Young Voices for Sustainable Development

The event is a part of the event plan designed for the Towards the Future We Want youth campaign implemented to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the United Nations Organization.

For the final event of the Festival, the experts selected videos in the nominations: “We are Sustainable Changes Agents”, “Towards the New Ethics of the Earth,” “The Future We Want: UN75,” “The Climate Changes.  What about You?” “Speak about Sustainable Development Goals,” and “Inclusive Belarus.” Nineteen videos presented by the teams from schools, high schools, lyceums, colleges and higher education establishments of Mogilev, Brest, Minsk, Vitebsk and Grodno regions were chosen as the winners.

Delivering welcoming remarks to the visitors of the opening event Jahor Novikau, Head of the Office of the UN Resident Coordinator in Belarus, highlighted a number of global challenges, which the world community is facing today, that are the climate change, migration and difficult economic situation.

“The good news is we can respond to the global challenges and take local decisions. The progress of modern technology and society allows us to work in our local communities both online and in real life. In order to achieve these global goals and help our world, our planet, we can do something here, at our own place. And this is exactly what you are doing,” said Jahor Novikau addressing the Media Festival winners.

The event participants could also listen to the Association of Education for Sustainable Development members - Inessa Zubrilina, head of BSPU Coordination Centre of Education for Sustainable Development, Sofia Savelova, deputy chairperson of the Coordination Centre and coordinator of interregional cooperation, Anatoly Muraviev, principal of high school 19, Tatsiana Minchenko, deputy head of the Office for Youth Affairs of the Ministry of Education of Belarus, and Sergey Vasilets, BSPU vice-rector for academic affairs.

 The works selected by experts under the nominations were reviewed, the teams of authors made presentations of their videos, and the active discussion of the works by authors and experts followed. As a result of the online poll the video «Miracle is …» made by the team of Zhemchuzhnenskaya school of Baranovichi district of Brest region, which covered the topic of inclusion and leaving no one behind principle, received the audience award.

 The works by the winners of the Young Voices for Sustainable Development media festival, which were then finalized subject to comments made by the experts, will be demonstrated as part of the thematic forum “Towards the Future We Want: the Position of the Youth” in December 2020.

As part of the UN75 campaign in April-May 2020, educational establishments of all Belarusian regions and Minsk hosted open regional discussions “The Future We Want: Our Ideas and Actions”.

In the course of the global online survey, dedicated to the UN 75th anniversary, the citizens of Belarus, mainly young people, stressed that the climate change, ecology problems, and health risks would have the major effect on the future of our planet.

According to them, after 25 years of joint work the countries of the world will reduce the number of conflicts and achieve improvements in medical services and better environment. They also hope to see more respect for and observance of human rights and improvement of access to education.