The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all by the year 2030. InnovaPolis designed the Young SDG Leaders Program (YSDGL) to encourage and empower young individuals in the pursuit of these goals. It aims to harness the energy, creativity, and commitment of young people in addressing global challenges as future leaders. The enthusiasm and efforts displayed by participants in the 2023 edition was inspiring. Here’s an overview of the top youth leaders and their initiatives:
Hridaan Shoundik
Hridaan is a passionate advocate for sustainability and environmental conservation. Belonging to a community in Delhi that values sustainable lifestyles, he is inspired by principles of environmental stewardship. Currently a student of Grade 10 in Shiv Nadar School Noida, Hridaan used his time in the 2023 edition of the YSDGL Program as an opportunity to create a greener, more responsible world.
Hridaan’s initiative seeks to address the pressing global issue of waste management by advocating for the practice of composting, while nurturing a new generation of environmentally conscious leaders. It is a dynamic youth-led movement that will empower students with knowledge and tools for practicing sustainable waste management. Through workshops, seminars and awareness campaigns, Hridaan wants to instill a sense of pride and responsibility towards the environment among youth. By focusing on education, hands-on learning of volunteers, community engagement and advocacy training for youth leaders, Hridaan will pave the way for a greener and more sustainable future for India.
Ira Bhruguwar
Ira is a passionate young leader who is currently a Grade 11 student at the Vidyashilp Academy, Bangalore. Apart from her stellar academic achievements, she is involved in extensive community work initiatives to address developmental challenges – including the basic human rights of all Indian citizens as guaranteed by the Constitution. Ira is an avid reader and has several years of experience competing in Model United Nations challenges.
Ira’s project highlighted the pressing challenge of lack of access to quality drinking water for lower-income Indians. To resolve the problem of this fundamental human right and achieve SDG 6 for India, Ira proposes a youth-led movement that will empower young individuals to address water wastage issues associated with water purifiers. She intends to design, build, and promote the use of a unique device that collects and repurposes discarded water. Ira will collaborate with a team of trained volunteers to design this compact, easy-to-install device for collecting, storing and reusing discarded water from water purifiers. Ira will develop prototypes of this device, rigorously test these prototypes to ensure efficiency and ease of use, and make necessary improvements based on user feedback results before implementing them in a large scale within her community.
Karissa Gupta
Karissa is a confident young woman who feels deeply impacted by the disintegration of human rights issues. As a citizen of India, she has a profound desire to work for humanitarian relief especially among lower-income, slum-dwelling communities. Currently, Karissa is studying in Grade 11. In the future, she wishes to pursue the fields of political science and international relations on her journey towards a career in diplomacy.
Karissa identified SDG 11 as most important for achieving India’s development goals, arguing that a society with no knowledge or awareness of its heritage will not be able to determine its future. To address this, she designed Walking Past – an initiative that revolves around a unique mobile app for facilitating a youth-led movement to preserve and promote historically significant monuments in Indian cities. To foster a sense of ownership and pride among locals for the remnants of their heritage, Karissa also aims to raise awareness by organizing educational workshops, seminars, and heritage walks. As a passionate and dedicated young student leader, Karissa has already received numerous accolades and recognition for her outstanding work on this initiative.
Kyra Sama
Kyra is an eager and intellectually curious student studying at the Shri Ram School, Moulsari in Grade 10. Belonging to a family that is deeply involved in the healthcare community, Kyra is passionate about microbiology. She is currently pursuing a combination of chemistry, biology, and economics, aspiring to marry her desire to make a positive impact on the world with her love for science.
Kyra believes SDGs 3 and 10 are the priority for achieving India’s developmental goals. She argues that 200,000 children in India suffer from cardinal heart disease, which affects their ability to become effective contributors to the Indian economy. Kyra proposes a comprehensive youth project aimed at empowering affected children in India. Her initiative, Bravehearts is designed to provide support and resources to improve their lives. Its key components include conducting educational campaigns to raise awareness, providing information sessions for caregivers about early detection and treatment options, collaborating with healthcare institutions and organizations to offer free or subsidized diagnostic services and facilitating access to specialized medical care and surgeries. Kyra explains that training local healthcare professionals, teachers, and community leaders in identifying symptoms and providing initial assistance is crucial for the success of her project.
Lakshya Bhasin
Lakshya is a creative and socially conscious student residing in Mumbai and attending Oberoi International School. Currently a student of Grade 10, he is passionate about filmmaking and media studies. All his extra-curricular pursuits are driven by a deep commitment to social impact.
Lakshya’s project Eco-aerate aims to achieve SDGs 6 and 12 for Indian by addressing the issue of safe and quality water access for all Indians. Lakshya argues that current inequities in water consumption have led to low-income households not receiving water for as much as 22 hours in a day. To solve this, he proposes to install water tap aerators in affluent households. This will reduce water consumption by as much as 80%, leaving more water that can be consumed by lower-income households. His project has three pillars, including encouraging affluent households to install water aerators in their homes, channeling saved water from these households to benefit impoverished communities with limited access to clean water and finally, empowering young individuals to take ownership of environmental and social issues by becoming trained volunteers for this initiative.
Mannat Bhutani
Mannat is a youth leader who is currently a student of Grade 11 at the Modern School Barakhamba Road. Her dream is to transform financial literacy through the education system in India. She is in the process of creating a collection of short stories for young adult, wherein traditional fairy tales are fused with lessons about money management. Mannat hopes to major in Economics and work in the social impact investing sector.
