be used. The voices of children make a difference. Thank you very much for pointing out to the mental health epidemic and of course the challenges that have been created by the pandemic and the Secretary General recently talked about the domestic and gender crisis at home and I think you rightly point out that these are these are very complicated issues and that need urgent attention. We have actually a question here about the importance and the preparation with regards to the vaccine. So affordable and available vaccines are necessary. Is there a plan from UNICEF to address the resistance to get vaccinated in different parts of the world? Yes. So one of the things that we are talking a lot about is to make sure that people know which are trusted safe resources online. One in every three users on the internet is a child and they are getting an education as to what is real and what is not real, what they should trust and what they should not trust. Trust is very, very important now for children and they need to hear from we who are the trusted resources. So one of the things that we are saying is that it is important to keep routine vaccinations going. There is a very understandable hesitancy on the part of parents. They can see things, they do not know where they come from, they have not had access to many of the trusted resources and so they do not know if taking a polio vaccination will give their child polio. It does not but they do not have all of that information. Measles, the same thing, all of those routine shots and now comes COVID-19. It is moving fast. Many young people and many of their parents are thinking that it has come so fast that they do not know if it has had time to be tested. So it is just very important that we talk to everyone about trust, about how vaccines are tested, why they work, how they work, which ones have been approved by the World Health Organization, which ones they should be seeing in their own communities. But I think as this year progresses, it will be extremely important for all of us to talk about the good that vaccines have accomplished. I mean, the fact that we have overcome smallpox and 99% of polio in the world is a great gift to the world, but we need to talk about it as a community. Absolutely. Thank you very much. We actually have a follow-up question here from Robert, who says that could you possibly share some examples, positive stories of resilience in children and communities who have been hit hard by the pandemic and could we apply these takeaways in other global settings? Well, there's some wonderful ones that are just coming out. So much of the resilience comes from children who are out of school and who begin to get remote learning. And they are using everything. They are borrowing the cell phone from their father or their older brother or sister. They are working with a radio at night or they are working with whatever they have at hand. They're sharing, they're collaborating. And many older siblings within a family or within a neighborhood are helping to teach younger ones so that they are becoming teachers in the neighborhood and in the family. But there is so much more of this that we can do. There is a new website that has set up called the Global Development Commons, which is a place that one can go to look up what's happening, what are best practices and best examples from countries all over the world. And it's from individuals as well as from ministries and from nonprofit organizations. So take a look at those. It is a resource for everyone. Thank you so much. And one final question, I know you have to rush off, but perhaps within a minute, UNICEF have created several very innovative solutions that engage young people. You just mentioned the Global Development Commons, which we're a proud partner of. How will these innovations engage young people in securing their rights as children? And how can the audience here get involved and support UNICEF in the crucial work that you're doing around the world? Right. So we want everyone to be engaged in the discussions because you'll see good examples that could be used somewhere else in the world. So come visit the Global Development Commons. We also have something called UReport. U like the letter U, but it means you. So we want you to tell us what's going on in your community. So whether it is a natural disaster, the hurricanes that came through the Caribbean and Central America, talk about what's happening in your community, share that information. It makes you part of the solutions. You know, when we roll up our sleeves together and start implementing some of these solutions around the world, it makes all of us feel better that we're part of a global community and that we're helping someone else. And that is part of the feeling that we want at this conference in Symposium. It is that we can all help each other. So there are a number of these platforms. So come visit UNICEF and we'll connect you to everything. So thank you, Sam. Thank you so much, Your Excellency. And thank you for all the incredible work yourself for your leadership and also of course of UNICEF colleagues around the world who are just a light in the middle of these dark times and have been leading the fight for children's rights and families rights. Thank you so much for joining us and we wish you the best of luck. Thank you, Sam. And Sam, when you talk about light, we now begin to see light at the end of the tunnel, but we want to be sure that the light shines on everyone. So we want to be very inclusive. No child should be left behind. And thank you. Thank you so much. Have a wonderful day. Okay. We're very lucky to hear from her Excellency, Ms. Henrietta, and now we move on to our wonderful panel speakers. Each speaker will speak for five minutes about their incredible work and their leadership. And we're extremely grateful and privileged to have them here with you all. So really be prepared to be inspired by these wonderful speakers. However, I must warn the panelists that I will be quite strict about the time limits because we have a long program and we want to ensure that there is plenty of time for Q&A. So if you miss anything in the panel, please feel free to come in during the discussion part. So my apologies in advance if I do interrupt once you go past the time. As for the audience, please post your questions to specific panelists and we'll try to entertain as many of them as possible. With that, let's go to our first panel speaker, Ms. Kerry Kennedy. Ms. Kerry Kennedy is the President of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights. For more than 35 years, she has devoted herself to the pursuit of equal justice, the promotion and protection of basic rights, and the preservation of the rule of law. She's the recipient of many honors and awards, including the Eleanor Roosevelt Medal of Honor. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and many other reputable international sources. She is a positive force for human rights and a true champion of justice. And with that, I would like to give Ms. Kennedy the floor. Thank you. Thank you very much. It's great to be with everybody today. Thank you to the rest of the panelists and the special thanks to Pope Francis and to Jeff Sachs for hosting this and putting it together. It's fitting that today's discussion about human rights and the SDGs is hosted by the Vatican. The Old Testament Psalm declares kindness and truth shall meet, justice and peace shall kiss. And that quest for justice and peace is what the SDGs and human rights are all about. In the wake of the atrocities after World War II, countries across the globe came together. They declared that national sovereignty would no longer shield governments that commit atrocities upon their people. And they drafted and signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Among the first words of the declaration are human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They then spelled out what those rights are and what's included in them. In a list which is a close parallel to the SDGs, the rights to shelter and food and health, health care, education, the right to do process, to not be subjected to slavery, torture and cruelty, or unreasonable searches and seizures. And the right to to have these rights equally recognized no matter once raised or creed or color or national origin or political belief. That's the grounding of human rights today. And that's the grounding of the SDGs. Without human rights, the SDGs will never be realized. At RFK Human Rights, we sue governments who abuse those rights. We work in partnership with marginalized people because we believe those who are closest to the problem are closest to the solution. And we work on preserving and expanding civic space. Because unless journalists can cover the news and dissidents can safely criticize policies and human rights defenders can protect their clients without facing imprisonment and torture and death. Unless these conditions are met, no one will be secure in achieving the SDGs. We work with investors in the largest corporations to help assure that those companies treat everyone up and down the supply chain with dignity. The investment industry has $70 trillion in assets, literally all the money in the world. But how much of that is controlled by women and minority owned firms? Less than 2%. We are working to diversify the control of the supply chain of money so that children and youth across the globe can have access to basic needs. But even if the governments behave and the corporations comply with the international norms, it will all be for naught unless the next generation of human rights defenders know their rights and are trained to use them and are confident in their capacity to speak truth to power. On that day, when we all know our rights and know how to assert them, on that day the psalmist's vision will become a reality. And on that day, kindness and truth shall me and justice and peace shall kiss. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Ms. Kennedy. And you rightly pointed out, without human rights, there is no STGs. And I couldn't agree more. And thank you for your leadership and inspiring work that you've been doing through the center. It is truly an important beacon for safeguarding rights and justice around the world. So thank you for that. And now we move on to our next speaker, Mr. Antonio Zepula. He's the CEO of the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the corporate foundation of the Global News and Information Services Company Reuters. He's the founder of openly the world's first platform dedicated to fair, accurate and impartial coverage of LGBT plus stories with distribution through Reuters Wire. He sits on the boards of Open for Business and the International New Safety Institute. And he's a member of the steering committee of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford, where I'm currently based. Antonio, with that, I'll give you your floor. Thank you, Sam. It's a pleasure to be here. Human rights, as Gary was saying earlier, it's really at the center of the framework towards which we work in order to achieve the STGs. And at the Thomson Reuters Foundation, we use a very unique approach to promote human rights. And our unique approach combines the power of journalism and the power of the law. And it's a very effective one. Why? Because if people don't have basic rights and the information that they receive is polarizing, is inaccurate and is hateful, human rights are necessary at risk. And that is because human rights, as we know, they're not just a charter that lives on the shelf. They are the framework within which our daily actions take place. It should take place. And so we raise awareness of human rights issues from forced labor and human trafficking to women's rights, to climate risks, to data discrimination, to LGBT rights. And we do this globally for a number of interventions. Our news coverage, for example, we cover stories that others don't. We distill complex news issues, articulating the implications for people, for society, and for the environment. We also train journalists to report accurately, thoroughly, and without bias on human rights issues. We facilitate free legal assistance and research to support frontline human rights organizations. We try collaboration to advance human rights and influence policy change through partnerships, through working groups, through events, bringing together the media, the legal sector, civil society, governments, academia, and the private sector. Human rights and human dignity are fundamental to our mission because we believe societies cannot fulfill their potential if people cannot live freely, if they cannot be free, and if they are not accurately informed. And I think this conversation comes at a really interesting time because we're all really talking about building back better, which is a phrase that has been adopted in 2020 by everyone, from multinational corporations to campaigning politicians to civil society organizations. We all want to build back better, but the question that we're now facing is how do we go about it? And what does it actually mean in practical terms? And we've seen with this pandemic hitting the widening gap between the richest and the poorest to historic levels, really reversing all the progress that we made in the past three decades. According to the World Bank, extreme poverty has risen for the first time in 20 years, pushing an additional 150 million people into living on less than $2 a day. More than half of those people are actually women and girls. And between March and June, the wealth of West Billionaires has increased by 20%. That's $584 billion to be precise. So there's a lot of work to do. Thank you very much, Antonio. Thank you for the great work and your inspiring work through the Thomson Reuters Foundation, which is very consistent with the ethos of this symposium. And in fact, one of the reasons for why this symposium was started in the first place to ensure the rights of people and protect people against human slavery, trafficking and many others. And you rightly pointed out that during the pandemic, things have been made difficult, but we need to build back better. Thank you for that. And next, we move to our next speaker, Felipe Belize. Felipe is the national coordinator of Nuevos De Regentes, new leaders, a young leaders program of justice, peace, and human development commission. He collaborates in the national secretary of strategic affairs of the presidency of the Argentine national government, and he's previously done so with the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. Felipe, you have the floor. Thank you very much for the invitation. First, I would like to do a brief introduction of what Nuevos De Regentes or new leaders is, which is a youth leader program from the church in Argentina, which was funded by Jorge Gregorio back when he was in Argentina with the purpose to bring together both religious and non-religious young people involved in politics, the workers' unions, and even business chambers to discuss diverse political approaches to the same issue in light of the social doctrine. But most important, we offer young leaders political formation cycles around Pope Francis today. Most recently, according to the Vatican newspaper, we've held the first ever Fratelli Tutti online course for young leaders, which will be acquired this next year, which is a school of new leaders. So to start, we embrace Mission 4.7, which promotes in young leaders three global citizenship values inspired by Fratelli Tutti. The first is to practice dialogue and social friendship. The second is to spread hope. And the third one is to feel political love. For the first one, dialogue and social friendship, as I said before, we try to gather the most diverse approaches to a single issue with the protagonists of that issue. And we pursue our work as same as Pope Francis does with the See, Judge and Act methodology. In Fratelli Tutti, the Pope says that the best politics seeks fruitfulness over results. So therefore, we believe that by educating the young leaders in the constant practice of dialogue, it will give us a shortcut to achieving the SDGs, which brings us to the second value we promote, which is hope. And by doing this, our main objective is not only to just network the youth in both in politics, but to spread the message of hope among them in the manner of politics. We believe in times of Manichaean and polarizing narratives, hope and dialogue are not only a moral obligation, but very necessary to restore the decency and dignity of public life. But how do we get it? Pope Francis says by feeling political love. What I just mentioned is nothing without the fire of political love in the youth, that it only persists through effective love, through actions, that if they are not inspired by solid values, they fade away. And this is what exactly we're called upon to do in points 180 through 186 of Fratelli Tutti. And because of our Christian background, we believe in the gospel of Jesus, which is the good news itself. We see Christ as an archetype of hope, who, as I said before, was effective love himself, and he calls us to build the kingdom of God here on earth for all. Thus, we believe our faith and way of life can and must be shown with examples of political love, because whatever is not solved by politics, as you know, it is sooner or later solved by violence or political hate, which always benefits the rich. So to sum up, we do encourage the youth to get involved by providing the space for dialogue and friendship, a space for generational hope beyond partisan politics, and a space for education in the social moral values promoted by Pope Francis. But just so you know, it's not always kumbaya here. We are no strangers to the polarized world. And when we discuss certain policies, we always tend to crash into the same world, which is who finances it, who finances, who puts the money for the SDGs. In developing countries, the first and happy option is always international funds, but they are not always there, not always enough, which then opens the internal political economy discussion. And this is where we see people's true faces and their views on social justice and, most certainly, their anthropological conception, which brought us to the last and final conclusion, which is in terms of education and formation, we have to evangelize our pockets and de-dollarize our souls, just as Jesus warns us in the parable of Lazarus and the rich man. We sometimes joke around that economic schools in college should imitate the medical schools in the sense that economists should be required to have successful fieldwork for a year, say in an SDG initiative in order to graduate. And they should also be sued in case of professional malfunction. So, in other words, we need, I think, a new economic moral that porters a better life for the excluded first. And only through that, we will achieve the SDGs. Thank you very much, Philippe. I really appreciate it. Next up, we have Ms. Hindu Ibrahim, who is an environmental activist and member of Chad's pastoralist Muboro community. She's also a sustainable development goal advocate of the UN Secretary General. She's a conservation international senior fellow and she was recently listed by Times Magazine as one of the 15 women championing action on climate change. We're very delighted to have her here with us. Ms. Ibrahim, you have the floor. Thank you very much, Sam. And hi, everyone. It's a great pleasure to be with you. I hear from all this speech. I'm not going to do any speech for you. I'm going to give you the example of my life. One day, someone asked me how I become an activist. And my response was I am born an activist because you have to be an activist on human rights. When you're born in a community who do not have access to water, to drink, access to electricity, access to education, just to go to school, access to hospital when you are sick. So you have just to get born an activist because you have to fight for your own right first to be accepted by the others. And you have to fight for your community or you have to fight for the environment that you live on need to be a better place for your peoples. So human rights by the approach, it's a thing that I grow up with and I fight for it. Because in this time, and we all know with the COVID pandemic and with all the environmental crisis, we are facing a threat. And those threats are already highlighted by some of the speakers. So I give you the concrete example of which kind of human rights violation we are going through. You know, when you do not go to the supermarket to buy your food, you are waiting for the rainfall just to grow your crops and save these crops for the next coming 12 months. So you know how it is so important to respect just the piece of land you have. How so much you can respect the piece of water that you can have and you can access it in chair and you can fight and put all your energy to have the equitable access to it. So this is what I'm doing. I create an organization called Indigenous Women and People Association of Child who fight for human rights, indigenous people rights and environment protection. Because we cannot talk about human rights as human beings without talking about environment rights that give us everything that we need. Even if you are from a developing country, you need the food that you put in your tables that come from the land and that's called environment. And I try to work with the communities, women, men to give them the voice to see how we can develop a solution from the traditional knowledge to help better manage the resources but better share those resources that shrinking. And I help to give this example to the government at the national level to better use them to take a right solution. And that's our