Dentistry student participates in the Youth Ambassadors program

Dentist Raphael Sande is one of the new 22 youth ambassadors for the Salvador edition, an initiative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Caixa Seguradora Institute. To join the group of ambassadors, young people with a "high leadership" profile were selected to work with the goals of sustainable development (SDG) of the UN Agenda for 2030.

"Initially, we took a 48-hour course to work with these goals, which are separated into five Ps: Peace, People, Prosperity, Planet and Partnerships. The agenda of each young ambassador is very different within the SDGs, however, they can be grouped in these Ps. So, we formed groups and, based on that, we are developing projects", says Raphael.

Through discussions with experts, case analysis and practical activities, the program offers complete training in leadership and activism in topics such as security, poverty, sustainability, education, entrepreneurship and health, addressing the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The program was created in 2016 to train Brazilian youth and adolescents with high leadership power and social impact. In the last edition, 25 young people from Brasília (DF) were selected from over a thousand entries and, for three months, participated in lectures, debates and practical activities on topics such as the UN System agenda, international law, entrepreneurship and human rights.

Raphael says that his interest in participating in the program came from the need to guide health as a state of social welfare, "away from the concept of disease among young people. All this thanks to the influence of internships in public health and my participation in the PET Saúde GraduaSUS", explains the student.

Each ambassador has a very different role in their social cycle, some with artistic work, others ahead of NGOs of different themes. "In my case, I guide the health education movement through an initiative that I carry out in my interior together with a friend from my graduation (who also studies at the Bahiana) and now the project together with the other ambassadors".

At the moment, the new ambassadors are working on the construction of social projects, while the office in Brasília raises funds to start the actions, in 2018.