Fostering Youth-Led Innovations to Accelerate Progress on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: A Guide for Policy Makers at COP28

In today’s world, to address the most pressing global challenges, education must equip all learners with the values, skills, and knowledge that nurture cooperation, resilience, respect for diversity, gender justice, and human rights. This concept is called Global Citizenship Education which is a target of the Sustainable Development Goal 4 – Quality Education. I commend the Mission 4.7 initiative facilitated by Columbia University’s Center for Sustainable Development, UNESCO, UN SDSN and the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens, for playing a pivotal role in addressing SDG Target 4.7 and on the release of the “Fostering Youth-led Innovations to Accelerate Progress on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: A Guide for Policymakers at COP28. The report recommends that policymakers create supportive environments for youth innovators by establishing or opening innovation hubs, incubators, and accelerators for young individuals. A key element is the renewed emphasis on integrating global citizenship and systems thinking into school curricula to foster sustainable development. Global Citizenship Education and youth empowerment is essential for a better future, I hope that this report contributes to shaping the agenda on SDG Target 4.7 at COP28 and beyond. H.E. Ban Ki-moon8th Secretary-General, United Nations Co-chair, Mission 4.7Co-chair, Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizen

Smart contact lens and transparent heat patch for remote monitoring and therapy of chronic ocular surface inflammation using mobiles

Wearable electronic devices that can monitor physiological signals of the human body to provide biomedical information have been drawing extensive interests for sustainable personal health management. Here, we report a human pilot trial of a soft, smart contact lens and a skin-attachable therapeutic device for wireless monitoring and therapy of chronic ocular surface inflammation (OSI). As a diagnostic device, this smart contact lens enables real-time measurement of the concentration of matrix metalloproteinase-9, a biomarker for OSI, in tears using a graphene field-effect transistor. As a therapeutic device, we also fabricated a stretchable and transparent heat patch attachable on the human eyelid conformably. Both diagnostic and therapeutic devices can be incorporated using a smartphone for their wireless communications, thereby achieving instantaneous diagnosis of OSI and automated hyperthermia treatments. Furthermore, in vivo tests using live animals and human subjects confirm their good biocompatibility and reliability as a noninvasive, mobile health care solution

Ethanolic Extract of Acanthopanax koreanum Nakai Alleviates Alcoholic Liver Damage Combined with a High-Fat Diet in C57BL/6J Mice

Alcoholic and nonalcoholic liver steatosis have an indistinguishable spectrum of histological features and liver enzyme elevations. In this study, we investigated the potential of the ethanolic extract of Acanthopanax koreanum Nakai (AK) to protect against experimental alcoholic liver disease in a mouse model that couples diet and daily ethanol bolus gavage. Fifty-six C57BL/6J mice were randomly divided into seven groups: normal control (NC), alcohol control (AC), alcohol/HFD control (AH), low-dose (1%) AK in alcohol group (ACL), high-dose (3%) AK in alcohol group (ACH), low-dose AK in alcohol/HFD group (AHL), and high-dose AK in alcohol/HFD group (AHH). The AH group showed more severe damage than the AC group in terms of biochemical and molecular data that were observed in this study. The administration of AK exerted remarkable effects in: plasma ALT (p < 0.0001), total lipid (p = 0.014), TG (p = 0.0037) levels; CPT-1α (p = 0.0197), TLR4 (p < 0.0001), CD14 (p = 0.0002), IL-6 (p = 0.0264) and MCP-1 (p = 0.0045) gene expressions; and ALDH (p < 0.0001) and CAT (p = 0.0076) activities. The data suggested that at least the high dose AK might confer protection against alcoholic liver damage combined with an HFD by accelerating lipid oxidation and alcohol metabolism and by suppressing the inflammatory response, including the TLR pathway

Process Documentation: Operationalizing ICT Women's Center for Skills Training for Employment

The process of initiating and operationalizing a concept-combining multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to improve educational and employment opportunities for women-is outlined in this document. The result of this endeavor is a fully functioning ICT Women's Center in Telangana State, India, powered by solar energy, where skills trainings offered in the areas of computer, English, life skills and environment, aim to prepare young women for future careers and job opportunities. The document outlines various components that were required to begin operationalizing the Center, from infrastructural inputs to curriculum design and delivery. Initial months of operation revealed the high demand for the skills training provided through the Center, and as a result, continuous updates to the Center operations and programs are explored to accommodate the needs of newly interest participants as well as to continuously build upon initial training. The initial months also shed light on the importance of: active involvement of local leadership at each stage of project development; engagement of local district government leadership and offices (rural development office, public health initiatives); establishment of relationship with local educational institutions; and collaboration and enthusiasm of all parties involved in setting up the Center. The components outlined in the document will continue to develop as the operations moves forward. Particularly, continued efforts will take the forms of: monitoring energy production and consumption at the Center; partnerships strengthened with local educational institutions as well as target populations for computer skills training; engagement with local employers and input from local professionals as mentors and speakers on curriculum contents; building additional support for participants through advancing curriculum contents and related activities, based on participant feedback and course evaluations

Blueprint for a Rural District Based ICT Center in Mahabubnagar, Telangana State, India

This document outlines one of the Centers in operation as a part of the broader ICT Center Model1. The concept that began with the goal of combining multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to improve educational and employment opportunities for women resulted in ICT Center, including the fully functioning ICT Women's Center in Telangana State, India. Powered by solar energy, where skills trainings offered in the areas of computer, English, life skills and environment, aim to prepare young women for future careers and job opportunities. The document outlines various components after the first year of execution of the ICT Center. It outlays a blue print for similar centers that could be set-up in smaller towns in India. It explains the vision and the mission of the ICT Center, followed by the key elements in the set-up process of the Center. Budgets and budget narrative explain the financial component of this program. It explains some of the processes followed in the first year, including inviting visitors and their interactions with the trainees. The report also outlays the Annual Calender and matches it to the curricular expectations at the Center. In addition, a vital strategy for the Center has been the solar panel installation, the data from which have been tracked since the beginning of the Center. The report presents the solar data and the energy consumption and reduction of electricity bills for the District Government. The report finally presents the curricular plans and the changes from the first year of implementation of the ICT Center. The changes were informed by the feedback from the students in the previous batches along with some new additions including environmental education for 2019-20 academic year