Olivia Karp | Toronto, Ontario
Olivia Karp is a third year political science student at Ryerson University. She is a disability rights advocate, nonprofit founder, does a lot of work with the SDGs, and a soon to be author. Olivia does a lot of work with SDG #4 (quality education) and SDG #10 (reduced inequalities). She believes that the SDGs area great platform for getting young people to get involved and create change in the world.
About Olivia's Participation at the SDG Global Action Festival
About her participation, Olivia says, “I learned a lot of great knowledge about the SDG’s and how young people can create change with them. What stood out for me was the fact that there are many young people involved in the SDGs and are driving force of implementing them on a wider scale. I’m looking to gather knowledge about changing making with the SDGs and writing an article about it so other youth can make impact.”
Read Olivia's Blog on 'How to Take Action with the UN SDGs'
My name is Olivia Karp. I am a third-year political science student at a Canadian university. I had the pleasure of attending the SDG Global Festival of Action virtually as a Youth Delegate through the International Corporation Network in Canada. During the festival, I highly enjoyed learning from many young people all over the world acting on the UN SDGs. As a young person herself who does a lot of SDG-related projects, I learned more about how to act and make change with the SDGs.
The festival consisted of interactive virtual workshops, panel discussions, concerts and more. I found the Collective Intelligence for Sustainable Development: Getting Smarter Together workshop amazing. The workshop was about how to map out a plan either for a project, establishing an organization, working with your community, or starting up a one. Some of the key takeaways I got from the event is that you can choose any SDG to make a change. Another takeaway was when picking an SDG any of them can be used to pursue a project and make a lifelong impact. Make sure the SDG you pick is something you are passionate about.
In my opinion, SDGs are a great platform for young people to get involved and make changes in anyways they want. It is good to remember that change is not instant, it takes a lot of hard work and dedication. By motivating and seeing what other young people are doing with the SDG’s can help to get motivated again. Another important thing is that impact can be big or small in any way you want it to be. Through the SDG’s many youths use them to make change and innovate. With the use of the SDGs young people get the options to get involved and try out what they like or not like. There is a lot of flexibility with the SDGs so do not get discouraged and believe in yourself.
I feel for myself and all the SDG work I have done SDGs helped me to find what my passions are. Seeing other young people at the festival was inspiring. I highly recommend for anyone to attend it virtually or in-person after COVID is over.