call it the SDGs. Because if they do not take a right decisions, they do not do a right policies, they cannot implement it at the community level. But who take the decision for all of them, the international level. And that's why also I'm involving at the international level to do a lobby to give them the evidence to what is happening at the local level and to tell them they cannot take a decision without that decision and positively the local communities that need it. And this is leaving no one behind because if they do not understand, they always leave the people behind and they create the inequality and injustice. So that's why I am so happy to be an SDG advocate and to work with young people, with women, with marginalized communities, with indigenous communities to ensure that we do not leave no one behind. And in this note, we know we are in a very urgent crisis. We have only 10 years to achieve SDGs. We have 10 years to go through all the environmental crisis, climate change, biodiversity loss. And who are there? We have use. So young people are there with all the knowledge expertise and traditional knowledge are there. So we need to come all together to implement the SDG 17, who is the partnership to partner all together from religious, from communities, from scientists, technology, traditional knowledge and act to help and serve my peoples to do not be left behind. And all the other indigenous peoples to do not be left behind. And finally, the green recovery. It's a very important part. So green recovery must leave no one behind and it must respond to the basic needs of the peoples getting access to the right. You know, if we protect our nature, our nature will protect us back. We do not have any other solutions. Maybe for COVID we are having a vaccine, but there is no vaccine for climate change. Our only vaccine is protecting our nature and coming all together. Thank you so much, Sam. Thank you so much, Ms. Ibrahim, for your inspiring call to action. And you rightly pointed out if we protect nature, then nature will protect us and there is no vaccine for climate change. Thank you so much for your inspiring work and advocacy for the Sustainable Development Goals. Our next speaker is Ms. Alejandra Costa. She's a social worker and entrepreneur specialized in modern slavery and human rights. She's the founder and president of Break the Silence, a nonprofit organization that works against human trafficking in Spain. She's a United Nations Foundation Fellow and has been recognized as one of the 10 persons that will lead the future of Spain. We certainly hope so. We're very lucky to have you again, Alejandra. You have the floor. Hi, everyone. Good afternoon. I'm so happy to be here with you all. Thank you, Sam, Monseigneur Gaby, for organizing this great event. I always enjoy being here with you all. So I want to tell you a little bit about how my organization has faced the pandemic. I direct an organization called Break the Silence, and we work with human trafficking victims. So in the past few months, we have been told several times that COVID-19 does not discriminate people. We have been told that it affects everyone. But the truth is that this pandemic has a double impact in people who experiment socially and economically. And I want to share with you the work we have been doing. On March 14, Spain was locked down because of the pandemic, and we had to stay at home as the rest of the world, I guess. While some of us had the possibility of working from home and not being exposed to the virus, more than 45,000 women and young girls in my country did not have a home to come back. They got locked down in brothels and apartments with the pins and traffickers who forced them into prostitution with other women and girls in the same situation. To be pretty honest, this situation found us without tools and strategies to face the hunger, the financial needs, and situations of violence and abuse. The victims were suffering during the lockdown. In the middle of this moment of mental breakdown, because honestly, we didn't have an idea of how to face this situation, we started to receive thousands and hundreds of cases of underage girls that had been targeted through the internet and that were being forced into prostitution to feed their families during the pandemic. They were targeted in platforms we use every day, like Facebook, Tinder, Instagram, but they were exploited in platforms we shouldn't use every day, like Only Funds, StripChat, Pornhub. This reality of modern slavery online has been happening for many years, but I must be honest, in Spain, organizations that work against human trafficking didn't have a clue of this and we did not have a specific knowledge on this until the pandemic started. To obtain this quality information about how the crime works online, we started to research and collaborate with platforms that legitimate the crime without knowing it and we started to think about how to offer access to justice to these victims of online trafficking and we have learned something in this process that I want to share with you. The first thing of all is that smugglers use legal tools to legitimate illegal activities. I have never seen such a great ability to innovate in the middle of this situation. They map vulnerable victims and they exploit them and in a moment when almost everything is online, the non-profit sector needs to innovate more than smugglers do because thousands of lives depend on our ability to find better solutions to guarantee online safety. Our society has more access to information than ever before, but there is a lack of quality tools to put in practice the information we receive. Tech and financial companies have structures that facilitate trafficking, but they do not always know or have specific information about how the crime works online through their platforms. Sometimes they even think they can do nothing about it. This is why we are developing technology tools that predict how traffickers capture their victims in different platforms such as Twitter or Facebook and we are working with artificial intelligence because it gives us patterns that allow professionals working in these companies to develop strategies to impede smugglers continue their activities with total impunity in these platforms. We have more than 40 million slaves in the world today and we ardently need to work with every sector of society including the private sector to end slavery. Behind all of this research there are lives, lives of people in vulnerable contexts who suffer violence, abuse, poverty and who are forced into sexual exploitation just to feed their loved ones. I have seen hundreds of times the effects of human trafficking and I cannot explain the pain I have seen. I cannot explain the stories I have heard and I cannot explain how it feels to see these scars and the trauma of abuse, but I can generate quality information and develop tools to avoid more persons to experiment slavery. During these six years working against trafficking I have seen how humans can come in human rights violations and do evil things, but working with some of the greatest minds in my country and around the world to end slavery I have also seen that we have an amazing ability to create, innovate and bring about change and now is the moment to use these abilities and tools to guarantee that everyone has their fundamental right of freedom. Thank you. Thank you very much Alejandra. Thank you for your incredible work and for coming back again to this symposium. It's wonderful having you here and hearing the incredible updates that you provide each year. Now we head to the Q&A session with our wonderful speakers so I encourage the audience and participants to please post your questions below. Just to keep the conversation engaging I would like to ask the panelists to respond within one minute. I know that's very difficult but please do your best and keep it short so that we can get through as many questions as possible and actually my first question is to Ms. Kennedy. Your organization has been doing an incredible job educating children about human rights and the multiple campaigns in particular in school. What has been the experience? What have been some of the takeaways from that program and campaign? Thank you so much. Yes so our Speak Truth Power Human Rights Education program has taught all over the world from kindergarten through law school and it's really three parts. One is what are your rights? Getting kids to know what their rights are, how to identify them, how to assert them. Then the second piece of it is social-emotional learning so that students can express themselves in a way that is respectful and full of dignity both for themselves and for the people who they're trying to convince to create change. And then the third piece is community organizing really showing students that they can make a difference. So each of our students takes on a project in their classroom community their country or globally on a human rights issue and makes change. Sometimes that's writing a song or creating a play or video on a human rights issue and sometimes it's lobbying a government to or even a school system to change a policy. But in the end what we're really trying to do is show students that you don't have to win the Nobel Peace Prize in order to be a human rights defender. All of us have courage inside us. All of us have dignity and rights and all of us can assert those rights on behalf of ourselves and others. Thank you so much Miss Kennedy and I think you rightly pointed out that there was a serious gap in social-emotional learning in schools and in education and that's certainly a gap we saw throughout research in global schools as well. So thank you for pointing that out and also for encouraging us to foster that inner human rights activist. The next question is to Antonio. Antonio you mentioned some big barriers that you're facing through the work of your foundation. Can you give us some examples of those barriers and how you've worked to overcome them or are working to do that? Okay I think I'm muted now. As I said for us the key to unlock these barriers really is this combination of media and legal intervention and we've seen especially with COVID these vulnerabilities really spreading around the world and becoming much more exacerbated and perhaps I can give you a bit of an example of what we've done on a practical level because I think it's important to understand that I think everyone in this ecosystem has a role to play and solutions might not be appearing as immediate but they are actually out there. In March this year for example we launched something called the COVID-19 crisis reporting have to really support journalists in the global south and we started from Africa because at the time in March the pandemic really hadn't hit Africa the way it did later and as we've seen and this is a starting point for us this pandemic is not just the health crisis it's also an information crisis with misinformation, disinformation, propaganda being really disseminated across the world putting the lives of many people at risk and many journalists have zero of very limited health reporting experience and they found themselves struggling to provide accurate information that can actually you know help the populations protecting themselves. So we've also seen governments by the way across the world really will hold in key information to you know for fear that the narratives that might be pushed out there in the media could actually be unfavorable to them. So our help is an eight week training with which really equips journalists with the core skills they need to accurately report on the pandemic it gives reporters access to key experts it connects them with other reporters that have been covering the crisis in other countries and to date we have delivered five hubs to journalists from South Saharan Africa to Eastern Europe, Pakistan, Brazil and next year in January we will be also launching these hubs to include journalists based in Middle East and North Africa but we also stepped up our own news coverage and that's really important because we really focus on the impact of COVID-19 on people's society and the environment at a moment when the narrative was really about the numbers I mean if you remember in March in April the story was the numbers how many people are dying how many people are hospitalized but we've written about the rise of domestic violence as a result of COVID we shed the light on the sufferings of those working at the bottom of supply chains producing actually the goods that we were consuming desperately at the time when supply chains were in this array often without PPE protection with any basic right we've written about the way COVID affected the most marginalized groups of society and we provide we provided pro bono legal support to facilitate assistance for NGOs and social enterprises at a time when they really were the most stretched a lot of organizations civil society organizations were really at risk of closing shop and so we helped them navigating the legal uncertainties from how do I extend my my holiday mortgage period to or how do I pay rent how do I get out of a contract so really providing concrete supports to organizations and and we really have seen how social enterprises can actually provide solutions which can really be adopted at speed all around the world so our support if you want it's it's it's more systemic it's a combination of skills and that is for us what unlock barriers because we don't work in isolation I mean we we work with partners that actually on this goal including the Robert Kennedy Human Rights Foundation we work together we always work in coalition because these issues are so systemic and so large that we can no no longer continue to work in isolation we really need to join forces great thank you very much uh next we have a question here from Noha Khaldi and I'll put this question uh to miss Ibrahim uh how can young people be advocates for human rights and join your efforts in supporting the most vulnerable population in our communities without causing harm to these communities uh one minute right uh thank you Noha I think young people's already doing and they can do that better by joining the campaign for example because there are a lot of campaign that going on and everyone can found the campaign who is in his country or his region to join and be an advocate of human rights but there are also a lot of tools that are in this generation now all the social media are allowing people to create them on advocacy them on messages that they want to to give out so understanding what is happening outside and understanding that what is the vulnerable communities are experiencing every day and making the link to them to them voices because most of the vulnerable communities do not have access to the new channel of social media or television or radio or whatever so if you get those information and put them out for the peoples to make understand and then create to make them in the right best approach to do not create the solution that harm peoples that can help also to become an advocate and finally uh to give the voice you know most of the peoples that want to when they hear about the uh human rights violation other on a war or on the land or just to kill the human rights at the funders so they do not take the information to them so the most important is how the information can go to those peoples and how they can get also the chance to talk themselves so if you can help to make the bridge with the community who are the most vulnerable who can talk for themselves that will be a very very helpful for my community for many other indigenous communities and the vulnerable people themselves thank you very much for that here we have a quick question to Alejandra in which geographical location do you work and can you highlight the state and process of prosecution of those who have been arrested and how many have been arrested you know how effective is that prosecution process you have one minute okay i'll try so i work in madrid spain and i do not have a big clue of how this technology we are implementing works in another country so i don't know if it's easy to replicate because i want to put you an example when we see trends of how traffic errors target victims um we start working to prosecute that trends and the next week they have changed so this is why we need technology because we are not as fast as they as they are so this works in madrid spain but i don't know if it works in other countries um and it is so difficult to prosecute this crime in spain because the evidences online are not that easy it's not the same as an in person prosecution or a crime that happens in presence so we are putting more papers into police table like letting them know that this is a huge crime online but it's it is not working as well as i would like to and as fast as i would like to the good thing is that now we are able to find the victims and that's like them the solution compared to when we didn't know anything about the about the crime that now we can find them when they got locked down we didn't know where they were but now we can find them and the last question it's that if i have tried to look into what is pulling the continuous rise of this ordeal and i think it's poverty and now with covid more people is vulnerable so now we need to prosecute the crime online but this is not something new this already happened thank you very much alahandra and with that i would like to go around the panel and ask you this simple question which is how do you see the role of young people in working with your organization and how can they actually get involved in your work and that will start with miss kennedy well thank you so much so first of all download our speak truth power platform um we'd love to get it in your schools and we'd love you to to be using it and then secondly we um have a video contest we have music contest we have art contest for students to be engaged in these issues and then we have a young leaders program where we train uh college students to use these tools to create change on campus so go to our website and we will put you right to work thank you thank you miss kennedy antonio i guess if you are a young journalist uh or if you are a young lawyer uh and want to get involved into driving social change get in touch there's a number of opportunities ranging from pro bono legal support to civil society organizations to photojournalism to human rights reporting so if you want to play a part get in touch thank you very much filipe yes for young leaders to do better than the other generation in the future i think a new hermeneptic uh approach they need to have they need to have a a better heart to say uh and that is what we will try to do in our school next year to try to assess it before evangelize their pockets so they are not tied into this luxury world life of luxury thank you very much filipe thank you uh miss abraham uh yeah young people can help to get out our voices so help to get it out and hold your government accountable they have to take the right decisions and they have to be responsible for example is stopping the fossil fuel for example acting responsibly because we have the same planet if they uh violate the right of the peoples where they are it's going to impact us in the far away so act and hold them accountable that can help the life of all of us to be better thank you thank you miss abraham and finally alahandra and then i'll hand over to monson your to uh give a statement question alahandra so in the case of modern slavery if i am i were me at 18 year old i i i would say that slavery happens everywhere and it can happen to anyone so as a young advocate to end it you just need to be in some place and have some information to share to anyone because at the end we need people everywhere that has access to preventive information everywhere so almost everyone can be an advocate of every every human right thank you very much alahandra monson you uh i want to ask to all that was very very interesting the the different contributions but uh i think that is a real problem the relation of virtue and education and especially for the politicians but all for all people to have some responsibility what can we do i ask especially for belis for example to make understand to the politicians that they need to see the good the virtue and not to be present and to continue to to have power this is a real problem because really education is education not only information not only knowledge but also ethic and today the great problem is that we don't have ethic not have virtue so i ask this especially for belis thank you monson you uh any of you any of the panelists would like to jump in and answer that i yes uh the Pope Francis in the chapter of the best politics asks in front of duty why on earth did you get involved in politics is it to gain power or to serve especially the poor and i think the ethical part of the values always comes with having the conscience of whatever you do here on earth echoes in eternity so if you lose sight of that and you lose sight of your neighbor you will never achieve anything good not for anyone in the community but neither for yourself and that is where the ethical part should come thank you for those great comments and inspiring words for leaping and i really want to take this chance to thank all our wonderful panelists for this very inspiring session uh sharing the incredible work that you're doing and your incredible leadership uh on the ground uh we i i'm sure i speak from all the participants when i say that we've been incredibly energized with your work and very very inspired so with that i would like to join everyone in thanking you and i encourage everyone to continue the conversations in the chat as we head to the next session