Mannat prioritizes achieving SDGs 1, 11 and 12 for India’s developmental goals by envisioning nurturing a generation of financially literate individuals who will contribute meaningfully to economic growth. Her initiative is designed with the goal of bridging the gap in financial literacy by introducing a unique, experiential curriculum. By integrating financial concepts into school curriculums, Mannat wants to provide children in rural public schools with practical knowledge that will positively foster the growth of their households. These practical insights include essential financial concepts and practical skills such as budgeting, profit, loss and understanding the use of different modern banking systems. She argues that her model of education aims at transforming rural India one child at a time.
Raahini Karunakaram
Raahini is currently a student of Grade 9 at The Shri Ram School, Moulsari. Her passion for the environment and commitment towards fighting climate change are the driving factors behind her dream of working in the sustainability sector.
Raahini’s project is targets SDGs 7 and 13 by creating a dynamic youth-led movement that effectively addresses the dual challenges of waste management and renewable energy generation. She envisions empowering young individuals to take the lead in creating innovative solutions that convert waste into valuable energy resources, contributing to environmental sustainability and by extension, economic growth. Starting with a pilot in her own neighborhood, Raahini proposes to significantly reduce the carbon footprint produced in her community by converting it into a sustainable and green residential area. Her strategy includes educating young people about the importance of waste management, fostering active participation of youth in the development and implementation of WtE solutions along with encouraging the creation of innovative, sustainable, and cost-effective WtE technologies.
Rhea Gupta
Rhea is extremely passionate about swimming and research. She has competed at the national level in swimming competition. Alongside her athletic achievements, her love for research has led to three comprehensive human rights reports prepared by her being published already. Currently a Grade 12 student at The Shri Ram School Aravali, Rhea wants to pursue a career that allows her to make meaningful impacts on her community.
Rhea wants to address two congruent objectives around the issue of clean water, namely sustainable treatment of water and equitable access to clean water for all. To achieve these goals, she conducted extensive literature reviews on water pollution, inputted considerable hours with Ecolab (one of the world’s largest water treatment companies) in researching different methods of water treatment and its potential impact on the environment. She also worked with an NGO to institute water ATMs in parts of Delhi city, where clean water was otherwise not easily available. Rhea mentioned an insightful recommendation on reforming the current e-tendering process of the government to ensure that subcontractors responsible for administering the Water ATMs are financially accountable and transparent.
Shuvam Dhakal
Shuvam is a multi-talented individual who excels in academics while having a keen interest in music and basketball. Born and raised in Nepal, he is sensitive to the anomalies of community, climate change and sustainability challenges. His passion for initiatives on sustainability sets him apart as a youth leader.
Shuvam’s project about creating affordable, reusable cloth bag through used fabrics addresses SDGs 11 and 15. He proposes to combine environmental consciousness with creative entrepreneurship to address the issue of largescale usage of disposable plastic bags. His initiative involves engaging young individuals to repurpose discarded textiles into aesthetically pleasing, eco-friendly bags that can be sold or distributed within their communities. Through this project, Shuvam envisions reducing the use of single-use plastic bags, decreasing the amount of textile waste in landfills and raising awareness about the importance of sustainable living and responsible consumption through community engagement. The initiatives components of his strategy include recruiting and training a team of young volunteers, developing a feasible business plan, budget, and project timeline, setting up an online presence for the products and exploring partnerships with local retailers.
Siddhant Tapdiya
Siddhant is a passionate and hardworking individual who hails from the City of Joy, also known as Kolkata. Passionate about public speaking, he wishes to solve global socio-economic issues by engaging in foreign policy formulation. Currently, Siddhant is enrolled in Grade 12 at La Martiniere for Boys. He aspires to enroll for an undergraduate program in International and Public Affairs.
Siddhant’s initiative is about introducing practical skills regarding community development and youth leadership into India’s school curriculums. He argues that the inability of students to practically shape their concerns to real life-projects as part of their school education is a core factor for India’s current rank of 112 in the SDG 2023 Index. To solve this issue, Siddhant proposes developing a unique curriculum to introduce the concept of Social Responsibility as a core subject in Indian public schools to enable students understand SDGs and their importance for development goals. This includes enabling each student to work on and document one SDG project every year that furthers the cause of SDGs, as part of the curriculum’s evaluation mechanisms. Siddhant also developed an execution plan for implementing the project, which included aspects of crowdfunding, influencer marketing campaigns and partnerships with prominent non-profit organizations in India.
Yuhaan Ali
Yuhaan Ali is passionate about science and has a strong commitment to sustainability. Raised in the city of Ludhiana in India with a firm grounding in the virtues of science, he grew up acquiring a scientific temperament and a fervent desire to apply himself to building a better world. Currently in Grade 9 in Sat Paul Mittal School, he has been consistently involved in extra academic pursuits with immense support from his school. His sense of community makes him a promising leader for bringing about unequivocal positive change in the world. He aspires to become a physicist to understand the fundamental laws that govern existence and manipulate those to serve humanity.
Yuhaan’s presentation on creating innovative solutions for sustainable sources of energy was impactful, practical, and strategic. He believes that increasing the global percentage of renewable energy, promoting access to research technologies that facilitate the adoption of clean energy and expanding clean energy services in developing countries are crucial steps for India’s journey towards fulfilling SDG 7. For this purpose, he proposes introducing the usage of a unique cactus-based battery (built using the Opuntia plant) among plantation farmers. His invention involves inserting electrodes into cactus pieces and connecting them in a series to create a functional cactus cell.