Leveraging Young People to Build Resilience in High Vulnerability Contexts

One of the Sustainable Development Goals under review in 2019 is number 16: “Promote peaceful and inclusive societies”. Fragility increases disaster risk and disasters can increase fragility. Inclusiveness on the other hand is a well known success factor to create sustainable and resilient societies. The Sendai Framework proposes a broader and people-centered preventive approach to DRR prioritizing all-of-society empowerment and pays attention to people disproportionately affected.

Youth working in fragile contexts have demonstrated ground-breaking leadership in building trust and have exhibited a sense of belonging to a common vision; implementing community development work in areas where no other actors are present; channelling local knowledge and mobilizing hard-to-reach communities. Leveraging the transformative potential of young people in the face of vulnerability demands a bold policy reorientation from governments. This session aims to interactively discuss an outlook in developing strategies for disaster reduction in line with a wider and inclusive human security agenda.