Photo: Engajamundo. All rights reserved.
Francesc Badia: Thank you, Raquel, for having DemocraciaAbierta. My first question is: how did you become an international leader? You started as a local activist and quickly became a global leader. How was this?
Raquel Rosenberg: I started in Rio +20, which was a UN summit on sustainable development held in Rio de Janeiro in 2012. I went there with some friends, and the first thing I saw was that there actually is a space for youth in UN summits. But this space was totally occupied by youth from the North – from the developed countries. When I heard their positions on behalf of global youth… well, they were clearly unaware of the things that we face in the South and the challenges that we encounter as Latin Americans or Brazilians. So, I decided that our voice should be heard in that space. After Rio +20, we started working on what was to become Engajamundo, my NGO in Brazil – in English, “engage the world”. The idea behind it is mobilizing and engaging young people in activism/advocacy on global issues: climate change, gender equality, sustainable development and habitat. What we do is train young people and then go on to defend strong positions at UN conferences. When we get back from the conferences, we figure out how to bring global issues down to the field and make sure young people understand where their responsibility lies – to be part of the solution, not just the victims, which is what has been happening in the past.
