Vatican City, October 15: The Vatican Youth Symposium 2019 will take place at the Casina Pio IV in Vatican City on October 16 (Wednesday). Co-hosted by SDSN Youth and Pontifical Academy of Sciences (PAS), the Symposium brings together more than 85 leaders and innovators in global development to develop solutions and partnerships for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Young leaders have an important role to play in instilling the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Paris Climate Agreement, and Pope Francis's Laudato Si’ among the new generation worldwide. Titled Intergenerational Leadership: Laudato Si’ and the Sustainable Development Goals, the Vatican Youth Symposium 2019 serves as a brainstorming hub - a forum where groundbreaking solutions and ideas are cultivated and partnerships are fostered to further the implementation of the SDGs on national, regional, and international scales.

Attendees of the Symposium will come together to learn from both experts and each other in sessions covering topics including innovation and technology, education, entrepreneurship, sustainable cities and communities, and moral engagement to fortify global youth movements for the betterment of humanity.

The Vatican Youth Symposium 2019 will be opened by Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs, the Director of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), and Monsignor Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo, Chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. Other high-level speakers include Professor Lorenzo Fioramonti, Italy’s Minister of Education, and Ambassador Dho Young-shim, Chair of ISTO for Peace and Prosperity.

Leaders from civil society, faith communities, businesses, governments, and academia, will facilitate sessions at the Symposium, offering guidance and partnership to build a strong global network of intergenerational changemakers working to advance the 2030 Agenda.

Representatives from organizations such as the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens, C40 Cities, Global Citizen, Scholas (an initiative of Pope Frances), UNITAR, UNLEASH, as well as universities such as Harvard University, Columbia University, University of Oxford, University College London, among others, will provide valuable dialogue and discussions with youth leaders on practices and lessons they can utilize to mobilize on SDG projects.

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