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Held on 31 October and 1 November 2024 in Fortaleza, Brazil, the 2024 Global Education Meeting (GEM) convened global stakeholders to discuss education as a driver of sustainable development. Aligned with the Brazilian G20 Presidency's emphasis on equity and inclusion, the GEM fostered dialogue among governmental and non-state actors, focusing on accelerating progress toward Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4). The Fortaleza Declaration, an outcome document from the meeting, reflected inputs from diverse regional and stakeholders' consultations – including youth and students – and set the stage for actionable strategies to transform education systems globally.     

In accordance with the Fortaleza Declaration the "meaningful engagement of young people, students and teachers, is essential to unlock the transformative potential of education”, thus youth members of the SDG4 Youth & Student Network were grateful to participate as key contributors to the Global Education Meeting, where those words were being put in action. 

Barbara Beltran, a youth advocate for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and member of the SDG4 Youth & Student Network from Peru, shared her story at the GEM to showcase how education can lead to concrete societal change, for sustainable development.​�ċ  

​​�ċ“I felt very proud to receive praise from people with so much experience in the field, this experience gave me courage and a lot of energy to continue my work for quality education in my Latin American region.” 

Barbara participated as a young panelist on the session on SDG 4 Target 4.7 and Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), where she discussed her work with her NGO Green Dreams. This initiative aims to accelerate SDG 4 and promote ESD in Latin America by empowering youth through quality education that incorporates environmental sustainability, social equity, and economic responsibility.  

The program ��ó����Ա�� por un Mundo Sostenible, that she launched, combines ESD skills and global citizenship principles such as human rights, empathy, and justice. “This program enables young people to create and implement community-based projects, offering mentorship, workshops, networking, funding and youth leadership trainings by young mentors who advocate for climate action and address local socio-environmental challenges.” 

Barbara shared data and success stories, showing increased youth participation in climate action initiatives across their regions and measurable improvements in environmental awareness among school-aged children. Through these efforts, Green Dreams has created impactful effects, inspiring young leaders to advocate for change and apply sustainable solutions in their communities. 

To help all learners benefit from ESD, Barbara called on decision-makers to​�ċ prioritize funding and policies that integrate sustainability into national education systems, especially in countries from the Global South. She advises establishing partnerships between governments, schools and local communities to foster innovation in sustainable education practices considering young people's voices, ideas and initiatives.  

Additionally, she emphasized the importance of integrating SEL within educational systems, noting that policies must treat SEL as foundational alongside literacy and numeracy. By doing so, “education can serve as a powerful tool to address global challenges and strengthen young people's spirit to continue making a great impact for present and future generations.” 

Aside from panel discussions, the Global Education Meeting also offered a valuable space for young people to connect around a shared goal: advocating for SDG 4. Barbara reflected on her experience, saying, “Representing the SDG4 Youth & Student Network at the 2024 Global Education Meeting, the most important event on education worldwide, has been one of the best experiences of my life. I am proud of having contributed to shaping the content of the Fortaleza Declaration through consultations organized by young people.” 

Christina Williams, a young change-maker from Jamaica and member of the SDG4 Youth & Student Network Executive Committee, attended the Global Education Meeting as Master of Ceremony and youth panelist in various parallel sessions related to inclusion, peace, leadership and financing for education.  

​​�ċ​�ċChristina emphasized the need to involve young people in the co-creation of learning and education activities within formal and informal learning environments, as youth are not only beneficiaries of but powerful contributors to sustainable, inclusive and peaceful societies.  

She also stressed on the need for education to be inclusive, relevant and based on experiential learning, for “it is important not to just sit and learn” – said Christina Williams – adding that “lived experiences, considerations of culture, context and student driven co-creation are poised to deliver more effective learning outcomes”.&�Բ�����; 

On the topic of education financing, Christina Williams stressed the importance of employing equitable, innovative and where possible local means of funding strategies such as tax justice – in order ​�ċnot to exacerbate the existing debt burden of countries. She noted this as one of the most important steps in sustainable development given that countries in debt tend to have to sacrifice development priorities such as education to meet lender requirements. 

As a general impression of the Global Education Meeting, Christina described it as participatory - “High level international meetings tend to center the voices of government officials and technocrats” – said Christina – “I was happy to see how UNESCO made an intentional effort to have youth, students and teachers also play an active role in the 2024 GEM.” 

She hopes that this will be the model utilized by international organizations and governments in the implementation of the Fortaleza Declaration.