on sustainable cities communities thank you very much thank you okay we'll have a 30 second break and then we'll go shoot straight into the next session okay so i think we'll get started now welcome to session five sustainable cities and communities we have a very exciting session here for you i will do uh do the introductions and then i'll hand over to my cala my colleague cala core yarn uh corvik 19 has placed unsurmountable pressure on cities and communities and in responding to this situation innovative scalable solutions and measures are needed uh the session will discuss recent movements pushing to address sustainable development from an urban perspective key topics will include a holistic look at the innovations and technology and infrastructure that are making cities and their peripheries and their surrounding communities more livable equitable and sustainable it will also touch upon issues of climate change climate justice uh social transformation and of course decarbonization we have six wonderful speakers uh with us today uh professor Yanis Varoufakis uh mr Eric Gassetti mr Eli Calab uh mr Chris Castro uh professor Marcelo Suarez Roscoe and miss Alexandra Villasenio we will first have a quick discussion with professor Varoufakis followed by a number of statements by our distinguished guests so professor Varoufakis is an economist and politician who as Greece's finance minister in 2015 led the struggle against the european unions and international military funds austerity and bank bailout policies since then he co-founded dm 25 a democracy movement in the democracy in europe movement where the likes of Julian Assange nom chomsky and slova jizek and nom now mclain are on the board of this organization uh before his election to Greece's parliament professor Varoufakis taught economics in universities in britain australia my home country and the united states in greece for three decades he's also the best-selling author with one of my favorite books and the week suffer what they must europe's crisis and america's economic future professor Varoufakis welcome to the symposium you have the floor thank you so much thank you for the very kind introduction and thank you for the invitation uh okay sustainable cities i'll just drive straight into the center uh the epicenter of the subject uh and in particular i want to uh motivate the discussion by highlighting the intimate connection between technology ownership and urban life and in order to illustrate this in the short space of time i have i will use the car the automobile as my you know parable if you want because if you think about it the world we live in is the result of the second industrial revolution uh the conversion of capitalism from a free market economy social economy to effectively um an economy that is ruled by very large corporations using the economies of scale that electromagnetism and automobile production generated around 1910 1920 Henry Ford and of course Thomas Edison playing substantial roles and if you think about it on the one hand you have the electricity generating station with a grid and the car these two if you want processes products the car and electricity as well as the grid and the part generation of it they transform cities this is what created the city as we know it new york all the way to sau paulo and um you know Johannesburg the automobilization of society um is if you want the one of the main driving forces both of capitalism as we know it and the creation of urban space now one thinks immediately when you think of cars invading cities in the 20s 30s 40s 50s 60s of course uh as the generator of pollution of congestion and all that but these are essentially superficial phenomena compared to the real effect of the car which is to create a very powerful socioeconomic force which i shall just for the purposes of our discussion refer to as the automobile industrial complex because think about it all this economic power wealth influence generated pressure upon city authorities to set aside public transport remember the united states to create roads that are much larger and they eat into pedestrian spaces uh the immediate repercussion of that let us not forget was effectively to obliterate the distinction between the urban space the suburb and the countryside with the sprawl because it's only the automobile that allowed people you know to to commute one to two and a half hours away from the city center so this automobile automobilization uh which is part of the parcel of the expansion and the creation of the city as we know it is i think an apt cause for us to reconsider uh the future of urban living of sustainable cities but in conjunction with the green industrial revolution which is coming i don't know how fast it's coming but in my view we should come much faster than it is coming and the relationship between the green new deal that we should be aiming at not only to stabilize global trade to reduce inequalities to detoxify politics but also in order to create a balance between cities suburbs countryside the way in which we produce the new modes of transport and mobility decentralized with i-hope commonly owned driver driverless electric vehicles this is one example powered by green energy generated also in a decentralized network that is exactly the opposite of the monopoly capital model of Henry Ford and Thomas Edison this is why we must think of our sustainable cities in the context of decentralized networks for product for providing power energy and mobility thank you thank you very much professor Varoufakis for uh describing that process and shedding light on the uh on how sustainable cities can be created i will you know launch in with what uh with my first question which is you were one of the key architects of the european green deal uh and had had a very important role in in crafting that uh what have been some of the biggest challenges uh in getting the european green deal implemented and what are the other prospects of in getting uh uh implemented in cities across europe i will you be surprised if my answer is a single word money because you mentioned the the green deal in europe the tragedy of the green deal is that it sounds wonderful uh but there's no money available for it the european commission and the european council have flagged this as a significant priority project they talked about a trillion years but the the money's not there it's all smoke and mirrors so far one hopes that they begin with the admission of the importance of having it they put very little money on the side some like 30 billion out of the 1 000 billion that they've talked about uh and uh popular pressure electoral pressure democratic pressure is going to force them to actually come up with the money but this is a very important question where's the money coming from it's very difficult to imagine that it can come from taxation today given the the pressures especially of the post covid 19 world on the budgets of governments and so on but but at the same time we have to realize that and this is how i finish my answer we have to realize that we have a remarkable phenomenon in europe and the world but particularly europe we have the largest amount of cash available savings liquidity in the financial system in the history of europe and the lowest level of investment in the history of europe compared to the available cash the cash is there the problem is how do you energize it how do you press it into the surface of what society needs you know the green transition because at the moment it's simply slashing around in the financial system doing untold damage creating inequality pushing up share prices house prices in berlin and so on but it's not being invested where it should be invested in the european commission has no no a real proposal on the table on how to do it so that's the long winded version of the one word answer to your question money thank you very much professor and how do you see the role of young people in accelerating this process potentially getting bigger financial commitments and political commitments behind this deal and how can young people get involved with this movement well again one word crucial the role of youngsters has already been been proven significant and i would also add crucial that the strikes by students by pupils for fridays fridays for future has been a great source of inspiration it has really shamed politicians not that they responded yet but this is the kind of pressure that youngsters must put forward but if i may there are two things that young people must do firstly continue the pressure and build it up ignore all foggies like us and but secondly start preparing an answer to the questions that will be put to them when some journalist thrusts a microphone in their face and says okay so what do you want done okay you where will the money come from how much they need this is why we need we all this we need to provide them with a green u d blueprint that provides them the material to change the world we're not going to change the world our generation we are hopeless we we are guilty we're hopeless we're a pathetic lot of losers but the youngsters need to be provided by us our collective experience so that they can do the running on their own thank you very much professor appreciate your comments and your overview of how young people can be involved we also have a question here from jorgen who says who congratulates your presentation and says what could be the role of education for the for the kinds of transformation that we need and decan and essentially decarbonization green deal and sustainable development goals look i spent all my life as a teacher right so i think highly of education and i'm still you know a romantic who thinks that you know you open a school you shut down a prism and all that but at the same time the youngsters out there do not need their teachers to tell them what needs to be done they can educate themselves and the best way of educating themselves is by you know having a drive an internal drive a collective ethos organizing and actually struggling the best educator is a struggle against the vested interests who are prepared to see the earth die rather than give up on adding another few billion on already a huge pile of billions they already have absolutely that's right and professor if we're focused if you if there is any and like i can definitely say that you are an excellent teacher and you continue to not only inspire us but give us the the very blueprint that we need for the decarbonization and a more just future for all of us and thank you for your time and i just wanted to give you the floor for maybe one minute for any final statements and call to action look my great fear is inequality and so much not from a more at least the ethical point of view that too but my great fear is that where we have the greatest need to pour money into creating good quality green jobs so that people can actually survive while saving the planet where we have the greatest need for that where we have the least amount of money and therefore we need not only you know for Barcelona for Athens for New York for London for the developed cities to make themselves sustainable but we need a massive redistribution of wealth not income of wealth from the global north to the global south for that we need an internationalist movement thank you very much professor Varoufakis thank you for making the time and speaking to us and we look forward to following in your footsteps and always learning from you as our great teacher thank you for making the time it's been a pleasure having you here and with that we go to Mr Eric Garcetti unfortunately he was not able to make it live during for the session but he has sent us a video Mr Garcetti is the 42nd mayor of Los Angeles he is also the chair of the C40 and he his work his work at LA in LA has led LA to become the first big big city to adopt a $15 minimum wage and is implementing the nation's most ambitious local green deal he has also spearheaded nation leading initiatives to confront the crisis of homelessness and stooped up the nation's leading local testing effort during COVID-19 pandemic and with that we'll watch a video from Mr Garcetti I believe there's no sound let's try that one more time okay Vatican you hi everyone I'm Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti and I'm so grateful to Ban Ki Moon and Professor Jeff Sacks for inviting me to join you today for the Vatican Youth Symposium last summer before the COVID-19 crisis I had the great privilege of meeting his holiness Pope Francis at the Vatican that day will stay with me always as we discussed another crisis one that began long before this pandemic and that will remain long after the destructive forces of climate change we spoke of the wildfires happening in my state how they were bearing down on neighborhoods we talked about other places were rising seas were driving families from their homes a world becoming less livable and a future literally hanging in the balance we have been blessed in our time with a pope who has called all people of all faith backgrounds and all walks of life to the task of protecting God's plan we see that charge embodied in today's conference leaders who span generations and who cross disciplines we are all working towards that most sacred of our obligations to save our future and to preserve human life as mayor of america's second largest city and as chair of c40 cities a global network of mayors representing a quarter of the world's gdp i've sought to help to make this the mission of local leaders across our globe from los angeles to london from durbin to dakar c40 cities are on track to cutting our emissions in half by 2030 and this month we've kicked off a brand new campaign one of the largest initiatives in this coming year for the climate emergency anywhere in the world called cities race to zero we're going to bring 1000 cities large and small together to take bold action to bring the historic paris climate agreement to life and to meet the transformative goals of the global green new deal my friends this is our duty to bring our planet back from the brink of climate devastation a goal we must achieve not just for the next generation but with the next generation for in the words of poke francis intergenerational solidarity is not optional but rather a basic question of justice in los angeles we've met that call of justice tapping leaders from our youth climate movement and inviting them to bring their ideas and their energy and their leadership to the table through our mayor's youth council for climate action and now that council will become an international model for cities everywhere the basis for a brand new global mayor's youth form an unprecedented c40 initiative to place young people's urgent calls for decarbonization at the center of global climate leadership everywhere there is no problem more pressing no challenge more urgent and there is no more time to waste so thank you from the bottom of my heart from the city of angels for rising to the call and for leading the way let's stay focused let's stay strong and let's forge forward towards a better world enjoy the symposium we thank mayor garcetti and we applaud his efforts with the mayor's youth council hopefully it will be there with lots of very progressive young leaders to lead the charge and of course we applaud his efforts to get the next generation involved and with that I would like to hand over to my colleague Kayla Coyard who is the coordinator of the symposium and she will take us to the q&a session Kayla you have before thanks Sam our next speaker couldn't have been introduced any more perfectly by um janice and and mayor garcetti um alexandra villas anore is a 15-year-old climate activist from the usa and the founder of earth rise earth uprising alexandra became her own solo weekly school strike for climate in front of the un in 2018 and she has continued her activism along gretta tumberg and 14 other children from around the world she had filed an international complaint with the un committee on rights of the child alleging that the largest polluting nation on the planet are violating the human rights of children everywhere alexandra will continue to her activism until she sees a efficient action on climate change and as mayor garcetti mentioned the wildfires in california and janice mentioned fridays for future alexandra i will let you take over and talk about the role of youth and your work yeah thank you so much for having me here with all of you i had the um great opportunity to be with you all last year and so i'm very happy to be joining you again this year um i actually am in northern california right now and we this is the first time that we've had a break for you know longer than three weeks and there hasn't been bad aqi and of course it gets bad at night but at least we're having a little bit of a break from wildfire smoke and so i was just going to talk about these climate movements and give sort of an update because it's been a very um interesting year where we've had to learn and grow and adapt and so first of all hello everyone and thank you for having me here um my name is alexandra and i'm a 15 year old climate activist and one of the leaders of the youth climate movement here in the united states i also organize internationally and am the founder of the climate education nonprofit earth uprising international and i began striking with gretta all the way back in 2018 when i launched a weekly fridays for future solidarity strike in front of the united nations headquarters in new york city and i remained out there every friday until the pandemic hit in march of this year and so while we are mostly inside now here in the united states due to our ineffective covid response we are still organizing both online and for some small socially distanced events we've actually held in person and so first i want to talk about our most recent day of global climate action which occurred on september 25th only a few months ago where youth in over 3 500 cities and towns in over 154 countries came out to protest global inaction on the climate crisis and so i am exceptionally proud of our movement where we ensured people remain socially distanced and safe if they organized in person and for those who couldn't organize in person on september 24th and 25th we held the largest digital strikes we've ever had and so this was where we flooded all social media platforms with posts and informations not only about the climate crisis but in our messaging we also continue to call out the largest polluters and the worst governments for their continued inaction and so while digital actions don't see us on the streets they do create an online conversation and drown out the messaging of fossil fuel friendly people and institutions and they remind everyone that we will continue to be a voice and a presence regardless of the crisis the world is enduring right now and so another kind of action we're taking is we're littering public spaces with shoe strikes sign strikes and other kinds of signage which also take up space in public venues with respect to our plans for the future right now small groups continue to meet every friday like what you see Greta and some of her friends doing in sweden there are some small groups that continue to strike every friday in person and socially distanced and there is a huge weekly digital strike movement that just continues to grow and here in the united states though things are a bit different for us as you know we just had an election that will likely be a huge decision factor in the future of the entire planet our movement knows that we don't have a pathway to anything under two degrees celsius without the united states involvement and so i've been fortunate to be involved in the political process here in the united states and i'm encouraged by many of joe biden's cabinet appointees for example we're bringing back jena mccarthy a previous head of the epa and she will assume a newly created role of climate star in the white house um president elect biden has also nominated john carrey as climate envoy to work with other nations and create global climate action so i'm really excited that next month when joe biden is inaugurated we will also be rejoining the paris agreement finally so things are really exciting here in the united states and for the first time in my activism we have an incoming federal administration that is listening to and working with activists so we have been invited to talk with our leaders now instead of being frozen out by a bunch of climate deniers globally we also know the world stands with us we know everyone is watching us right now now that the us election has passed we're talking about how we'll represent the united states at cop 26 and the youth will be showing up with our demands and voices in glasgo next year so i'm happy to answer any questions you have and i want to thank you for supporting our movement and our organizing thank you so much alexandra it's great to have you here and next up we have christopher castrow he is also a young award-winning sustainability professional clean energy enthusiasts and eco-entrepreneur with a passion to advance smart resilient and sustainable cities in balance with nature since 2014 chris has worked at the city of of a lando and he is best known for his entrepreneurial efforts prior to coming to the city he co-founded and is president of ideas for us a global un accredited nonprofit working to incubate and fund innovative projects that advance the sdgs and with that chris i will hand over to you my fellow panelists that are esteemed uh vy s delegates it is such a privilege to be here with you and let me start by sharing my gratitude to the sds and team and political academy of sciences on senior gaviella sam and others for the invitation to join this assembly