Competition alert: Help the United Nations attain its Sustainable Development Goals

How do you develop an idea that can create a sustainable and positive impact in our country? And for those who already have an idea in mind, how do you even start the time and resource‑consuming task of testing it?

World Merit, a global community of millennials dedicated to working on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in its 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and its Philippine chapter, will be mounting Merit360 Philippines, a two‑week program in Bohol this April for interested Filipino youth. These SDGs include alleviating poverty, gender equality, providing quality education and reacting to climate change.

The camp, which will be held from April 9 to 21, will culminate in a chance for you to pitch your action plan to global leaders from various sectors. There will be talks, workshops, travel to various towns in Bohol for community projects, travel to various sites in Bohol just to take in the sights, concerts, a chance to meet new friends— because who says these events have to be boring?

And it doesn’t end after the two‑week camp. You and your newfound friends can continue with a nine‑month online program to further develop your life‑changing ideas. World Merit will also help in testing the chosen action plans for the first four months and hopefully implement these in the next five months.

Applications are open to youth participants aged 18 to 35 years old. Here’s your chance to be one of the 180 participants to join the two week camp and the nine month testing projects.-Lucia Edna P. de Guzman