To mark International Youth Day 2025, Restless Development Nepal and the Youth Collective hosted SDG Guff, a youth-led dialogue spotlighting how young Nepali changemakers are driving local progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Held on August 15, the virtual dialogue brought together 35 participants and featured six inspiring youth panelists representing diverse organizations and communities. The event built on this year’s International Youth Day theme, “Local Youth Actions for the SDGs and Beyond”, underscoring the power of young people to translate global commitments into community-led solutions.
“Too often, youth are seen as beneficiaries of development. Through this platform, we wanted to show that young people are actually the drivers, creating impact, shaping ideas, and building more inclusive futures,” said Sangita Maharjan, Programme Manager at Restless Development Nepal, in her opening remarks.
The panel discussion, moderated by Restless Development’s Youth Power Communications Coordinator Sailendra Dongol, explored the challenges and opportunities of localizing the SDGs in Nepal.
Voices from the Panel
- Manisha Chapagain, Project Manager at Youth 4 Change Network, reflected on youth empowerment. “The SDGs can feel abstract, but when young women step into leadership roles in their communities, you see immediate, tangible change. That is why building confidence and capacity is so important.”
- Monal Bhattarai, Director of Canopy Nepal, spoke about education equity. “For students from disadvantaged backgrounds, access to education is about much more than books. It is about dignity, opportunity, and breaking intergenerational cycles of poverty.”
- Rupak Ghimire, Secretary of Saral Nepal, connected climate advocacy with urban development. “If we want sustainable cities, we cannot ignore the rivers and ecosystems that sustain them. Protecting biodiversity is as much about people’s livelihoods as it is about conservation,” he noted.
- Sushmina Baidya, Global Program Officer at United World Schools, stressed the role of inclusive education in resilience. “Every child deserves the chance to learn, no matter how remote or climate-vulnerable their community is. When we invest in education, we invest in resilience and future leadership.”
- Tribendra Kumar, Finance Head at CARD Nepal, emphasized accountability in grassroots governance. “Sustainable development is not only about delivering programs. It is about ensuring transparency, inclusion, and building systems that communities can trust.”
- Nirmala Bhandari, Founder of the Nirmala Foundation, highlighted the urgency of embedding accessibility into Nepal’s development agenda. “Inclusion cannot just remain in policies and papers. It must be lived in classrooms, playgrounds, and public spaces. That is where real progress on the SDGs will happen,” she said.
Inspiring Collaboration
Participants engaged actively through the chat, sharing the SDGs most important to them and offering reflections on how youth leadership is reshaping their own communities.
By the end of the dialogue, the message was clear. Nepali youth are not just future leaders, they are already at the forefront of creating sustainable, inclusive change today.
As one participant put it in the chat, “Listening to these panelists makes me feel like the SDGs are not far away or foreign. They are here, in our own communities, being lived out every day.”
Looking Ahead
The session concluded with a call to continue building networks across regions and to foster collaboration among youth-led organizations. “Our hope is that conversations like SDG Guff spark new partnerships and inspire future actions. Together, young people can accelerate the SDGs in ways that are local, personal, and impactful,” said moderator Dongol in his closing reflections.