again for a second year i'll be at this time in not not in the beautiful vatican city but for my home here in orlando florida for those who haven't met my name is chris castrow and over the last 15 years i've devoted my studies my professional career and the rest of my life to implementing practical strategies in cities and communities that are working to advance the sdgs tackle the climate change crisis and help to find balance and harmony between people and nature um as mentioned among other ventures i'm also the co-founder and president of ideas for us and have worked with an amazing team including our very own vy s alumni clayton luis ferrara to develop and implement local sdg action projects in now over 30 countries around the world but today i come before you as uh my role as a public official in the city of orlando florida in my capacity as the senior advisor to our mayor buddy dire and director of the city's office of sustainability and resilience in this role over the last six years i've helped to foster a wide array of public policies community programs and creative partnerships that are aiming to advance local action on the sdgs and our collective vision for orlando to become a model city of the future with cities contributing over 70 of global greenhouse gas emissions and on track to house more than 70 of the global population by 2050 cities and local governments play an integral role in in redirecting our trajectory in a cleaner more sustainable and equitable way that addresses the needs of the most vulnerable first and foremost in realizing our inability to solve these issues ourselves we've begun to focus heavily on goal 17 of establishing a culture of collaborations and partnerships with fellow regional governments local clergy businesses nonprofits and agencies that have allowed us to mitigate the worst impacts even of this global pandemic and continued our momentum to address our city's greatest needs because of these partnerships we've been able to move the needle on our goals and i wanted to spend a couple of minutes here just sharing some examples of what partnerships we're talking about to address the immediate need due to the pandemic we've worked closely with our community-based organizations such as united way giving hope or languid and the coalition for the homeless to prioritize vulnerable communities and address the immediate economic and unemployment issues that have led to the inability of paying medical bills and utility bills as such we've offered more than 12 million dollars to cover these unpaid bills for those in most hardship and with our county deploying more than 230 million in direct financial aid to support residents nonprofits and businesses alike with our hometown university the university of center florida we've established a robust center of excellence for the sdgs known as geo the global economic and environmental opportunity this effort is led by former congressman and unwto chief judge jim jim bachas not to mention a board member of the sds and usa network this group geo is made up of faculty staff and community leaders that have been working together even during this pandemic to organize support and tools for communities in need with in partnership with our play space foundation known as the central florida foundation we've helped to launch a new effort called thrive central florida a framework to localize and implement the sdgs through five impact funds focused on essentially areas such as health care economic stability livability and others in partnership with our regional planning council we've started to formalize and and joined over 35 governments in central florida and academic partners around the regional resilience collaborative what we call the r2c this is using the framework of the sdgs to help us address local vulnerabilities and risks and begin working together on policy and program solutions at the regional government level to move us in a more resilient direction in partnership with local women owned solar contractors 15 light years we started to move our own city facilities to 100% renewables by 2030 this year alone we've added rooftop solar to six fire stations to provide off-grid abilities to sustain these critical functions in times of a disaster or a grid outage and soon our next steps are to do that for our neighborhood centers and emergency operations center with our business chamber the Orlando economic partnership we started to create a new green building tax rebate program to encourage new development post-covid to build healthier and greener buildings such as the internationally renowned lead certification by using these tax incentives we're helping to provide a rebate of up to 100% of the first year's property taxes as a way to help them achieve higher levels of performance for energy and water efficiency indoor environmental quality green storm water infrastructure and more and a couple more in partnership with our transit authority links our hometown utility OUC we brought forward 14 electric buses to convert our downtown bus rapid transit to zero emission service this commitment is to move 100% of our city fleet and public buses to electric and alternative fuel by 2030 and lastly OUC our hometown electric and water utility recently published a very important integrated resources plan a long-range plan that made significant commitments in alignment with the city's climate targets and sustainability including achieving net zero by 20 net several net zero carbon by 2050 with intermediate CO2 reduction targets of 50% by 2030 and 75% by 2040 we've committed to early retirement of our coal plants by at the latest by 2027 and essentially retiring those plants at least 20 years early and lastly a commitment to really ramp up renewable energy energy storage energy efficiency and electric vehicles to help us meet this reality these are just a few examples of how partnerships for the goals have taken a new light and have allowed us to continue our progress moving forward this year and I'm happy to share that all of these will be highlighted in our upcoming voluntary local review of the SDGs to be published in first quarter of 2021 so we're excited to be another city joining hundreds around the around the world committing to that VLR process I did want to just leave you all with one last point and that is that as we look as our cities look post COVID it is important that we position ourselves to advance a green and equitable recovery that uses the SDGs as a unified framework for revival this would mean aiming for our work to center black indigenous and peoples of color who have often been marginalized and not provided with equal opportunity it means focusing on creating green jobs that will work to decarbonize our energy and transportation system and make our infrastructure more efficient and resilient it means protecting public transportation to reduce vehicle miles travel and provide access for essential workers this means giving public spaces back to people and nature through nature-based solutions and ensuring that we provide a fundamental public service such as clean water healthy food sanitation and affordable housing for all with the support of the federal administration we're excited for what the future holds and I'll yield back thank you so much Kayla yeah of course thank you I really anybody who wants to hear more about Chris's work definitely follow him on Facebook he's always posting really great photos and updates and I look forward to reading the the voluntary review as well thanks so much next up we have Marcelo Suarez Orozco he is the chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Boston his research focuses on conceptual and empirical problems in the areas of cultural psychology and psychological anthropology with a focus on the study of education migration and globalization among many award-winning books he was also awarded the Mexican Order of the Aztec Eagle which is Mexico's highest honor bestowed by the president of Mexico himself to a foreign national and recently in 2018 Suarez Orozco was named Great Immigrant Great American by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and in 2019 Pope Francis himself appointed him to the executive council of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences so professor Orozco good morning from Boston Harbor thank you to to pass thank you to Chancellor Marcelo Sanchez Orondo thank you to the SDSN and SDSN youth for inviting me today cities and communities the world over are facing three wicked pandemics threatening the flourishing and agency of youth and emerging adults everywhere first is the global novel COVID-19 pandemic second is the not so novel indeed centers old pandemic of racism xenophobia and racialized inequality threatening now the practice of democratic citizenship in so many nations around the world third is the pandemic of anti-climate change now posing a grave threat to all life on planet earth all three pandemics have youth at the center while there are now vaccines to confront COVID-19 the vaccines for the other two pandemics will flow I firmly believe from this most worthy and indeed most revolutionary of all sustainable development goals SDG 4.7 and Pope Francis's global compact on education together these initiatives endeavoring to ensure all learners all citizens all lifelong learners acquire the knowledge the sensibilities the skills needed to promote sustainable development a sustainable humanity and offer esperanza as the Holy Father Pope Francis noted yesterday first the COVID-19 pandemic has now invaded cities and communities the world over leaving in its wake death untold suffering and economic havoc affecting all but above all our most vulnerable communities we must confront with eyes wide open the enormous pain and suffering the grave educational mental health sequela the pandemic has brought to youth and emerging adults the world over as the Holy Father noted yesterday hundreds of millions de niños se han quedado atrás en las oportunidades de desarrollo social y cognitivo indeed the Holy Father is right the most up to date global data just that the pandemics devastation has identified has intensified intensified education on a mental health crisis already facing too many of our disadvantaged youth global data reveal this enduring struggles with mental and behavioral health issues associated with the coronavirus disease including marked elevation in mood disorders anxiety depression but also increased substance and suicidal ideation the mental health penalties imposed by the pandemic are disproportionately paid by young and emerging adults immigrants and refugees indigenous and minoritized communities throughout the COVID-19 pandemic youth have been more likely than any age group to struggle with anxiety and depression most alarming data suggests that the rates of suicidal ideation are highest among youth especially LGBTQ youth in september 2020 reliable data report that over half of young people in the united states reported having thoughts of suicide or self-harm nearly every day during the previous two weeks therefore in the spirit of Pope Francis's compact global compact on education and SDG 4.7 cities and communities must now make mental health mental health services via education as well as other institutional vehicles and settings a numero uno urgent priority by taking them from schools the pandemic has robbed youth and emerging adults of significant socio-emotional supports at great costs to them today more than ever nurturing socio-emotional learning including in the wise words of Pope Francis patient listening i'm quoting now patient listening constructive dialogue and better mutual understanding is indeed urgent but racism xenophobia and anti-blackness now is a health crisis the world over especially in the high income countries in the world as the holy father torres yesterday quote debemos actuar con esperanza para que los impulsos de odio divisiones e ignorancia puedan ser superados a través de una nueva buena onda digamos así una nueva buena onda de oportunidades educativas basadas en la justicia social y en el amor mutuo end of quote cities municipalities and communities need are now acting and enacting anti-racist anti-synophobic practices with clear objectives and transparent goals racism xenophobia hatred standing complete opposition to a civilization and to the elemental requirements for the practice of democratic citizenship the third pandemic is the pandemic we know well and check climate change a year ago in the largest ever youth demonstrations in history young people took to the streets by the millions to articulate in hundreds of different languages and in cities big and small on every continent on earth sending the world a public powerful message we must act on climate change now they're right climate change has already morphed into climate disruption bring it with it extreme weather events the world over young people are struggling to make sense of the planet's finality while all youth come to contemplate the morality of their the mortality of their parents and loved ones eventually their own mortality the mortality of the planet is not easily grasped in their they're articulating the existential terror of planetary death thank you so much thank you so much that really coincide with what monseigneur said yesterday about you know making sure you're happy and making sure you know we love each other and the earth so i think that that was a nice connection there thank you so much our last speaker is ilai kalab he is the deputy project lead of the local pathways fellowship for sdsn youth he's currently a graduate student at science posa at the institute of political science studies in france he is a co-assistant to the director of research for the ulcer la seeplock of sciences po and he has assisted various ministries and organizing large stale conferences and has served as the representative liaison officer for the un youth australia and with that ilai he may present your work thank you kala for the introduction and it's a pleasure for me to be closing this session after the amazing speakers of today i would like to share my screen with you for a short presentation so i'd like to ask if you all can see my screen kala yes i can see it okay that's good right good good morning good afternoon and good evening almost half of the global population lives in cities and this share is expected to rise to 60 percent by 2050 well we can spend the whole session citing different urban issues and its and its consequences but here i am ilai kalab deputy project lead of the local pathways fellowship program run by sdsn youth i can assure you that there's a program in which youth urbanists worldwide work collectively to find practical solutions to urban problems in their cities and this program is called the local pathway fellowship program the local pathways fellowship program seeks to provide young leaders with the tools a platform and a guiding framework for action and to connect them with leading urban development experts and practitioners so the training program is organized around monthly themes so each month activities have been designed to guide fellows through crucial steps of conducting not just in-depth research but also project design to foster ownership and to also contextualize the learning and the exploration process each fellow should pick one issue pertinent to their city and an area of interest and connected to one of the indicators of sdg 11 so they channel what they have learned towards creating what we call a concept note which will outline an intervention or a type of initiative to address fellows chosen challenges actions speak louder than words so therefore the fellowship encourages fellows to implement the project they have designed or at least to pilot test them so over the course of the program the fellowship has had fellows implement various projects around the world some of the fellows include the local pathway fellow of the 2008 cohort umash balwani in which his startup policy project was approved by the state's cabinet of ministers in 2018 and most recently um chowau in rike a local pathway fellow of the 2020 cohort helped emphasize the climate agenda in the 2020 brazilian municipal elections now let's let's get a bit to the numbers so we have three cohorts of fellows so far the 2021 cohort would officially start in february 2021 so it's very near and last year we have received more than 2000 applications and only 140 applicants were selected so it's quite competitive our fellows attended last year more than eight webinars with experts in the field finally i'd like to mention that the unprecedented COVID-19 crisis provided urbanists with an opportunity to rethink drastically from the ground up on how we should rebuild the cities in the long term so our fellows of the 2021 cohort worked collectively on a report titled COVID-19 rapid solutions rapid response solutions for cities so this report's uniqueness resides in the combination of its international and local nature which you can find these this uniqueness in the type of solutions proposed by the by the fellows themselves you can have access to the report now by accessing our twitter account so it's now if you'd like to access it it's live through this report the local pathway fellows have proved that they understand the importance of urban prompt response in crisis crisis time and their ability to conceive a better world than the one we had to conclude what's our plan for next year for next year our plan is to expand our capacity including our circle of partnerships and our webinar qualities we are officially launching a mentorship program to strengthen networking and to also to also foster exchange between previous and current fellows and various other partners in the field what started as a small initiative in 2018 has grown into one of the most prominent youth networks of urban change makers working towards making SDG 11 a reality on that note for too many years of making cities around the world inclusive state resilient and thoroughly sustainable through localization for more information thank you thank you so much I personally loved reading the covid report that you and your team put out so I encourage everybody here to read it and if you can drop it in the chat I think that that would be great so everybody has it for themselves so now thank you panelists we're going to mute move to the q&a please keep your responses to to one minute so we can try to answer as as many as possible um Alexandria I have a question from Amy um her question is green activism is very good but as everything is turning around industrialization isn't it better to change the way of our industrialization to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and fight against climate change yes I mean definitely and that's one of the things that we push for a lot in the youth climate movement I think that one doesn't have to come at the expense of others other I think that both happen in the same in the same area so in the youth climate movement what we push for a lot is systematic change and so we realize that our our global greenhouse gas emissions 71 come from 100 companies all around the world and so that's why we need to push for systematic change and that's why we have to put the sole focus as well on individual actions because it's important that of course people stay where their um personal carbon footprints and but then it's also important to realize that when it comes to individual actions we all need to take the individual action of coming together and joining movements and um making our voices heard and so um also the fossil fuel narrative um the fossil fuel industry was the one that created the narrative around individual actions and so it's important that we have that focus on systematic change in order to get the climate action that we need thank you so much um our next question comes from Ivan uh to you Janis and he asks what is your opinion about the global pact of environment which is being discussed in the general assembly of the UN can we say it is a global green new deal unfortunately no it's a good thing that it's being discussed but the global new green new deal has to answer very specific questions how much and in my estimation we need 10 trillion a year US dollars and where is it coming from our discussion here for instance is wonderful and it's very important we need to empower people right similarly the discussion of the UN but it's not enough we need to create the popular movement including in the UN but not just in the UN that is going to force our governments to create the public financial instruments that will channel 10 trillion dollars at least every year uh to the green transition especially in the context also of the you know transition of wealth transition transfer of wealth from the global north to the global south so let's not you know fall in love with our own uh activism and think that just because we're having wonderful conversations and similar conversations are happening in the UN that we've succeeded no let's celebrate when we start putting 10 trillion dollars every year into the green transition thank you so much and our last question is from John E and is directed at all of the panelists so I will let whoever wants to buy for the answer first with the increasing popularity of the SDGs there's an increase in political opposition for the implementation what are some examples of non-partisan policies at the municipal level that have been successfully implemented or that we should strive to implement related to the SDGs in 2030 agenda let me if I may if I may uh pardon señor Castro me permite not only not only what we see in uh of course in mr. Castro's work uh I lived for many years in in Los Angeles and uh Mayor Gassetti has articulated a very very important framework here bringing