Recognizing Local Youth Action for the SDGs and Beyond on International Youth Day 2025

This year's theme “𝐋𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐃𝐆𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐁𝐞𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐝” reminds us that young change-makers are esential partners in achieving a Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework that is aligned with community needs to ensure no one is left behind. In 2024, Pacific youth participated in the SIDS4 Youth Forum, CHOGUM Youth Forum, Summit of the Future Youth Day.

Our young people are leading bold actions across the Pacific: from protecting our oceans, to advancing gender equality, to promoting mental health awareness, to building resilient peace:
In the Micronesian region, mental health is a sentitive topic that is often stigmatized and many people choose not to seek professional help for fear of being alienated in their communities. 𝐄𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧-𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐃𝐞𝐞-𝐑𝐚𝐲𝐚 𝐀𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐨 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐏𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐮 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐏𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐮:
“𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘱 𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘦𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘴. 𝘐𝘯 𝘢𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘭𝘴, 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘶𝘴 𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘦𝘴.” - 𝘋𝘦𝘦-𝘙𝘢𝘺𝘢 𝘈𝘯𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘰, 𝘜𝘕𝘐𝘊𝘌𝘍 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘋𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘚𝘐𝘋𝘚. 

You can read Dee-Raya Antonio's story here.

In Micronesia, rising sea levels threaten to sink seventeen-year-old Skylar’s home underwater in the next decades if drastic action is not taken for our climate. 𝐒𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧-𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫-𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐒𝐤𝐲𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐤, 𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐢t𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐌𝐢𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐚:
“𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘯𝘰𝘸, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴, 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘰 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘭 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘗𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘱 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘔𝘪𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘢.” 𝘚𝘬𝘺𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘊𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘬, 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘵. 
You can read Skylar Clark's story here.

Young Pacific leaders are a driving force in a more just and resilient pacific community that leaves no one behind. Throughout the 2025 international youth day theme “Local Youth Actions for the SDGs and Beyond”, young people are adapting and implementing the global goals within specific local contexts to ensure that development is inclusive, participatory, and sustainable. 
𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬.
To every young Pacific Islander: your voice, ideas, and leadership are vital. Let’s support youth-led solutions and build a just, peaceful, and sustainable future, from our islands to the world.