Yesterday I met with the fifth cohort of Generation17, five young leaders who are working with Samsung and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to drive meaningful change in sustainability and other social issues. Samsung contributes the technology to enable better storytelling of their journeys to achieve the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals, also referred to as the Global Goals.
This program was launched in 2019 with the Samsung Global Goals app, a mobile platform that educates users about the UN’s Global Goals and empowers them to drive change using their Galaxy smartphone, tablet, or watch. Total installs for the app are nearly 300 million and it has generated over $20 million for the UNDP’s global environmental and social initiatives.
The five young leaders represent the following countries:
- Brazil—Renata Koch Alvarenga. She is founder of EmpoderaClima, a youth organization that advocates for climate justice by addressing disproportionate impact of climate change on women. She wants women to lead in climate decision making.
- Ecuador— José Francisco Ochoa. He is a marine biologist and co-founder of the Ocean Academy, which promotes marine conservation and sustainability in Spanish speaking communities. I told him that I had been to the Galapagos Islands…we bonded immediately over the blue footed boobies, a bird species.
- India— Soumya Dabriwal. Co-founder of Project Baala, a social enterprise addressing menstrual hygiene. She told me that 40,000 women die each year in India from menstrual related ill treatment. She helps to distribute reusable sustainable sanitary products in poor parts of the nation. I told her that I had been to the Barefoot College in Rajasthan to visit my friend Bunker Roy…again an immediate bonding.
- Indonesia— Brigitta Gunawan. An ocean-climate advocate. She has worked in 100 locations, reaching over 15,000 people through her organization called 30x30 Indonesia. She is also the founder of Diverseas. She told me that plastic pollution is a massive problem in her nation.
- Jordan— Rahaf Abu Mayyaleh. A climate activist and founder of IBTKRGO, which develops eco-friendly education kids that empower youth with digital skills. She told me that Queen Rania Al Abdullah is a major supporter of technology that promotes sustainability.
These young people made my day. They will be going to important global forums such as the UN General Assembly, COP30 and the UN Water Conference.
I want to say a special thank you to Samsung for being a visionary client and to Alex Heath, managing director of Edelman Impact, for his incredible work on this program. He is the best of Edelman.
Richard Edelman is CEO.