multiple stakeholders I'd like to say also that the city of Boston the city that gave us Gina McCarty just appointed a graduate of UMass Boston I should say just appointed by um president elect Biden as well as John Kerry there is uh uh there are vehicles and foldings in citizen municipalities very concrete concretely moving to framing developing actual solutions but let us be clear this will require a cultural change it will require a cultural change against from la cultura del descarte y la cultura de la indiferencia hacia la cultura de la fraternidad y la cultura de la solidaridad que el papa francisco nos enseñó ayer y desde su principio de su en por lo tanto cambio cultural significa cambio de en los sistemas de educación thank you thank you so much chancellor chris if you want to give your 30 second tidbit of that we have to wrap up the session but I want to let you uh have a chance thank you Kayla and I just wanted to mention there is a number of good examples that we're seeing around the world that are centering in cities focused on affordable housing trying to change zoning codes to enable more urban agriculture within our community so that we can help meet our local food demands there's a lot of movement going around around energy efficiency in our homes and our buildings that is something that regardless of political spectrum people are willing to get behind because it means that we're reducing expenses we're reducing emissions and at the same time creating jobs and investment so there are many many examples I encourage you all to look at the c40 city network that mayor eric arsetti mentioned as well as the urban sustainability directors network there's great examples happening around the world in cities and hopefully those are a couple for you to take away great thank you so much chris and thank you so much chancellor and to alexandra and Eli and mayor garcetti who couldn't join us today for this great session we're going to move on to the next one that I'm going to pass back over to my colleague sam to present thank you very much Kayla what what a fantastic session and we really thank all the panelists for their time it's great we will give a 30 second break and then we'll move on to our q&a with professor mohammed unis okay great uh welcome to session six on innovation entrepreneurship and technologies this session will discuss the role of entrepreneurship and innovation for the sustainable development goals and the pressing need for technologies to continue to adapt to work alongside sustainable development solutions key topics will include youth led innovation the future of production and work in a post pandemic society sustainable business practices and the role of technology in advancing the sustainable development goals this session will also include the launch of the 2020 youth solutions report we have six wonderful speakers professor mohammed unis the noble peace prize laureate and the founder of the gremlin bank miss mara bravo miss rachel jorosh mr john mary kavuma mr and finally mr steward davis at first we will have a discussion with professor mohammed unis followed by a number of questions and then we'll move on to our panelists so with that let me introduce professor unis professor unis is the father of both social business and microcredit he's the founder of the gremlin bank uh and of more than 50 other companies in baladesh for his constant innovative and enterprise the fortune magazine named professor unis in 2012 as one of the greatest entrepreneurs of our time in 2006 in 2006 professor unis and gremlin bank were jointly awarded the noble peace prize he's the recipient of 61 honorary degrees from universities across 24 countries he has received 136 awards from 33 countries including state honors from 10 countries he is he is one of the only seven individuals to have received the noble peace prize the united states presidential medal of freedom and the united states congressional gold medal he's appeared on the cover of time magazine newsweek and force magazine and last year he appeared with us at the u n general assembly to launch the third edition of the new solutions report and we are very delighted that he's here for the launch of the fourth edition professor mohammed unis thank you very much for joining us and you have the floor thank you very much for inviting me giving this opportunity to talk to you uh first thing i'll i'll be very brief uh to mention that pandemic that is has occupied the whole world uh is a big catastrophe at the same time i see this as a great opportunity because the pandemic has revealed all the ugly things that we have created over the years for the human beings on this planet and made it very visual very vivid so it's a good time to take actions because we are now see them very clearly uh the economic machine has stopped so that makes us very easy to see which direction we should go next time when we want to restart the engine where should we go the one that i try to explain and draw your attention that of course it's innovation this technology is entrepreneurship which created this world this is the essence of the entire creation of this world but all these three elements have been my argument is have been used wrongly uh not the right way so if you want to uh change the direction of the world uh we have to use the same thing but in the right direction that's my point precisely uh the the world that we have created through the all the innovations that over time that we have done and all the creativity that we have contributed through the innovations and all the entrepreneurship that has gone into it and all the technology that we have developed we the net result of the world is we have created terrible world a world which about to finish itself uh very soon global warming we kept hearing that is giving us very little time left for us uh even we are saying that human being at this moment is the most endangered species on this planet because we our countdown has begun and it's not very much time left so the agency is has to be felt during this pandemic because this is one opportunity which will not come again so how to redirect all our energy and all our initiative to go in a different direction the global warming is uh giving us a very small time because the train which is carrying us uh through the finishing line uh the the greatest disaster that the human being ever had is very close the last station of the train is very close but pandemic has stopped the train so we can get out of the train and we don't want to go to the suicide path we want to go in a different path that's the decision that's firm decision that we have to make not only that we are also it's a terrible world that we have created through all our energy all our creativity all our entrepreneurship a world which has created enormous well concentration if you put all the uh picture in the in the piece of paper you'll see if you want one dollar a day people two dollar a day income people five dollar a day income people hundred dollar a day income people five hundred dollar a day income people as you go and see how many people in each category there is there's a vast concentration of people at the bottom level of income uh almost 90 of the people who belong to that and you go to thousand dollar a day you go to ten thousand dollar a day hundred thousand dollar a day million dollar a day people get very very scarce but there are people but very scarce and they get go to a billion dollar a day maybe they'll be there one third of a billion dollar a day is already there so we will have some dots there but what i'm saying in this piece of paper that you're drawing this picture the densely populated part of the map of paper would be at the very bottom level 99 of the people are in the bottom level and only few people at the very top and so on and if you have another picture drawing the map of the wealth concentration you see at the bottom level at one dollar a day five dollar a day ten dollar a day very little no wealth at all it's it's not visible as you go up and up and up very little coming out you go up and up very little and you go to a million million dollar a day hundred million dollar a day five hundred million dollar a day then you started seeing very dense concentration huge concentration all the wealth 99 of the wealth is there so there's a tremendous gap between the wealth and the people people are in the south pole and the older wealth is in the north pole and the distance between the north pole and the south pole is increasing and that world is not sustainable it will blow into pieces and that's the world that we have then we have the artificial intelligence coming which make the human being irrelevant on this planet human being will become garbage on this planet because they have no use for it because artificial intelligence do everything they can do so these are the three elements that we see right now the the report card that we have with all the entrepreneurship all the technology that we have done this is the result we have so what we have we have the same thing entrepreneurship innovations and technology we have them but we have to make the use in the right way so that we can create a reverse wealth a reverse wealth where these things will not exist and that reverse world is a world I describe as a world of three zeros zero net carbon emission this world will not have any carbon emission and zero wealth concentration wealth will be shared the wealth from the north pole and and the people from the south pole will merge together overlap with each other rather than divorce each other and continue to separate each other longer and longer distance with two so that is not something that we want to have so we need the entrepreneurship but not for this world that's the point I wanted to make we need the technology not to create this world that we are heading for and destroying ourselves becoming most endangering of the spaces we need the innovations not for this but create the other one world of three zeros how we do that that's where we bring the new thinking and then on this three I will add one element and I'll stop there element we have all the three as as stated at the same time fourth one is the most vital for me you're you're the only one who can put all these together and take us a different direction if you're looking for guidance from the older people finish it don't do that then you'll be doomed to this world world because they can only show you the old path and old path old road will always take you to the old destination but you have to create a new destination and in order to go to the new destination you have to build new roads and that's your youth is the only one who can guide us who can build this road and take us from there and time is very limited it's urgent issue it's not a question okay we'll think about the house is burning we are still having fun inside we're having a big party inside they have to wake up we have to get out and say no my god this is house is burning we have not much time left and that the young people can do that so I'm appealing to young people please wake up and save this planet otherwise we are doomed thank you thank you very much professor Eunice thank you for your inspiring words and you rightly pointed out that the house is burning and we're still partying inside and to the to the three big threats artificial intelligence inequality and climate and that technology can be a powerful force for reform but it shouldn't be made to reinforce the very issues that we've already faced and had in this world that have led us here and there was a recent report by the World Bank which showed that the COVID-19 pandemic has basically sent us back 20 years we have it has pushed 200 million people into back into extreme poverty what can we do to avoid such shocks and problems in the future and what can be done to try and accelerate the process of bringing people back out of poverty again and enabling and empowering them to come out of poverty yeah two things quickly I don't talk about inequality when you compare a horse with their cow then you can say inequality one is big one is small when you compare and with an elephant you don't talk about inequality it's completely different species as I said the well all the wealth of the world please challenge me if you want to do that all the wealth of the world is up in the North Pole in the control of all the few people all the people of the world is in the South Pole so I'm not talking about the inequality here it's a complete divorce from each other so I'm and then that distance is widening every day because of the system that we build and you check it out whether even in the corona you said people have lost and they pushed it down the poverty line world bank report and so on you also have to court the other report all the billionaires made more billions during this period in the planet in this pandemic period because their thing is going up and up and all the people here you're worrying about people who crossed the poverty line all the people in the world is around the client why should people on that climb in this day and age it should be way above those poverty line why do we have people one dollar a day people why do we have two dollar a day people why can't they all be a hundred dollar a day people when they have billion dollar or a hundred million dollar people daily income people already there so what is wrong what is the system that we built they were so proud of that we create create a system where we pushed all the people close to the poverty line only it's a difference of one dollar to ten dollar one dollar to twenty dollar one dollar to hundred dollar that's about it we're not talking about a million dollar a million dollar so that's what I was saying this is this is something and all the things we do why it happened as I said we have the wrong use of the technology because all is driven for profit making profit maximization we have interpreted human being as someone driven by self-interest that's our economics so you created a world of self-interest it's a greedy you want to make more money that's all but the human being you forgot human being is not about just self-interest human being is mostly about common interest collective interest that collective interest part is completely gone so we created the idea that if you have a business to maximize profit you have to now create to go other way you have to create a business not to make money see if you are maximizing the profit you have to now have a zero personal profit and that's what we call social business social business is a non-dividend company to solve human problems if we all adopt the social business practices well consultation will disappear because we are not taking money out of the businesses for ourselves we are doing it to solve the problem of the world you say oh this is not possible I said people give away money every day and you have seen how many donations how many things and how many foundations how many trillions of dollars are in in the charity money I said if you only translate the charity money into social business investment the world will be completely changed so the ways are available and that's what the young people have to do they defy the old ideas change the banking system which is vehicle for creating all the wealth concentration because their policy is the more you have the more we will give you that's their policy if you have nothing if you are blessed we don't come anywhere near you that that's the kind of one-sided institution that we have built all the institutions are like that so you have to redesign the institution redesign the thinking process and then we gradually move the people from near about the property line to higher and higher and we will bring the all the bunched up wealth coming down so that they get closer and closer someday hopefully soon we'll converge with each other people and wealth live together not separately that's all thank you very much professor and there are multiple oxfam reports which show that the wealthiest 20 or so individuals own as much wealth as the poorest half of the planet the poorest 3.7 can you imagine that can you imagine that can the world we would just read it and walk away it means something to us this is the world we created together and we had to be blamed for that but we're not blaming each other we're just saying okay two people own half the world and if I say that 99% of the wealth is owned by 1% of population of the world what kind of world this is meaning that 99% of the population of the world has to do with only 1% of the wealth of the world that's not a world that we want can can survive peacefully this will fall fall into pieces it's a ticking time bomb waiting for explosion but we don't want to recognize it we as I said the house is burning and house is ticking but we don't pay any attention so the young people have to argue we have to figure out is this description does this description make sense to them that yes house is burning does it make sense to them that we are going to be extinct we don't have we are the most endangered species on this planet that's why the young people are marching on the street saying that five days for future saying that the our parents are totally irresponsible people they stole our future so that's a position for the entire generations of people who created this world so we have to now change it we can change it only we abandon we had all the old ideas and all the ways of doing things and reverse them we have to put everything in the other way go completely another direction. Thank you so much a couple more questions we've got one from and he says how can we wake up older generations it seems that the majority of young people get everything you're saying but how can we actually wake up your generations and put this into practice. I don't have to worry about the other generation just concentrate yourself you're the one who you don't worry to take everybody if one person changes he or she can change the whole world that's the way it is how I'll always done you don't have to do everybody change then we'll get to work you don't wait for the government today the tendency is we leave it to the government climate will be fixed by the government they have the Paris Agreement they will do it we don't do it we have the people do we when we open a bank account do we ask the bank people where do you put my money I give you my money to keep and you put where where do you put your money if you put your money in the fossil fuel industry I don't want to give my money to you that's my decision and if you all agree that this is what we'll do then in new kinds of banks will say no we will not put money into fossil fuel please give us the money then probably banking system will change otherwise banking we here we are making speeches about global warming how the finishing line we are approaching very quickly at the same time we go merrily doing everything that needed to be not to be done we do it use the fossil fuel we use the plastic we do all the things we eat beef everything we do every day so it's all about changing ourselves as individuals and the young people can do the best to do that because older people got used to it they they came come all kinds of questions like Trump saying global warming is a chinese hoax it's finished and he can go on absolutely we have a question here from Ben and I think that that's all we will probably have time for thank you as you mentioned the current traditional bank models and I'm actually not sure what that says but I think he's essentially asking about endorsing a form of ubi what what are your views on ubi universal basic income and how do you think essentially the the pandemic has pointed out the need for this kind of policy do you think that's yeah ubi universal basic income comes back again with the artificial intelligence when uh people finally say that yes human beings will be all be out of job very soon and will be garbage on this planet then the ubi people say no no no they won't be garbage government will pay the money to for them to survive and my position is I don't want to belong to that world where government has to feed me I don't want to get back up human beings are not born to be on this planet to be better human is expected unlimited creative capacity here we talk about innovation here we talk about creativity here we talk about entrepreneurship and then we talk about ubi that's the fault in our thinking process ubi will be part of the old generation they couldn't solve it so they throw money at the poor people okay you eat and survive we are busy making money that's old fashioned way every human being is capable of changing the world that's the that's the energy that's the creativity each human being has ubi should disgust them why should they be dependent on ubi who says that he is an entrepreneur every human being is entrepreneur economists told us to become job seekers work for somebody why should I sleep for anybody I'm an independent person I'm a creative person taking a job is the surrendering of my creativity I take orders and live my life and then have a retirement and then why should I give my creativity my personality my independence just for the sake of survival on this planet that's the wrong way of doing this all human beings are entrepreneurs our education system should be encouraging young people to become entrepreneurs our financing system should be designed to finance them and all the young people to become entrepreneurs and then they see what the sky's the limit they can do anything that's what the creativity is all about that's what the innovations is all about and not the question of getting a job job is not an innovation that's the end of innovation not is a company's innovation not your innovation you slave from the company