In September 2015, more than 150 heads of states and governments met in the historical Sustainable Development Summit in which the Agenda 2030 was approved. This agenda contains 17 universal application objectives that, since the 1st of January 2016, dominate the efforts of the participating countries to achieve a sustainable world by the year 2030. These Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the direct successors of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and aim to expand the successes obtained with them, as well as to achieve those goals that weren’t reached. These new objectives are unique in that they urge every country, rich, poor or of middle-income, to adopt measures to promote prosperity while protecting the planet. They acknowledge that all initiatives aimed at ending poverty must go hand in hand with strategies that favor economic growth and address a wide range of social needs, including education, health, social protection, and employment opportunities, while also fighting against climate change and promoting the protection of the environment. The UN also state that, in order to achieve said goals, everyone has to do their part: governments, the private sector, civil society and citizens; and it is precisely because of this reason that this youth initiative is born, to contribute to achieve these objectives from civil society. Thus, four youth associations of Muslims have joined together, from Spain (Association of Muslim Youth of Valencia), Belgium (Ligue des Musulmans de Belgique - Youth & Students), Germany (Rat der Imame und Gelehrten in Deutschland) and the United Kingdom (Muslim Association of Britain), to carry out a youth initiative that aims to achieve two ambitious objectives: • To create a European Platform of Young Muslims for Inclusion: this will be a network of youth associations and young participants across Europe, whose main purpose will be to strengthen the compliance of the 2030 Agency, as well as its Sustainable Development Goals. This is why we expect this Platform to serve as a speaker to develop awareness, inclusion, and educational projects based on the SDGs at a European level and with a great impact. • To generate a VIRTUAL ROOM with awareness-raising and non-formal education materials about the Sustainable Development Goals. This work will focus initially on the first 5 objectives, as they are clearly linked to inclusion and social equality; these being: Ending poverty, hunger, ensuring a healthy life, a quality inclusive education, and achieving gender equality. These materials will be directed to young people and youth organizations in Europe. In order to achieve these ambitious objectives and results, multiple activities and youth working groups will be carried out at the national level, as well as participatory meetings, virtual meetings, and a process of continuous communication and cooperation between the participating youth associations and their leaders; all of this plus the 4 transnational meetings that will also be held during the project, one in each of the participating countries. These meetings will serve to coordinate the development of the Project’s results, as well as to exchange experiences, good practices, get to know the individual projects developed by each organization, and to strengthen the cooperation and joint work relationships between the partners. It should also be noted that all these acts and activities will be carried out in the most participatory way possible, using non-formal and informal work and learning methodologies that enhance the motivation of young people, such as games, group dynamics, role playing, brainstorming, open debates, etc. This is intended to get as many young participants as possible involved in the project and to enhance their active participation, most of them being youth with obstacles. Lastly, we must highlight the great impact this project will have, and its long-term sustainability, since the Virtual Room for the non-formal awareness and education materials on SDGs will be completely digitalized, and will be spread online free of charge. Many youth associations and other social organizations throughout Europe have already shown their interest in using these results with their young people. We must also add to this the creation of a European Platform, which is intended to last for a long time, which will be used as a speaker at the European level to broadcast this project and its results, but will also start to develop its own European projects to boost the compliance of the SDGs, so its great impact and long-term sustainability are guaranteed.
In September 2015, more than 150 heads of state and government met at the historic Sustainable Development Summit (SDS) where they approved the 2030 Agenda. This Agenda contains 17 universally applicable goals that govern the efforts of countries to achieve a sustainable world by 2030. SDSs are unique in urging all countries, whether rich, poor, or middle-income, to take action to promote prosperity while protecting the planet. They recognize that efforts to end poverty must go hand in hand with strategies that promote economic growth and address a range of social needs, including education, health, social protection, and employment opportunities while fighting climate change and fostering environmental protection. The UN also states that, in order to achieve these goals, everyone has to do their part: governments, the private sector, civil society, and citizens, and it is precisely for this reason why this youth initiative was born, aiming at providing its grain of sand to the achievement of these objectives from civil society. In this way, 4 youth associations of Muslims from Spain (As. de Jóvenes Musulmanes en Valencia), Belgium (Ligue des Musulmans de Belgique - Youth & Students), Germany (Rat der Imame und Gelehrten in Deutschland), and Italy (Giovani Musulmani Italia - Milano) joined to carry out a youth initiative that involved Muslim youth in achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and helping European society as a whole to build a better world. This path has also helped us improve the social inclusion of our collective while helping to fight racism and intolerance through the work of youth regardless of their ethnicity, religion, or culture. For this, we have worked on different results: - We have created the EUROPEAN PLATFORM OF YOUNG MUSLIMS for Inclusion: a network of youth associations from all over Europe whose main purpose is to promote compliance with the 2030 Agenda, as well as its SDGs. This non-formal Platform aims to be the loudspeaker to develop awareness, inclusion, and educational projects, and currently comprises 4 partners, but we hope to continue growing as we carry out more projects and have more visibility on a European scale. - We have created the VIRTUAL ROOM with non-formal education and awareness materials on the SDGs collected: at first, the work focused on these 5 objectives: 1. SDG 2: Zero Hunger. 2. SDG 3: Health and well-being. 3. SDG 4: Quality education. 4. SDG 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. 5. SDG 13. Climate Action. Many activities and youth work groups were created and carried out at the national level, along with participatory assemblies and virtual meetings. These were carried out in the most participatory way possible, using non-formal and informal work and learning methodologies that enhanced the motivation of the young participants, such as games, group dynamics, brainstorming, open debate assemblies, etc. Since March 2020, our activity had to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic, and provide extraordinary support to our members and beneficiaries in most need (with food distribution, emergency aid, digital training…). We are satisfied because we managed to involve a large number of young people in the project, most of them with obstacles, and promote their active participation. Lastly, 3 on-site and 1 virtual Transnational Meetings were held (after the cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic of the meeting scheduled for March 2020) in Spain, Belgium, and Italy. These served to monitor the process, exchange experiences, good practices, get to know each organization better, and strengthen bonds and the relationships of cooperation and joint work. The great impact that this project will have is worth noting, along with its long-term sustainability, since the Virtual Room for non-formal education and awareness materials on the SDGs is completely digital and free, and various youth associations and other social organizations throughout Europe have already shown their interest in using these results among their young members. Added to this is the creation of a long lasting European Platform that will be used as a loudspeaker for the dissemination of this project and its results at a European level, but will also start developing its own projects to promote compliance with the SDGs, so great impact and sustainability are guaranteed.