COVID-19 and the UN Sustainable Development Goals in the World Youth Forum

By Jailan Dahab

Before the official launching of the fourth edition of the World Youth Forum (WYF) that takes place from 10 to 13 January, 2022, in Sharm El-Sheikh, the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) in the time of COVID was discussed in a two-day workshop entitled “The UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Pandemic.” In the workshop, the participants, coupled with the panelists, Dina Fouda, Partnerships Development Specialist, and Mohamed Ayman, Director of the Participatory Innovation Program in Banque du Caire, tackled the mechanisms of achieving the UNSDGs. These mechanisms included the wave or vortex effect; the pyramid of persuasion; and the abbreviations and the influential verbal logos that can be repeated over and over. 

Accordingly, the workshop’s participants discussed the issue at hand by using and adopting the above-mentioned mechanisms in order to come up with innovative solutions. The participants were divided into five teams, and each team came up with a doable idea and used a logo in order to achieve one goal of the UNSDGs. The 5 teams tackled the quality of education during the pandemic, the impacts of COVID-19 on healthcare services, violence against women (VAW) during the pandemic, the impacts of COVID-19 on justice, and finally the promotion of using technology in developing countries. 

Since each team was assigned to tackle one topic, the workshop’s attendees suggested myriads of recommendations. The first team, for instance, recommended the adoption of e-learning and raising both the teachers’ and parents’ awareness of this type of education, as well as providing it with affordable and low prices. The second team recommended the development of telehealth systems in order to deliver and provide healthcare services 24/7. The third team stressed on the need to establish an efficient judicial system in order to address violence against women. The fourth team, on the other hand, ended up proposing the adoption of remote litigation by using technology in order to overcome the negative impacts of COVID-19 on justice. Finally, the fifth team suggested the adoption of Citizen Centered Cities (CCC) in order to upgrade sustainable cities.  

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