By the time Saru Duckworth was 10 years old, she had lived in 6 different houses. Though she resented moving so often back then, she now wouldn’t have it any other way. Growing up in Hawai’i, Hong Kong, London, Nepal, and Seattle exposed her to new people, foods, and cultures — as well as different challenges. “The cities that I lived in have such high degrees of inequality,” said Saru, a Next Generation Fellow focused on jobs and developing economies. “So it was just always kind of present and that’s been a guiding force.” 

While studying in the U.S., Saru led the student food pantry at George Washington University for low-income students. Post-graduation, she landed a job at BRAC, the largest Southern-led INGO, to scale up sustainable livelihood programs for women living in extreme poverty. BRAC’s mission aligned with SDG 1: End Poverty and gave her the language “to connect with people, to share best practices, to advocate on policy,” she says. Through BRAC, she also began volunteering to teach newly-arrived South Asian immigrants English. 

Her experiences pushed her to ask hard questions about progress: “Why is action not trickling up to the global level? Why are other countries not learning from it and funding it? … Why are our political cycles getting in the way?” As a Columbia University student pursuing a Master of Public Administration in Development Practice, Saru is now focused on unpacking the issues of political will, and how intergenerational strategies can resolve political inaction.  

“SDG 1 is about everything,” she reminds us. “Climate change, gender equality — everything that we want to address, is already affecting [people in poverty] the most. By improving their situations systemically and holistically with infrastructure, with funding, with policy, we improve everyone’s situation.” 

To achieve this, Saru says young people “can’t be afraid to challenge the status quo.” That’s what it means to meaningfully engage. “Your lived experiences? The problems you face? You have agency to make those changes and fill those gaps.” 

By Dynahlee Padilla-Vasquez, United Nations Foundation