Project 17 BBC World Service

In 2015 the United Nations announced a radical plan to change the world.
Global leaders drew up a list of 17 "sustainable development goals" to create a blueprint for a better future. The goals cover things like gender equality, health provision, a good education and much more. We've asked 17-year-olds from 17 different countries tell us what they think needs to change if the world is to meet those goals by 2030.

Seventeen-year-old Houssam Mehfara lives in the Lebanese capital Beirut. He wants to become a lawyer, but he’s wondering what future there is for him in Lebanon. His country is stuck in economic and political crisis and Houssam and his friends believe that Lebanon’s sectarian political system is to blame. He asks whether the "partnerships" envisaged under the SDGs can make a difference - what the UN calls all hands on deck - government, NGOs, business, academia and others all working together to bring change. Houssam finds some inspiring examples of partnerships in Lebanon. But despite this, poverty levels have dramatically increased in the last few years and many of Houssam’s friends plan to go abroad. Houssam must decide whether to join them and leave the country he loves.

Presenter: Sana Safi
Producers: Rob Walker and Farah Chaya

Project 17 was produced in partnership with The Open University.

In 2015 the United Nations announced a radical plan to change the world.
Global leaders drew up a list of 17 "sustainable development goals" to create a blueprint for a better future. The goals cover things like gender equality, health provision, a good education and much more. We've asked 17-year-olds from 17 different countries tell us what they think needs to change if the world is to meet those goals by 2030.
Seventeen-year-old Israel is a member of the Otomi indigenous community. He lives in Mexico City but he faces police harassment when he works selling sweets and cigarettes on the streets of the capital. For Project 17 Israel went to meet an Otomi woman who was arrested and sent to jail after being picked up by the police - and he talks to indigenous activists fighting for equal access to justice for all Mexicans.
Presenter: Sana Safi
Producer: Tim Mansel
Project 17 is produced in partnership with The Open University

In 2015 the United Nations announced a radical plan to change the world.
Global leaders drew up a list of 17 "sustainable development goals" to create a blueprint for a better future. The goals cover things like gender equality, health provision, a good education and much more. We've asked 17-year-olds from 17 different countries tell us what they think needs to change if the world is to meet those goals by 2030.
“We're not going to be able to feed future generations if we don't fix this problem” says the chief scientist at the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, Barron Orr. He says cutting down trees and planting the wrong crops in the wrong place, mean it’s becoming harder and harder to grow food. In Morocco’s dry regions, climate change has compounded the problem. Seventeen-year-old Afrae Boutoub hears how life is getting harder for her family living on the edge of the desert in Errachidia and meets the people who are fighting for the survival of Morocco’s oases.
Presenter: Sana Safi
Producer: Phoebe Keane
Project 17 is produced in partnership with The Open University.

In 2015 the United Nations announced a radical plan to change the world.
Global leaders drew up a list of 17 "sustainable development goals" to create a blueprint for a better future. The goals cover things like gender equality, health provision, a good education and much more. We've asked 17-year-olds from 17 different countries tell us what they think needs to change if the world is to meet those goals by 2030.
Seventeen-year-old Hereiti File tells how rising sea levels and ocean pollution are affecting life on the Cook Islands in the Pacific Ocean. She takes a trip out to the coral reef and sees first hand the damage that has been done. But she also meets people who are working hard to reverse some of the damage. Her uncle’s job as a fisherman is threatened by a decline in fish numbers so she asks the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands, Mark Brown, what he’s doing to ensure people have enough food and are prepared for a future where some of their islands are uninhabitable.
Presenter: Sana Safi
Producer Phoebe Keane
Project 17 is produced in partnership with The Open University.

In 2015 the United Nations announced a radical plan to change the world.
Global leaders drew up a list of 17 "sustainable development goals" to create a blueprint for a better future. The goals cover things like gender equality, health provision, a good education and much more. We've asked 17-year-olds from 17 different countries to tell us what they think needs to change if the world is to meet those goals by 2030.
Australia’s most intense bush fire season changed 17-year-old Ashlee’s life. She lives in a town called Mallacoota, in one of the worst-hit areas, where many people lost their homes. Images were beamed around the world of people cowering on beaches under a red sky. The bush fire season from 2019-2020 burned through 24 million hectares of land, 3,000 homes were lost. Scientists say the impacts of climate change are contributing to longer and more severe bush fire seasons, so Ashlee wants to find out how her country is being affected and what action is being taken to get global warming under control.
Presenter: Sana Safi
Producer: Phoebe Keane
Project 17 is produced in partnership with The Open University

In 2015 the United Nations announced a radical plan to change the world.
Global leaders drew up a list of 17 "sustainable development goals" to create a blueprint for a better future. Governments agreed to support the goals which cover gender equality, health provision, a good education and much more. We've asked 17-year-olds from 17 different countries tell us what they think needs to change if the world is to meet those goals by 2030.
Singapore imports 90% of its food and 744,000 tonnes of this ends up as food waste. Seventeen-year-old Shan wants to find out what might be some of the solutions.
"I really had my eyes opened to just the sheer scale of food wastage within Singapore. I hope that this can serve as a symbol and an inspiration for young people and for everyone out there to play their part and contribute as well as they can to tackling issues related to sustainability for a better tomorrow and for a better future for all of us."
Presenter: Sana Safi
Producer: Joe Kent and Nick Marsh
Project 17 is produced in partnership with the Open University