60 young leaders, 52 cities

The UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network - Youth Initiative (SDSN Youth) has selected its inaugural class of the Local Pathways Fellows – sixty young innovators, urban planners, architects, advocates and sustainability leaders that will “champion local pathways for sustainable development” in more than 50 cities across the world.

Intended to build on the momentum around the adoption of the New Urban Agenda at the UN Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III) last year in Quito, the Local Pathways Fellowship is the first global training program aimed at empowering youth to advance progress on the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development within cities and human settlements.

The program equips the fellows with the knowledge, resources and platform to guide and inform their advocacy and outreach work, and to support their efforts in promoting local understanding, dialogue and problem solving in cities and local communities.

The fellowship was officially kicked off in April, bringing together a group of 60 young people who represent a broad spectrum of backgrounds – young municipal leaders, urban planners, architects, sustainability advocates, researchers and entrepreneurs – and experiences living in different urban settings – from Dhaka, Jakarta and Mumbai, to New York, Mexico City and Buenos Aires.