and company makes money they give you a little money they call you a seller that's about it and that's what and we become the mercenaries for wealth concentration I work very hard to make my owners rich and they become go to the North Pole and I'm responsible for that because economists designed our take by saying your destiny is to take a job I said I don't want to take a job I want to be an entrepreneur I want to take the work myself to my place not to North Pole wherever I live we live together with the world so that's what the entrepreneurship so all the young people should be looking forward to entrepreneurship they should be telling themselves I'm not a job seeker I'm an entrepreneur I'm here to change the world great thank you so much professor Eunice thank you for your always inspiring words and for your guidance in these very tough times I know many young people are tuning in now listening to your advice and they they have a lot of inspiration to take back and continue to foster their entrepreneurial spirit not to reinforce the old ways but to build a new way of doing business and a new way of running the world thank you very much for your time and we know it's very late in Bangladesh so we'll let you get to the rest of your evening thank you very much thank you thank you very much thank you bye bye now we move on to our wonderful panel speakers each will speak for five minutes about their work and incredible leadership we're extremely grateful and privileged to have them all here with you I would like to just give a warning to panelists that I will be quite strict about the time because we were going slightly over time there'll be some time for Q&A so if you miss anything please come into Q&A and if I do interrupt you when the time is up my apologies in advance so with that let's go with our first panel speaker Myra Myra is the project lead for the solutions program of SDSM youth where she manages a portfolio of initiative such as the youth solutions report the fourth edition of which is going to be launched shortly she also holds a master's degree in sustainability management from Columbia University and work at the permanent mission of Mexico to the United Nations as an advisor on 2030 agenda she's a passion she's passionate about climate change biodiversity and environmental degradation and with that I would like to invite Myra to the floor thank you so much Sam thank you for having me today and welcome everyone I would like to start a brief presentation so I'm going to share my screen perfect we can see it go ahead great we are delighted to present the fourth edition of the solutions report a compilation of the top 50 solutions worldwide that are fast-tracking the sustainable development goals at the local regional and global levels as professor Mohammed Yunus said young people should take over leadership of the world rather than waiting to become as they describe the future leaders of the world they are not the future leaders of the world they should be the present leaders of the world and with this I also want to mention that innovation has been at the core of every major discovery and the new revolution is led by young people that boosts new ways of thinking that can redefine the business as usual scenario with widespread benefits for their communities with more than 1600 applications this edition of the solutions report features four perfect projects social enterprises intrapreneurship or non-profit projects these projects are at the implementation stage a crucial stop where most startups either break it or make it the solutions report uses the vast network of sdsn and sdsn partners to invest in and support the innovation of young people and making sure that the solutions are developed supported and included in the strategies for implementations of the sdgs by all the stakeholders public and private while preparing the report we always ask what are the most common challenges in entrepreneurship community and every year without fail access to finance has been the number one obstacle in accelerating the social innovations why is it that there is not enough financial support for these ideas we expect that with the validation of the solutions report these innovators can secure financing for their solutions for the 2030 agenda we need permanent funding programs supported by donors multilateral development agencies public private partnerships specifically focused on young people at the sdgs among our chapters you can find new challenges of opportunities of the use social entrepreneurship after cobit 19 such as digital inequalities mental health isolation and access to finance with most businesses suffering from a loss of revenue and with lockdown mandates our youth face a terrible disadvantage nonetheless new opportunities arise such as the unique characteristic of young people to be ready to adapt and migrate into the new business model innovators that are quick to think under toes will find opportunities in the sectors most impacted by the pandemic such as health care consumer goods and education the current generation is the largest cohort in history and this should be efficiently used the increased presence of youth in developing and implementing solutions is vital for the sustainable future through the insights provided by this report you will find current practices and trends in youth projects and presenting the innovative models of these solutions we can continue to understand inspire and support young people's involvement in achieving the sdgs and over the next 12 months we will strive to work on meaningful partnerships that can strengthen the work made by these innovations through the youth solutions hub and through the investment readiness program alongside with the youth solutions report thank you sam great thank you very much mara and congratulations for the launch of the youth solutions report during the discussion time we look forward to hearing more about the specific initiatives and i understand one of them one of the fellows will uh is actually here and we'll talk about this so and our next speaker is miss rachel drosh who is the president and chief executive officer of inactis the largest experiential learning platform dedicated to creating a better world while developing the next generation of leaders with a head for business and a heart for the world under her leadership inactis is driving innovation to to create greater impact for the 72 000 participating inactis university students working in 70 countries for the countless communities in which these students are addressing economic environmental and social challenges in 2009 inactis positively positively impacted 2.9 million lives worldwide with that i would like to move the floor to rachel sam thank you so much and thank you all for being a part of this inspirational meeting today it's a pleasure to be with you for those who don't know an act is on this call simply put we bring today's theme to life because we do indeed believe investing in students like many of you on this call who take entrepreneurial action as mohammed you know so uh eloquently highlighted can create a better world for all of us and it's through that lens that i want to address the theme i also want to address though the opportunities that have been revealed during this most difficult of years and share why we are hopeful at inactis as professor unis said earlier innovation has driven tremendous advances for humans from the invention of the wheel and 3500 bc to the launch of the first space flight to this year the covid vaccine developed in record time but while the pandemic has threatened our advancements towards sustainable development as highlighted by the report sam that you highlighted earlier we've also all experienced dramatic changes that if we can retain them will ultimately i believe and we believe accelerate our path to a more sustainable world the themes of those changes are clear and we witness them firsthand at inactis through the work of our students throughout 2020 and the first of those is interwoven thinking we've watched inactis's entrepreneurial young leaders discovering firsthand the much needed links between the challenges we face the connections between health the environment education access economic inequality and more and this realization and embrace which is frankly driving against the oversimplification in the siloing that some of you mentioned molly i think in your comments about information this realization embrace of the interwoven nature of our issues has created meaningful results big and small and practical ways and as one example in egypt an inactis team that began its work focused on addressing poverty found that their solutions could not only advance progress against poverty but could and should also have a significant positive impact on the environment and on access to education they were incredibly successful in their endeavor the second of course is the use of technology and we have all discovered this in the most simple or fundamental ways this year this forum with attendees worldwide might have been smaller had it been held in person but similarly our organization and actis sought to use basic technologies to democratize access to entrepreneurial leadership training to engagement to the formation of cohorts among our our students and as a result we experienced a surge in participation this year with over half a million participants worldwide that tells us something about the need and the drive more importantly for this next generation of leaders to make an impact as we experience the power of that firsthand and are watching egnactus teams we are seeing them deploy existing technologies and developing new ones every day but we know we have more to do and that is why we are focused on access in part we are partnering with the private and public sector as an organization and just as with the vaccine if only a portion have access our collective ability to revive and thrive as we emerge into whatever we emerge to will be limited so underline both of these themes perhaps most importantly is the last one and that is connection throughout this year i found it incredibly ironic that is we were physically distanced and our socioeconomic divides became even more clear we worked so hard to connect more than ever at an actis we did that with our programming welcoming as i said over a half a million worldwide in a testament to our mission but all of this online connection for so few of us in the world has also highlighted how much we view and value human connection with all that we faced as a global community it seemed that this year we recognized our shared human frailties more freely and more authentically these are the profound connections that will propel our work going forward if only we can hold on to them professor unis spoke to the use of technology and its ability to create better outcomes than it has to date while the scope and scale the technology we bring to bear on our shared sustainability agenda will have a tremendous impact on our success it is the human element of those themes that will most accelerate our advancement and so whether and how we retain these new insights to for example direct ai and other advanced technologies will be the most and perhaps most powerful impact on all of us so that's why at an actis we're hopeful we are privileged to see these lot these themes coming to life in practical solutions to sustainable development challenges in our next generation leaders but we know there's more work to do so congratulations to all of you here today and on this panel for thinking deeply about these issues and advancing our progress we find hope and inspiration in our students and in you too and if you would like to learn more i will certainly make our contact information available in the chat i'm very interested to hear in particular from many of you because lucy i saw your comment in particular about accessibility and the expansion of accessibility through the technology tools available to us i'm hopeful given what our students have been doing to expand accessibility but also focused on partnerships that can help drive it the other issue that i thought raised in the chat most critical sorry do you want us forward to discuss that just during the q&a sure okay absolutely thanks sam sorry to interject yeah thank you very much and all the great work that you're doing with inactis really fostering the innovative mind of young students and i had the pleasure of actually being at the inactis world cup i mean it was it was just as grand as a real world cup so thank you for the great work that you did there despite the many limitations of the pandemic has created so thank you for that and we look forward to more during the discussion so with that i move to our next speaker john marie cavuma he's a Ugandan entrepreneur changemaker and environmentalist he's a sustainable development goal advocate a one younger world ambassador and a social innovation academy scholar he founded upcycle africa which empowers communities to protect the environment while constructing affordable homes out of plastic waste his project has also been selected for the fourth edition of the youth solutions report and we're very lucky to have him here john marie hello i'm very excited to be here today my name is john marie cavuma and i'm the founder and CEO of cycle africa we are aware that we have this than three of us to solve the catastrophe and you end ones that are within 10 years which i'll be having more which i'll be having more plastic in the ocean brand fish so i was fortunate earlier in my life to find the intersection of what my passion was and the world world greatest needs the experience of growing up as an open in Uganda motivated me to work for sustainable development goals especially sdg 13 i experienced firsthand the blunt of climate change and the way it ships the level of injustices and inequalities that meets people daily i believe humans who act when informed and empowered i'm on a mission please awareness inspire and empower others to join me and act now at upcycle africa we are constructing affordable houses out of plastic waste while promoting capacity building and entrepreneurship in the green businesses among the few uh among the activities that we are doing include education or creating awareness in communities where we are changing people's mindset on the way they think and disposal plastic waste and another program is uh uh selling uh plastic waste or connecting waste to collectors recycling companies uh so we are using technology to uh as a tool to find markets for plastic waste uh to for waste speakers so that we can be able to uh field that marketing another project that we have at upcycle africa we are turning oh we are empowering women in the communities while improving household income to uh increase their income as well as uh impacting the the environment by reducing future automation of plastic waste and using plastic waste as a resource among the many uh projects we also have construction of houses out of plastic waste and among uh we are fortunate that this year we uh we were the uh award winner uh UN's Habitat School of Honor Howard 2020 and uh we've constructed uh almost 117 houses in different parts of Uganda and Africa actually we constructed houses in South Africa uh we are also looking forward to construct two houses in Ghana and Nigeria probably they're going to be uh schools made from plastic waste and uh we are also uh empowering young people to start recycling by uh giving them entrepreneurship skills as well as uh as well as uh as well as hello yes we can hear you go ahead please continue yes uh we are we are empowering young people especially uh in Uganda those are in green business so that they can be able to uh make sustainable and durable houses so we are as personally I'm very happy that young people around the world are taking all responsibilities to see that we are uh achieving the goal of environmental sustainability and their actions actually uh inspires us all I believe uh working towards environmental sustainability and uh empowering young uh marginalized groups of people issues that cause for everyone's intervention so I believe this is our responsibility and it must be our legacy thank you so much thank you very much Jean-Marie again congratulations again it's a well deserved recognition for your wonderful work on the ground and uh what professor Eunice was referring to as the entrepreneurial spirit thank you very much um our next speaker is Stuart Davis uh Stuart is the executive vice president uh financial crimes risk management and group chief anti-money laundering officer for scotty bank he is an experienced global executive with a career spanning 30 years with financial institutions in the US and Canada including more than 50 years running AML sanctions and financial crime prevention programs as well as associated technology we're very lucky to have him here uh Stuart you have the floor well thank you sam so much and to my distinguished uh panelist as well I would also like to thank his helwing as pope frances for this importance of posium as well as monsee monseigneur sarando for hosting us today it's been over a year since I attended the promoting digital child dignity conference also hosted by the pontifical academy of sciences it was at this event uh that I was inspired and which contributed significantly toward the creation of what I'm here to speak about today project shadow I can say without that inspiration I can I can confidently say that project shadow would not have come to fruition over the timeline it has especially in the face of our global unseen pandemic uh for the backdrop of most of its creation so what is project shadow it's really a project to make the world a better place project shadow is a public private partnership based in canada with a mission of helping banks and related institutions using technology to identify the financial indicators of online child sexual exploitation and to partner with regulators and law enforcement and eradicating this heinous crime additionally it's also the reason I've dedicated much of my professional career towards advocating for cross industry dialogue and information sharing as the problems we seek to solve whether it be online child exploitation or youth access to adequate education banking training or shelter all require the participation and action of many to solve for many global leaders along the way and NGOs were an inspiration for our efforts I'd like to name a couple Ernie Allen former president and CEO of the national center for missing and exploited children as well as Ian Drennan executive director of we protect global alliance of which scotia bank uh recently became one of the first banks to join this past november to use a tree metaphor as the bible does so many times project shadow is an initiative rooted in canada with strong branches that stretch out well beyond our borders it's an effort to contribute to the eradication of the global exploitation of children in all its forms I'm honored to say that this partnership is co-led by scotia bank and the canadian center for child protection we partnered also with our government financial crimes regulators the financial transactions report and an analytic center of canada who also joined us last year at the pontifical academy there's several goals of project shadow with the main goals being to raise awareness of online child sexual exploitation to increase the detection and reporting of potential crimes and to disrupt that illicit finance to succeed in meeting these goals project shadow partners have worked for the past year of identifying red flag indicators indicative of the funding and payment mechanisms of online exploitation as a result to date a total of approximately 40 indicators have been created which were published by our federal government partners fintrack on december 10th 2020 in a national awareness campaign thus far by leveraging these indicators financial crimes professionals such as myself have already generated over 40 high value referrals to fintrack who has made in turn those referrals to law enforcement for action my team now sets its sights on how project shadow contributes toward the un sustainable development goals target 4.7 education for sustainable development and global citizen being front and center however our scope is laser focused on anti-grooming education for our youth and children of which the need is only increased under the new reality of covet 19 with children spending far more time online and being targeted as evidenced by the large increase in calls to national hotlines and jumps in online illicit content with my guidance scotia bank is providing funding to several educational and non-governmental organizations which work towards addressing the problem of online child exploitation head on through providing accessible anti-grooming education for those who are most vulnerable of being exploited young girls between 12 and 18 years of age child exploitation is a problem the world must grapple with as a unified response as possible and while the challenges we face may seem daunting at times as we have seen with the unforeseen impact of the pandemic and what it just brought our resolve must endure unwavering and this problem requires collective commitment from those who seek to do good we seek to motivate positive change and not just talk we seek to build a better future for our youth and children in the world and I believe project shadow does just that and we're also looking to take this globally so we're looking for partners across the globe thank you so much for having me I look forward to meeting them thank you so much stewards and congratulations on project shadow we actually had an earlier discussion with Alejandro who's talking about the important innovations for safeguarding