A list was drawn up of Sustainable Development Goals - 17 in total - to create a blueprint for a better future. Goals like gender equality, good health and eliminating poverty. So, five years on, what progress has been made?

Project 17 is an ambitious new radio and podcast series co-produced by the BBC World Service and The Open University which will take listeners to 17 different countries around the world, to meet seventeen 17 year-olds and find out how, and if, their lives are really changing.

It is a chance to hear how young people want to shape their future. It starts on BBC World Service on 20 January 2021.

The series is presented by BBC Afghan journalist, Sana Safi, who says: “There are many issues around poverty and equality where it is not just about what politicians or international action can do, but about the hope young people can ignite. And for the Sustainable Development Goals to work they have to involve young people. It sounds simple, but this series shows how hard this might be.”

Each half-hour programme will focus on a different goal. The guide for every goal will be a different 17 year-old for whom the issue has a personal resonance. Some of them are already actively trying to make a difference in specific areas.

They will explain why goals such as access to clean water, and a healthier diet or a good education are so important to their families, their communities and their own future wellbeing and prosperity. They also visit projects tackling each issue head on. They take us around their neighbourhoods talking to other teenagers, listening to experts, and interrogating those in authority to find out whether there is any chance that the Sustainable Development Goals can be met by 2030 - and in the process create better opportunities for their generation.