Asia & the Pacific Policy Studies

On this week’s Policy Forum Pod, we hear about an Australian program empowering young people to take the world’s blueprint for development into their own hands.

In 2016 the United Nations launched the Sustainable Development Goals as a blueprint for global development. With 17 Goals divided into 169 targets, this blueprint is a complex policy challenge – not least because it’s far from clear how different countries, cities and communities are to make it functional at a local level. Enter the Young Persons’ Plan for the Planet, a pilot program helping young people in Australia and beyond put the SDGs into action. Could its business-plan approach to global development be a model for translating big, complex policy into real-world outcomes? On this week’s podcast we hear from the lead designer of the program; an undergraduate bringing the program to life; and two high school students who understand the SDGs better than most policymakers.

Listen to the podcast here.

Ian Chambers is Program Director of the Young Persons’ Plan for the Planet. He conceived, developed and produced the program based on his work with global corporations, government and the community over the last 20 years.

Holly Halford-Smith is an ANU undergraduate student studying Law and International Security Studies. She helps Ian bring the Plan for the Planet to life through a monthly broadcast from Questacon.

Zoe Malone is a student of Radford College, Canberra, and a participant in the Young Persons’ Plan for the Planet program.

Max Etherington is a student of Brindabella Christian College, Canberra, and a participant in the Young Persons’ Plan for the Planet program.

Show notes:

The following podcasts and articles were referred to in this episode:

Podcast: Diving into diversity with Samantha Freebairn , Leah Finnigan, and Dr Tushara Wickramariyaratne

Nuclear-free Korea will struggle for energy by Sanghyun Hong

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This post and podcast was first published on policyforum.net, Crawford School’s platform for public policy debate, analysis, views, and discussion.