Activating young people to advance the SDGs in Cambodia by building a virtual platform to accelerate action
CSDGs platform users
youth action projects pitched
Build a youth audience around CSDGs
How can we mobilize youth changemakers to advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Cambodia? A few years ago, the CSDGs online platform was launched towards this end by UNDP Cambodia and the Institute of Technology of Cambodia (ITC). They brought Impact Hub Phnom Penh on board for a few months in 2020 to help re-ignite the platform and activate a broader audience of youth.
We brought to life a one-year communications campaign to promote the platform and its mission. We grew the platform’s website and social media reach by thousands and produced motivating multi-media content. Through mini-project competitions, talk shows, and more, we activated a new generation of SDG youth changemakers in Cambodia.
Platform Refresh
To draw new users to the CSDGs mobile platform, we produced multi-media content to inspire action and raise awareness about the SDGs — all targeting a youth audience. We produced 26 blog posts in English and Khmer and featured 7 amazing Cambodian “CSDG Heroes.” Our activation strategy resulted in 2,000+ users on the platform and achieved nearly 23,000 page views. We also built a social media following from scratch, from 0 to 5,000+ followers on Facebook in just 6 months.
CSDG Ambassadors
We trialed an Ambassador program that directly involved youth in the management and promotion of the CSDG platform. We recruited 10 university students to serve in this role. The Ambassadors gained skills in sustainability culture change, communications, and leadership, while helping us scale the reach of the platform through their networks and activities.
CSDGs Talk Show
Every month, we hosted talk shows on the CSDGs Facebook page via Zoom/FB Live in order to inspire and engage a wider virtual community. The CSDG Talk Show focused on topical issues like peace, zero waste, mental health, education, and gender and spotlighted local innovators making a difference. The videos we produced on the CSDGs Facebook page, including the Talk Show, reached over 20,000 people in total.
Youth Action Projects
We ran a monthly campaign to invite project submissions from youth and then engaged their peers to vote for the projects that should receive seed funding. In total, we received 59 project submissions (of which nearly 70% came from outside Phnom Penh!) and 10 teams were selected to receive funding.
“When I heard that I got selected as a September winner from CSDGs, and received a 500USD grant, I went to the village and shared this news with all of the uncles and aunties that I am working with. They were really happy to hear this news, and some aunties and uncles cried when hearing about this because they know that this money would be used to support our work in the community.”
CSDGs Project Winner
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