human rights and accelerating sustainable development and this is also what professor Eunice said as repurposing of innovation and technology so thank you for that we now have some time for a question and answer but before we go to that I would like to encourage everyone to firstly post your questions and address it to specific panelists and I also wanted to take this opportunity to apologize to Myra because I cut her off earlier than I needed to have so perhaps with our first question we'll go to Myra and give her the opportunity to talk and finish that part and then we'll move to the rest of the Q&A Myra I'll give you the floor again and apologies no worries thank you so much just to expand a little bit further with the with this edition of the solutions report this will be the fourth edition and we have a wide number of innovations that have pivoted from COVID-19 and with COVID-19 so I really encourage everyone to take a look at the report share it and learn from it we have really interesting content from our partners from alumni that have been featured in the solutions report in the past and that have now gone and expanded their solutions for example we have a chapter on sustainable ocean solutions and that is authored by Daniela Fernandez who is the CEO of the Sustainable Ocean Alliance and she was featured in the 2017 solutions report her organization has gone up and grown significantly and we couldn't be prouder of her work and really happy to have been among the first ones featuring her we also look to expand our work with past innovators and to continue looking for opportunities for new innovators as well so don't be afraid to join in joining the solutions hub if I could add something else there is really a wide wide community of people eager to help eager to partner I know that there are some innovators already want to connect among each other so I would really encourage everyone to do so and please I hope you have a really really enjoyable read of the solutions report thank you so much Mara and congratulations again we we truly have come a long way since the first edition in 2015 and the report has been such an instrumental role in highlighting the incredible work the young people are doing around the world and to really put that in front of the policymakers in the world and to show look there is plenty of innovation out there in the world but they need support they need the tools they need the networks and the finances if you give them that they will surprise you and I think the solutions report really is a testament to this incredible efforts that young innovators around the world are doing to highlight those and hopefully through that create a system where this can be done more effectively and at scale so I think it's just been an incredible initiative and thank you for your leadership on this and hope that it will continue to expand and we can continue to foster that entrepreneurial spirit out there and I actually think some of the first solutions report you know projects one of them is actually on the line here I can see him Elias who founded Liter of Light and we've been working together for the past four or five years and you know that was just a wonderful example which has since grown and we hope that the solutions report ecosystem has been able to support the projects like his but we need it at a much much larger scale ours is just a positive example much more is needed okay with that I would like to hand the floor over to Rachel I believe that you wanted to continue some on some comments I would like to just give you the floor and ask you to continue those oh it's my it's my pleasure thank you there were several comments that are so insightful thank you all first of all I wanted to comment on the remarks about engaging the next generation and older generations following up again on professor Eunice's comments I think it is critical indeed that we continue to engage across all generations on these issues knowing full well that some of us may have more blame than others at the state of where we are but also so much to offer into the next evolution of where we will go as it relates to sustainable development so I I'm curious to know from more in the comments or in the chats and whether and how you're working across generations we know from our research with Gen Z with current university students that one of their largest concerns about their future whether they're aiming for entrepreneurship or entrepreneurship to challenge those top 100 companies and more to do more one of their greatest concerns is how to work across generations and it's something that we think about and talk about quite frequently across an act is the other thing I wanted to add is simply how we might support those of you on this call I'd like to see in chat or in comments for the rest of the after rest of the session I should say how you think we might do a better job as an organization we all know sustainable development goal number 17 partnership is critical to our shared success I'm honored to be on this panel with many of you and I'm curious to know from all of you how you are and where you are finding the greatest success in partnership great thank you so much Rachel I would like to ask John Mary to comment on one part of his journey that I'm very interested in I'm sure many others which is what did you find the most challenging often entrepreneurs face many hurdles but what would you say was your biggest one if you could just respond to that in one minute do we still have him John no thank you I think he got knocked off Sam I'll watch to see if he comes back on no no problem okay so back back to the Q&A I suppose I think what a lot of the audience would love to hear from you all is how can they get involved in the great work that you're all doing and not just as participants and not just as individuals who are reflecting and amplifying the message but really as agents within your specific projects and within your respective organizations so with that I wanted to just pass the microphone the virtual microphone for your comment on how that can happen within your respective projects and organizations and we'll start with Myra thank you Sam I know that entrepreneurship and being an entrepreneur is scary so one thing that I would say is that don't be afraid really seek out help seek out mentorship one of the things that I've realized as an entrepreneur that has helped me the most is to look for people that are within your network that you might have access or something in common or just simply ask around use really really good tools for example the solutions hub that can connect you with other entrepreneurs that are around the same theme for example or the same SDG that you're looking for and ask them for advice good honest advice for example where do I begin how do I connect what can I do how much did it cost you how much did you spend on this this is reasonable ask don't be afraid to ask most people are going to be eager to provide you with a really good honest answer especially coming from you so even if it's scary even if you find that you're all alone in this you're not really search out for these connectors and I think that that would be the first step and the thing that I would like everyone to retain is that there is someone always eager to help because they probably have been helped before because no one was born knowing everything so don't be afraid to ask thank you so much Mara you raise a very important point in fact Professor Paul Bettino from Harvard Tech I think he's actually on this call as well he raised a very important point when we were speaking last year which said that the entrepreneurial model is being a good researcher and to be to go out and ask the right questions and be persistent in finding the real answer that you're looking for and I think that really reflects what you're sharing here okay great and now I'd like to hand over to Rachel and then to Stuart Rachel sure reverting back to the original question there are really three things that we know that are most sought after and and my you just highlighted one mentorship right asking the right questions finding those advisors but the other of course is some fundamental training which is something that we do and the power of the experiential process in that training so what is it like to apply some of the skills you know you will need to get some practical learning on the hands on the ground hands on learning so training mentorship and of course at some point funding as well and those are all three things that we look at and we seek to serve our entrepreneurs with but the mentorship piece is perhaps the one that we see the most opportunity because we seek mentorship but also collaboration in that process so that young entrepreneurs are learning from each other as well as from those who have come before us and so that is one of the key parts and values of our system which is collaboration among students worldwide so that as they are developing their solutions they are also part of a network that can scale those solutions real time uh among those who are similarly compelled by the same mission great thank you so much and Stuart thank you again for hosting us I'd say there's really three things from my perspective too that really helped us get started one is the power of the network not being afraid to reach out and connect with folks just as we're doing here take away some names from this symposium this conference of people you want to connect with further and and and build that energy if there's one thing that COVID has taught us as well that we're all globally connected we don't have to be in that city or in that jurisdiction to be able to reach out and connect and and build those relationships and from that we can do what we're all trying to do change the world and finally get started you don't have to achieve a position with a company you don't have to you know have a lot of money we got project a shadow started with very very little other than a corporate commitment and getting folks together in the room and we're already changing Canada as a result hope to change the world so get started where you are and you can make a difference thank you very much we actually have a very specific question for you Myra which is can you talk about access to funding the question is what is the possibility now that's from Wiley McGill go ahead you're muted sorry Sam thank you for the issues here we're so kind to read to to repeat your question yes the question is can you talk about access to funding what is the possibility now of course access to funding I think that it's as I mentioned some of the most important aspects that it's certainly being overlooked and it can also be quite intimidating especially for some entrepreneurs that have just begun their innovation I mean you have basically your savings where you're lucky enough someone that could help you out give you a hand most of the time this doesn't really it's not it's not really a possibility for some of the people among you know worldwide and what I would say regarding access to funding is that there's certainly a push from the private sector certainly grants perhaps competitions look for these type of opportunities because there are and if you're not doing active research to see what opportunities governments of private partnerships offer you then you are not focusing enough on securing this first this first type of of funding that you certainly need to take off your innovation so I would really just encourage everyone to look out because I know that with COVID-19 and with different sort of like with the different challenges that we're looking at there's definitely this pressing need from public private partnerships to grant us and help us with with funding so do your research because the money is out there and it's eager to be spent so take advantage of that thank you very much Mara and again congratulations to STCM Youth for the launch of the fourth solutions report and of course a big thank you to all our panelists what an incredible panel this has been began with Professor Eunice we talked about the inactus world cup the launch of the youth solutions report all in one hour what an incredible achievement that is so once again thank you and we will begin the next session in about one minute where we'll be joined by the patrons of the Vatican Youth Symposium Monsignor Sanchez Sarondo Professor Sacks but before that we will have a presentation by the United Nations Secretary General's Envoy on Youth Jayatma who will talk about the role of young people and we're very honored to be joined by her so in one minute's time we will start the final session and we look forward to seeing you there okay thank you for everybody who has just joined us this is our last session of the day for our two-day exciting symposium in this session speakers will come together to summarize some of the main takeaways of the symposium and it will be opened by the UN Youth Envoy Ms. Jayatma who has been appointed as the Secretary General's Envoy in 2017 at the age of 26 she is not only the youngest senior officer at the UN but the first woman to hold this position so whoop whoop to that in 2019 she was recognized as Thai magazine as one of the times 100 next rising stars shaping the future and just recently in 2020 she was recognized by Forbes magazine as part of their 30 under 30 in her role she works to expand the UN's youth engagement and advocacy efforts across the four pillars of the organization's work including sustainable development human rights peace and security and humanitarian action so Jayatma I will pass the mic over to you thank you so much for joining us thank you very much Kayla thank you very much for the invitation and for this opportunity I actually couldn't attend last year's symposium because of other commitments and I was really excited when I received the invitation to this year's and I think this is one of the blessings in these guys of working from home that we are able to connect and be with each other even if we cannot travel to be in person together so thank you very much for the invitation once again and I was going through some of the conversations that you've been having and the different papers and and the initiatives like the 4.7 initiative and really congratulations on all the great work that has been going into this work and I've been following SDSN youth and the many initiatives that you've launched and done over the years also the partnership that you have extended to my office for an example by taking over the reach not reach platform for a month and really making your voices heard within these platforms created in the UN thank you for that partnership and please continue to do the very important work that you are doing. Let me start by stating the obvious which is that the COVID-19 pandemic and as it continues to evolve it's becoming increasingly clear that the socioeconomic impacts of the pandemic will severely and disproportionately affect young people for years to come inclusive and future proof quality education will be key to preventing a lost generation of bright motivated young people being locked out of realizing their true potential. Education is a fundamental human right a public good and a public responsibility for an example you have been discussing education as a key entry point into the socioeconomic response to COVID-19 and we know that at the peak of the lockdown measures implemented around the world school closures affected more than 1.6 billion children and young people. Today nine months later around one third of young people within this cohort still remain unable to access remote learning missing out on crucial opportunities due to lack of internet lack of infrastructure and technological equipments. Marginalized groups of young people including young women and girls disabled young people have encountered even greater obstacles in being able to access and fully participate in education under the challenging conditions of the pandemic. It's the long-term effects of COVID-19 that are particularly worrisome in my opinion 317 million children are still affected by school closures and a shocking 10 million children are expected to have permanently dropped out of school. The most marginalized young people are experiencing particular devastation with approximately 50 percent of all refugee children in the world having left school and 20 million secondary school age girls out of school after the crisis has passed. Abrupt closures of schools and economic hardships caused by the pandemic have meant that plethora of doors has suddenly closed for millions of young women around the world. A dramatic surge in child marriage and adolescent pregnancies are anticipated with up to an additional 2.5 million girls at risk of child marriage over five years to come and adolescent pregnancies are expected to rise by up to 1 million in 2020 as a result of the economic impacts of the crisis. Without inclusive and equitable quality education for all we cannot eliminate poverty or tackle inequality or fight climate change or achieve sustainable development or promote peace. Simply put we have no chance at achieving the sustainable development goals by 2030 without a commitment to inclusion and education. I particularly want to stress the fundamental importance of educating all young people on human rights and equipping them with the knowledge and skills to respect demand and protect and uphold human rights of for oneself and for their community. While this pandemic has fostered acts of solidarity and a common sense of humanity the past months simultaneous they have also seen a worrying rise in human rights violations including hate speech racism discrimination human rights education for young people in both formal and non-formal settings promotes a common understanding that all human beings are equal and are equally deserving of dignity respect and justice. It's incredibly empowering for young people to be recognized equally as active citizens who play an important role in upholding their own human rights and human rights of those others. Young people deserve to be able to meaningfully participate in public affairs that determine their future and democratic decision making that will decide their future for themselves. In today's world effective resilient and inclusive education means equipping young people with the knowledge and the skills they need to navigate and thrive in an increasingly changing world marked also by digitalization automation and rapid changes due to the fourth industrial revolution. