Young people from marginalized communities are driving progress on the SDGs, turning exclusion into agency and hardship into innovation.
In Nairobi’s Mathare, one of the city’s largest informal settlements, Safrina Irungu leads tree planting, waste clean-ups and environmental education through the Mathare Roots Initiative.
When floods hit in 2024, she organized an emergency response, mobilizing volunteers and ensuring recovery plans addressed long-term housing and environmental needs.
“Youth are not passive victims of climate change,” she says. “We are first responders, planners, and leaders, whether or not we are formally recognized.”
In Ecuador’s Andes mountains, Lenin Zambrano, a Kichwa Otavalo youth leader, is transforming the Museo Viviente Otavalango into the world’s first , it’s a space preserving cultural heritage while advancing sustainable urbanization.
Through the Youth 2030 Cities programme, Mr. Zambrano helped draft the , now guiding local government planning.
“Our identity is not a barrier to development; it is our blueprint,” Zambrano says.
Both leaders are part of , a global initiative active in over 14 cities that equips young people with tools to track SDG progress, produce data-driven Youth DeclarActions, and engage directly with municipal leaders.
By linking participatory governance with localized action, Youth 2030 Cities helps make youth inclusion both visible and policy-relevant.
This autumn, UN-Habitat and the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) will launch a .
Despite systemic barriers such as limited resources, political marginalization and the invisibility of youth in formal planning processes, both have used participatory tools to influence policy.
They also work with 15 fellow members of the to ensure all young people can engage in local governance.
As Doug Ragan of UN-Habitat put it during International Youth Day 2025: “When youth from the margins lead, they don’t just localize the SDGs – they redefine what development means.”
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