Over 300 participants came together virtually on 26th September 2025 for the 1M1B (One Million for One Billion) United Nations General Assembly Event, a global platform that brought together policymakers, corporate leaders, youth changemakers, and civil society voices to reimagine the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The session was designed to go beyond dialogue — it offered practical learning frameworks, lived experiences, and real-world examples of how communities, corporations, and governments are driving change across sectors and geographies.
Key Themes and Learnings
- Practical frameworks for advancing the SDGs — highlighting state-level efforts toward Net Zero in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Meghalaya, where youth energy, local governance, and forward-looking policies are creating measurable environmental and livelihood outcomes.
- The role of youth and education in sustainability — with insights into how young people are shaping community action, digital innovation, and social entrepreneurship to localise the SDGs.
- Measurement, accountability, and technology — reflections on how AI and digital tools are being integrated into sustainability reporting and monitoring to strengthen transparency.
- Inspiring youth showcases — where young changemakers presented their SDG-aligned projects, demonstrating how classroom ideas can evolve into transformative, community-scale solutions.
The message was clear: accelerating global progress toward the SDGs will require bold policy, empowered youth, women in leadership, and smarter use of technology.
Youth Energy, Tradition, and Technology: Meghalaya’s Model for Sustainability
Representing the Government of Meghalaya, Dr. Sampath Kumar, IAS, Principal Secretary, delivered powerful reflections on how community-driven governance and youth participation can accelerate sustainability from the grassroots upward.
Speaking in response to the question on how youth energy complements Meghalaya’s traditional strengths, Dr. Kumar highlighted the state’s unique community-led model:
“In Meghalaya, community governance is rooted in our village institutions. The accelerator today is youth energy — strengthened through technology and livelihood linkages. Together, they make sustainability not an abstract goal but a daily administrative practice.”
Building a Youth-Led Environmental Cadre
Over the past few years, the Government of Meghalaya has mobilised a cadre of 14,000 Village Community Facilitators (VCFs) — young people trained under the World Bank–supported Community Led Landscape Management Project (CLLMP).
These youth are equipped with digital toolkits and mobile applications such as PDA and CLART, enabling them to support communities in:
- Springshed rejuvenation and watershed management
- Forest planning and afforestation monitoring
- Soil and moisture conservation
- Community data collection and governance facilitation
Many VCFs have evolved into community data volunteers, managing grievance redressal and service delivery using tablets. Others have become green volunteers supporting carbon-financing pilots and ecosystem service valuation.
The result: a governance ecosystem where elders bring legitimacy and continuity, while youth bring speed, data, and implementation capacity.
Turning Intent into Action: Community Work Plans and Carbon Livelihoods
Dr. Kumar underlined that the real administrative innovation lies in converting community intent into measurable weekly village work plans — reviewed through local and district systems.
“We are not just talking about sustainability as a campaign. We are operationalising it as a governance function — tracked, reviewed, and linked to livelihoods,” he said.
Through this model, Meghalaya is linking Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) and carbon finance pipelines to ensure that local communities directly benefit from forest protection, water conservation, and biodiversity efforts.
Environmental functions are now tied to green livelihoods — from nursery management, eco-tourism facilitation, and water asset maintenance to localised climate services for farmers.
In Dr. Kumar’s words:
“Youth participation is not episodic volunteering — it is a remunerated, skills-based service to society.”
Scaling Opportunities: Towards a Meghalaya Job Mela Model
When asked if a Meghalaya version of the Job Mela model could work — inspired by successful examples in Raichur and Kuppam — Dr. Kumar affirmed that such a platform could thrive if designed as community-anchored and policy-aligned.
He outlined four pillars for the Meghalaya model:
- Community mobilisation: Using VECs, SHG federations, and youth clubs to pre-register youth, particularly women and first-generation job seekers.
- Skills-to-opportunity matching: Aligning with Skill Meghalaya, MSRLS, and MSSDS for on-site assessments and certifications.
- Policy and incentive linkage: Integrating livelihood credit, PES, and carbon-finance schemes for mixed employment opportunities — not just job fairs, but pathways to entrepreneurship and apprenticeships.
- Employer partnerships: Leveraging collaborations with 1M1B and other system partners through the Green Skills Academy and the existing MoU with the Government of Meghalaya.
“We already have Meghalaya youth who’ve completed exposure visits and workplace immersions through 1M1B,” Dr. Kumar shared. “Now, the idea is to scale that ecosystem and anchor it in our community-led model.”
Taking Meghalaya’s Youth Global
Dr. Kumar also emphasised the need to ensure that youth voices from smaller states like Meghalaya are heard globally — not as token representation but as active contributors to international sustainability dialogues.
This vision is being operationalised through the Youth Climate & Green Jobs Platform, anchored in Meghalaya’s community governance systems and connected to global opportunities.
Three young women from Meghalaya — from Shillong College, St. Mary’s College, and a Pynursla-based college — have been selected as top changemakers and are now being pitched for the Geneva Summit, supported by the state and 1M1B.
“When rural and small-state youth are seen, heard, and celebrated on global stages, it changes their sense of agency,” Dr. Kumar noted. “That is true inclusion.”
Bridging Tradition and Modernity: The MPOWER Framework
In his concluding reflections, Dr. Kumar described MPOWER, the state’s flagship adolescent and youth development programme, as the long-term vehicle for building a resilient, future-ready workforce grounded in traditional values.
The programme integrates:
- Foundational learning and remedial support
- Life skills and employability training
- Digital and AI literacy
- Green skills linked to traditional knowledge
- Community youth clubs and mentorship hubs (CMYCs)
Through MPOWER, Meghalaya is ensuring that every young person — from classroom to community — is equipped to lead in sustainability, confidence, and civic responsibility.
“Our pathway is community-first, youth-led, tech-enabled, and livelihood-linked. That’s how we make sustainability a living practice, not just a policy ambition,” he concluded.
Takeaway: From Dialogue to Action
The 1M1B UNGA 2025 event reaffirmed a shared truth — that achieving the SDGs ten years faster will demand bold leadership, youth empowerment, and strong local systems. Meghalaya’s experience stands as a living laboratory of how these forces can converge.
By pairing community wisdom with youth innovation, the state continues to prove that sustainability begins at the grassroots — and scales through trust, participation, and data.