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the central role of technology in keeping economies and health systems running while also keeping young people learning and ensuring that everyone remains connected. In this aspect it has revealed and exacerbated global inequalities including strengthening or heightening the digital divide. So we urgently need to address the growing digital gender gap and put digital technology to work for those who need it the most. The vulnerable, the marginalized, those who are living in poverty and open suffering from discrimination of different sorts. Young people everywhere in all their diversity have the right to an education with the formal or informal that is sensitive to their particular needs and contexts and equips them with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in an increasingly complex world. So our response and recovery plans and this is what I have been advocating not only with member states but also with our United Nations teams in 104 countries who are now developing the socioeconomic response plans for the COVID-19 pandemic to include young people in the consultations, to include young people in the design of those socioeconomic response plans in those implementation and most importantly in accountability, ensuring accountability for those socioeconomic response plans as well. And digital connectivity in this quote unquote new normal is going to be key not just for young people to be educated about these responses to the pandemic but also to be able to meaningfully engage in shaping those responses and being a part of those responses in a way that it is affordable, safe and inclusive. So as we seek to build a strong recovery from the pandemic we must work to reduce these harmful aspects of the exclusion of young people but also lack of access to digital technology and information that can hinder unleashing the power that it could potentially have as a true equalizer and a true enabler. So it's been really a pleasure to be listening to some of the things that you have been discussing which are very much in line with the priorities and policies and recommendations that I have been pushing in the context of the United Nations and I really look forward to hearing some of your thoughts and your reflections and most importantly your recommendations to include further as learnings from this symposium in my work and in my advocacy trying to convince governments and the UN to substantially and sustainably invest fund, provide resources, tools and create safe enabling spaces online and offline for young people in all their diversity to equally participate in these important processions. Thank you very much. Thank you so much, Jayatma. You've covered so many of the topics that we discussed over the past two days. So one of the first questions that we have is actually just about technology so I think I'll start there. From Ivan he wants to know as young people what should we do to help the regulation of technologies as AI which have so many potentials to have problems but also sometimes worse than these inequalities? Yes so one of the key things is really to be able to understand the impacts of artificial intelligence on our futures and in our lives. I've seen sort of interesting sort of whatever what others called predictions for an example how artificial intelligence could replace sort of certain jobs that young people who are in schools or universities right now might be preparing for but might be taken away because of the developments in technology and artificial intelligence. At the same time there are predictions that says that actually these new technologies could potentially create new jobs and open up new opportunities for young people to be employed and be involved in and actually use for the betterment of the economies and societies. So these arguments on both sides keep on happening but at the same time organizations like the UN given how slow and bureaucratic and hierarchical they are haven't really been able to keep up with those rapid changes or rapid developments and have been actually lagging behind when it comes to gathering member states together and all partners together really because it's not just members it's also the tech company it's also the private sector who has a great stake in when it comes to regulating or sort of developing policy frameworks that help us regulate the development but also harmful effects of the development of technology. From the side of the UN the most recent initiatives have been the establishment of the Secretary-General's high-level panel on digital cooperation and now there is a roadmap developed in order to further sort of take the recommendations of the high-level panel forward and actually the Secretary-General has announced that next year he will be appointing a special envoy for digital technologies who will really be looking at these forward-looking issues and advocating together with the Secretary-General for member states to come together to adopt such global frameworks or normative frameworks that could potentially guide countries responses to developing regulatory frameworks or policy frameworks on this particular topic. So I would say please do read a little bit about the digital cooperation framework and the roadmap and advocate with your government with the organizations that you work with to apply this angle into the work that you are doing it could be the work on education it could be the work on employment it could be the work on climate change or peace and security because every aspect of our life is going to be impacted by rapid advancements of technology and we really need to make sure we are more futuristic in the way that we look at these issues or what we call emerging issues and I do think that young people have that advantage of being able to see this development and understand this development better as a generation with all due respect to all the generations and you are able to come up with innovative future-proof solutions that can help guide those responses so please be active and proactive and do get in touch with us as well we'll be more than happy to put you in touch with those groups within the UN who are working on digital cooperation and help you develop those partnerships to influence those processes. Thank you so much I actually had four questions here and you answered them all in that one response so thank you so much for that. I have one more question from Zan he says in your role over this pandemic have you been impressed by the intention paid to youth in UN decision-making and response or do you think there still needs to be more done? If I'm being very honest no I've been very not satisfied but that has actually been a part of my job you know just to be like be a watchdog and be proactive and if I see something happening something important happening a policy being formulated and youth voices not being heard just to kind of knock on that door make sure that they open the door and bring young people into that conversation so wherever we have seen important initiatives being designed or important decisions being made we've tried proactively to bring young people into those conversations so starting from the policy papers that the secretary general published on COVID-19 response from on education to mental health to employment to social protection we've really integrated youth into those key recommendations that the secretary general provided to governments. We worked with UNICEF and WHO for an example to launch a series of mental health dialogues called coping with COVID because the UN was not really paying attention on mental health in the first few months of the pandemic. We tried together with UNESCO and UNICEF again to highlight the investments in education together with global partnerships because we know that next year because of the pandemic the official development assistance by countries are going to significantly reduce and this has the risk of reducing investments that goes into education particularly and that's going to reverse the hard-earned progress we've achieved over the years. So we've advocated a lot with the global partnership education and its replenishment for donor countries particularly to keep their commitments to the funding for education particularly in developing countries. So a lot of this has been kind of looking at the spaces identifying if young people are there or not and really pushing for them to be included. There have been certain instances where institutions have proactively sought for the inclusion of young people within the design of those programs themselves but unfortunately still I think young people come to mind for a lot of the times for institutions as an afterthought. So you know you have a program, you design everything and then oh we didn't have women here or we didn't have young people here or we didn't have disabled groups represented here and then you like organize a focus group discussion or a consultation and just like present it and yeah yeah then you tick the box and that still happens unfortunately after so many years of advocacy and that's why I like to think that our work is not over and it's actually starting you know just because we have a huge strategy at the UN it doesn't mean that everyone's going to adopt it and implement it in their day-to-day work so we are continuing to do that work from within the UN system and really what you are doing also from outside but in partnership with the UN really helps to bring that message and advocacy into life so again thank you for your work as well. Oh thank you so much and you know I appreciate your honesty and you know your rawness and I think that that's what we need right now is we need the facts and young people need to know that there are organizations and others trying to get their voices at the table and to have them included so thank you so much for joining us I'm very happy that you were able to you it's it's been a great two days I mean thank you to yourself thank you to all the speakers over the past two days I mean I think a lot of outcomes have come out of here the last thing that I would kind of like to say is you know every don't give into the anxieties of life I mean especially right now during this pandemic right I want everybody to continue to fight for what they believe in while also supporting the work of you know all of their own fellow young change makers and don't lose sight of your own goals but the SDGs as well because the only way that we'll achieve them is together just maybe Kayla sorry I I don't want to sound so negative because I feel like I've only been talking about problems but I just want to also end on a positive note and I think it's been incredible to see the resilience of young people and I think we really need to respect the resilience and the leadership and and the agency they showed throughout this crisis right losing jobs losing education mental health challenges they still went out to the communities to help the most vulnerable people did grocery shopping for elders did community campaign occasion campaigns online set up hand washing campaigns in refugee camps there are millions of such bravery stories of bravery of young people while going through such difficult times themselves who stepped up to support their communities and that's the spirit of leadership and boldness and sort of selflessness that we've seen from youth leaders around the world and I've been very honored to document some of these stories through a blog series that I did every week I highlighted these 10 stories of young people who were really out there in the front lines as unsung heroes and and if you have such stories as well please do send them to us because we also need as Kayla said these stories of inspiration to know that you're not fighting alone or you're not advocating alone that there are so many others like you in their own contexts is trying to achieve the same goals as you so that is the network that is the community I think that will help all of us going and keep us going in very turbulent times like this so just wanted to end with a positive note thank you no of course thank you so much and take care of yourselves and take care of each other I think is a very important lesson that we learned over the past two days thank you so much for everybody who came it's been great I want to pass over to Gabriela Marino who is the coordinator as well for the Vatican Youth Symposium and also the program manager at the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences thank you so much Kayla you did a great job and Sam as well you are always brilliant and a great couple power couple in this in our youth symposium and I'd like to thank Jillian as well for her amazing technical abilities with the videos she did a great job too and Amanda Shannon and all the SCSN youth team and I want to say that the Vatican Youth Symposium is so good it's been enjoyable even on zoom and I'm always so inspired and humbled and energized by this group and I'm so glad to see that the pandemic hasn't stopped you so here at the academy our main topics at the moment to focus on are the fight against human trafficking which we've been leading since the pope gave us these this mandate in 2013 climate change which has been a major topic for the past 20 something years maybe 30 and food waste as well because the present of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences is a food expert so I encourage you to look at our websites which I will post in the chat and if you have any comments or questions please let me know I would also like to end by saying that we have to wish Pope Francis a very happy birthday because it's his 84th birthday today so I think this is a wonderful gift that we are giving him for being here and celebrating his birthday this way thank you so much and I now give the floor back to Sam and our professor sex thank you so much Gabriella what a symposium that has been a big thank you to gentlemen for speaking just before and her leadership at the UN level a huge thank you to our audience and not just our participants on zoom there have been 450 registered and attended throughout the two days but also on youtube and around the world where I believe yesterday we had just a thousand people joining in and we're watching the live stream a huge thank you to our team in particular Kayla and Gabriella but also Jill Shannon Amy Amanda Julia who have worked extremely hard to make this incredible event happen is usually they work very hard but in this case doing it online has been extremely challenging and they've done an incredible work if we're standing in a Pontifical Academy of Sciences I would be giving them a standing ovation right now as there have been critical figures behind this work so a huge round of applause to all of them and a huge thank you a huge thank you to also Dr Betsy Parker who has been the patron of this symposium and constantly been supporting her and for her for her leadership for this important event as our support over the past several years and she sent a lovely message to us last night saying that this symposium was fantastic so we're very happy to hear that as well and very happy to have her here a massive thank you again to Monsignor and colleagues at past but also our amazing partners at UNESCO the Ban Ki Moon Center the SDG Academy CSC and of course the Pontifical Academy what an incredible two days this has been a huge thank you to our speakers starting with his whole his holiness Pope Francis whom I wish a very happy birthday Secretary General Ban Ki Moon Aldre Ozue Irina Bokova Dr Chia and many more in the second day we started with the executive director of UNICEF we talked about and we talked with human rights leaders Kerry Kennedy and Hindu Ibrahim young pioneers such as Philippe Belize and Alejandra and then Professor Yanis Varoufakis and Alexandra with a senior in Miragar City and of course Professor Mohamed Eunice and now Joe at me so many incredible speakers and through this we talked about the critical role of education and fostering sustainable development through mission 4.7 we got inspired by human rights activists will learn from city leaders about the future of decarbonization and we were reminded to foster an interpenorial spirit through wise words and fantastic examples and now we're here finally I would like to hand over to professor sacks and then for months and you're too sanctuary surrender to close this as the patrons of this in important symposium and as the pandemic rages on there is one last thing I would like to leave you with there is now as the pandemic rages on an even greater need for young people to lead the movement for widespread and urgent reform and for a better and more prosperous world and I would like to leave you with this one quote a mentor once shared with me one asking for a better world never be shy always be persistent and don't take no for an answer it's your world you have every right to shape it and with that I hand over to professor sacks thank you Sam thank you very much and first amen and also to add my thanks to the thanks that you just gave to all of our wonderful friends and colleagues and people who inspire us and what a way to celebrate Pope Francis's birthday so I think we'll send him a big happy birthday on the occasion of the youth symposium and in all of all of your names as well because that really lights up everything for us Sam thank you for all your leadership of SDSM youth to get it started and to carry it to where it is today Sam is no longer technically youth he's an old man now not quite as old as I am but he's an old man and so we're passing the baton to true youth coming up but Sam is studying at Oxford this year and will continue to be a fantastic global leader and a leader of the global schools program which is key Jayathma thank you so much for all that you're doing and for all of the radiance you're bringing to the United Nations and to keeping that central and vital institution engaged with young people because this is really the great opportunity now the UN is 75 years old this year but it's also starting the next 75 years with a new generation and a new generation that understands that the UN is central for our well-being and our survival for our human rights for sustainable development for peace on the planet and what you are doing is connecting the UN with young people around the world will lead the UN for the next 75 years so your work is so important and I'm really really grateful we launched mission 4.7 in this youth symposium and let's make that historic moment with the SDSN youth and with the unbelievable chance to partner with the Pope Francis and the global compact on education and UNESCO and Ban Ki-moon wow it just couldn't be more exciting to help bring the needed understanding of sustainable development and the appreciation of global citizenship and all that that entails the appreciation of cultures as Monsignor emphasized the opening and connections with Asia is absolutely central so that we have a world that is united and working together and this is possible all over the world please connect with mission 4.7 with the global schools program with the ways that you can be engaged you are experts in the digital world by definition you are you're online you're savvy help to get schools online help to get kids connected help to create new ways for e-tutoring help to make new education programs global classrooms intercultural dialogue digitally which now we can do so we don't only have to talk about another part of the world we can connect do things together have school assignments together get school children playing together in ways that were not imaginable before and you're the experts on this making the apps writing the code connecting the schools putting up the solar panels putting up the routers creating new companies that can help to do this at a larger scale please let's go out and do it and let's tell a good story that inspires others to keep doing it and keep expanding the effort we have a lot of kids to reach more than a billion and I want to reach everybody because every child will benefit from quality education and even with poverty and dislocation because of technology we have ways of doing things now that were not even imaginable before but we have to try it won't happen on its own and that's what we have committed to do UNESCO as we heard from the director general and the assistant director general our partners patron and co-chair of mission 4.7 will be holding the UNESCO world conference on education for sustainable development in berlin the 17th to the 19th of may let's be sure that mission 4.7 is telling the story that we have moved around the world are actively engaged see the work being taken up and especially see sds and youth all over the world caring the banner and helping in the most practical way as we heard about in morocco and other countries to really put this new exciting mandate into operation so let me close here thank gabriella and one senior marsala sanchez serrondo thank betsy parker thank all of the sds and youth leaders thank you sam and congratulations jeff mon thank you so much for being with us a wonderful exciting gratifying thrilling occasion and let's all say together happy birthday to pope francis thank you thank you so much jeff and thank you for joining mon senor would you like to give the final remarks and close out the symposium i actually don't know if he's here i'm trying to say it's not easy to speak after all these very interesting interventions and contributions but i think that was very impressive all the different contribution but you know you know was real very central he say in the end that all depend because we are free and we have responsibility as person this is the characteristic of of the human person to be responsible and to be entrepreneurs we can work in other multinational but we are a slave of this multinational say just uh you know and only work to to give money for these people so we need to understand that we need to have a clear end and goal and and this depends of our responsibility our free and of course we are good not because we have a good intelligence yeah it's very important to be intelligent and to know many things but it's more important to have a good will to find the good to not be selfish to to try to to to laugh the other people and to try to support the family we all the things that we don't speak too much in this meeting this about the family but the family is very important and and also the the the the communities not the big communities but the the communities that support the crisis and the other thing very important that say you know for me and the same they say the pope the pandemic is an opportunity to change and uh we need to change just in this in this sense to put love in our heads to to avoid competition but in the contrary to to have encouragement to each other and especially to try to really the good of the other people and we are faced at these very interesting problems that put in the table for example the problem the problem of the of the health uh also for mental health to say sorry Sorosco that they are a real problem of this and and to to solve the problem of the health we need to come back to god really we don't speak too much to god age one can have some religion but we need to believe that exists some being that is superior and have intervention in the history and we need to pray what's very interesting francis calling that is the national director of the institute of health of of united states and say look we need to come back to pray to god to have an intervention like us prophet is a is a yes to have an intervention and to bless us and to bless our history because our history is full of war a full of of hate in our in our heads so really in the context that we are near to christmas that is the birth of the love in the world we need to be open to to renew our love to renew our love for the other people and to renew our love for god really this could be the first gift that we can give to the pope in his birthday and of course in the academy this in the academy of the Vatican this is the context that we work thank you very much and thank you because i see that the intervention of the of the young people was more optimistic that the intervention of the old people but the old people have some ways that the young people not have and we need to follow the wisdom of the old people thank you very much thank you very much once in a year and thank you everyone who spoke and with this with a wonderful speech we would like to call for the closure of the seventh Vatican youth symposium and we hope to see you next year hopefully in better circumstances in the beautiful halls of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences with that have a great morning afternoon and evening and thank you for joining us thank you thank you very much for your so thank you thank you thank you thank you so much thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you everybody have a good evening and i hope it was interesting for you as well ciao ciao ciao