GENERATION 17, A PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN UNDP AND SAMSUNG

MÁXIMO MAZZOCCO, 30
ARGENTINA

“I told myself I was going to lead my own life to make the lives of others better. It’s the only way I know."

As a teenager in Buenos Aires, Máximo Mazzocco wondered what he could do about his city's garbage problem. One day he stopped wondering and started working on it. Máximo dashed off a pamphlet on recycling and started knocking on doors – teaching, persuading and cajoling 400 families in the community with his waste-reduction message. Looking to amplify his efforts, he created the nonprofit Eco House, inspired by the idea that small actions can add up to big changes. Now the group operates 30 programs and soon will be in 23 countries – advocating for the environment, teaching companies to recycle and compost, mobilizing youth and educating more than 70,000 children just in Argentina, in addition to youth in many other countries.

SHOMY CHOWDHURY, 26
BANGLADESH

“We’re empowering young activists, giving them the skills to follow their passion and take action in their communities.”

Tragedy struck Shomy Chowdhury at age 20, when her mother died just a day after contracting diarrhea. The experience leveled Shomy. So did learning that 1.5 million people die from diarrhea annually. Shomy gave her first presentation four days later on practicing hygiene to prevent deadly disease. “I thought if I waited one more day, maybe someone else would die,” she says. “Doing something right helped turn my pain into strength.” Scores more presentations followed, many to sex workers, sanitation workers and others who are often marginalized and live in extreme poverty. Today, Shomy funnels her strength through Awareness 360, an organization she cofounded that now trains 1,500 young activists in 23 countries and has already reached over 150,000 people.

TAFARA MAKAZA, 24
ZIMBABWE

“I think it’s my job, and the private-sector’s job to figure out how to break down these big problems into small problems we can tackle.”

When Tafara Makaza sees a problem, he can’t resist – he works relentlessly to solve it. Take intercity travel in Zimbabwe, where as a boy he’d walk miles to his PhD father’s teaching job, or the lack of opportunity that drove his highly educated mother to work abroad for a month at a time. Tafara arrived in the United States in 2017; when he discovered ride-sharing apps, he knew instantly how to drive change himself. He learned to code and launched two apps in Africa with a friend: a ride-sharing service and a platform that matches workers with one-off jobs. Tafara now helps run both startups from his dorm room at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts.

SADYA TOURÉ, 23
MALI

“The Sustainable Development Goals are very personal for me. I think they should be personal for everyone. And I think we can achieve them before 2030."

Sadya Touré was subjected to female genital mutilation (FGM) at the age of four. “I knew this was not fair,” she says – and she has been on a mission of female empowerment ever since. At 13, she joined Mali’s National Parliament of Children, where she skipped school lunch to save money and travel to events promoting girls’ education. Later, Sadya educated older, all-male village councils about FGM’s disastrous effects on women’s health, and founded an organization, Mali Musso, that provides full university scholarships, housing assistance and career training to girls from rural Mali. Her next goal: to win a seat in Mali’s parliament seat in five years.

The Samsung Global Goals app empowers everyone to make a difference.

As a generation of young leaders around the world takes action, the Samsung Global Goals app can be the first step in joining their efforts– making it easier than ever to have an impact. Installed on more than 70 million Galaxy smartphones worldwide, Galaxy users can learn about the challenges of and interconnectivity across the Goals. They can transform their newfound knowledge into action by making a big difference with fast and simple solutions.