Different issues keep the world in turmoil facing the fulfillment of the 2030 Agenda. That’s why various groups, governments, social organizations, and civil society join forces in many cases.
An example of decades of work towards these goals is Ashoka, a global community founded 40 years ago by Bill Dayton and present in over 90 countries.
The organization creates the necessary skills for boys and girls to become social entrepreneurs and generate positive changes in their environment.
Agenda 2023: how Ashoka works
“Ashoka has been recognized mainly for promoting social entrepreneurship and innovation,” detailed Brenda Berenice Villegas Valenzuela, leader of the childhood and youth area in Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean, to UN News.
This is how Ashoka works. (Photo: UN News).
With this philosophy, the organization is now part of the Economy Committee of the Executive Secretariat of the National Council for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
15 years ago, Ashoka understood that the only reason why social entrepreneurs are committed to their project is to prevent the new generations from experiencing the same things they did in their childhood or adolescence.
“Between the ages of 12 to 20, they lived an experience that transformed them, that turning point, where they realized there was a socio-environmental issue that deeply impacted them and that they wanted to do something about it,” explains Villegas Valenzuela.
“And not only that, but they had someone, an organization, someone who believed in them and supported them to achieve it, and then they wanted to dedicate their entire life to the subject,” she adds.
How Ashoka is structured
Currently, 26 universities and 31 institutions located in six countries belong to Ashoka’s network.
They create learning spaces and mutual support to transform their strategic plans, curricula, and partnerships to promote skills such as empathy, collaborative work, shared leadership, and creativity to solve problems.
Recently, Ashoka managed to become a member of the Welfare Committee or, alternatively, of the Economy Committee of the Executive Secretariat of the National Council for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (SECNA).
What the 2030 Agenda says
What the 2030 Agenda proposes for the planet.
The Agenda constitutes a broad consensus roadmap in 2015, where signatory countries committed to sustainable development. It’s an action plan “in favor of people, the planet, and prosperity”.
Based on 17 goals and 169 targets, the United Nations sought to cover the economic, social, and environmental spheres by the end of this decade. By offering their commitment, nations—including Argentina—committed to taking actions to meet the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable.
It was adopted in 2015 and almost 10 years later, after a thorough assessment of progress and challenges, it was reinforced with the recent “Pact for the Future”.
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