International Youth Day2017

International Youth Day 2017

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The theme of International Youth Day 2017 is Youth Building Peace.

Since the adoption of Security Council Resolution 2250 in 2015, there is growing recognition that as agents of change, young people are critical actors in conflict prevention and sustaining peace. International Youth Day 2017 is dedicated to celebrating young people’s contributions to conflict prevention and transformation as well as inclusion, social justice, and sustainable peace.

The current generation of youth are the largest in history and young people often comprise the majority in countries marked by armed conflict or unrest, therefore considering the needs and aspirations of youth in matters of peace and security is a demographic imperative.

Another Security Council Resolution, Resolution 2282 (2016) recognizes that the scale and challenges of sustaining peace requires partnerships between stakeholders, including youth organizations. It also reaffirms the important role youth can play in deterring and resolving conflicts, and are key constituents in ensuring the success of both peacekeeping and peacebuilding efforts.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development committed to fostering peaceful and inclusive societies and affirmed that “[s]ustainable development cannot be realized without peace and security”. Goal 16 aims to ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels. The World Programme of Action for Youth, which provides a policy framework and practical guidelines to improve the situation of young people, also encourages “[p]romoting [the] active involvement of youth in maintaining peace and security”.

Young people’s inclusion in the peace and security agenda and in society more broadly, is key to building and sustaining peace. The process of social inclusion for youth, including participation in decision-making as well as access to quality education, health care and basic services promotes their role as active contributors to society and affords young people with opportunities to reach their potential and achieve their goals. When youth are excluded from political, economic and social spheres and processes, it can be a risk factor for violence and violent forms of conflict. Therefore, identifying and addressing the social exclusion of young people is a precondition for sustaining peace.


Commemorate International Youth Day 2017 

Join us; learn more; organize!

The official commemorative event to celebrate International Youth Day at the United Nations Headquarters in New York will take place on Friday, 11 August 2017. To learn more about how you can participate in the event or watch it live, click here!

To organize your own event or activity, check out our toolkit of ideas here!

To add your event to our Map of Events click here!

To learn more about the issue of youth building peace, click here!

Intergenerational Dialogues on the Sustainable Development Goals”

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1 August 2017     ♦     10 am – 6 pm     ♦     United Nations Headquarters, New York

#NGODialogues

 
A United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI) Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) Intergenerational Dialogues event will be held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City, 1 August, 2017. The event will be titled “Intergenerational Dialogues on the Sustainable Development Goals” and will be co-hosted by DPI and NGO/DPI Executive Committee.
Registration is now open and will close on Monday, 24 July 2017 or when capacity is reached. Register through the CSO Net using your organization’s username and password following the registration instructions below. The username and password for each NGO has been provided to the head of each organization.

Registration

 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND RESOURCES

SDGs

Pace of progress must accelerate to achieve the SDGs

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If the world is to eradicate poverty, address climate change and build peaceful, inclusive societies for all by 2030, key stakeholders, including governments, must drive implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at a faster rate, says the latest progress report on the SDGs launched by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Using the most recent data available, the annual Sustainable Development Goals Report provides an overview of the world’s implementation efforts to date, highlighting areas of progress and areas where more action needs to be taken to ensure no one is left behind. This year’s report finds that while progress has been made over the past decade across all areas of development, the pace of progress has been insufficient and advancements have been uneven to fully meet the implementation of the SDGs.“Implementation has begun, but the clock is ticking,” stated Mr. Guterres. “This report shows that the rate of progress in many areas is far slower than needed to meet the targets by 2030.”Despite advances, acceleration is needed

While nearly a billion people have escaped extreme poverty since 1999, about 767 remained destitute in 2013, most of whom live in fragile situations. Despite major advances, an alarmingly high number of children under age 5 are still affected by malnutrition. In 2016, an estimated 155 million children under 5 years of age were stunted (low height for their age). Between 2000 and 2015, the global maternal mortality ratio declined by 37 per cent and the under-5 mortality rate fell by 44 per cent. However, 303,000 women died during pregnancy or childbirth and 5.9 million children under age 5 died worldwide in 2015.

In the area of sustainable energy, while access to clean fuels and technologies for cooking climbed to 57 per cent in 2014, up from 50 per cent in 2000, more than 3 billion people, lacked access to clean cooking fuels and technologies, which led to an estimated 4.3 million deaths in 2012. From 2015 to 2016, official development assistance (ODA) rose by 8.9 per cent in real terms to 142.6 billion US dollars, reaching a new peak. But bilateral aid to the least developing countries fell by 3.9 per cent in real terms.

Progress is uneven

The benefits of development are not equally shared. On average, women spent almost triple the amount of time on unpaid domestic and care work as men, based on data from 2010-2016. Economic losses from natural hazards are now reaching an average of 250 billion to 300 billion US dollars a year, with a disproportionate impact on small and vulnerable countries. Despite the global unemployment rate falling from 6.1 per cent in 2010 to 5.7 per cent in 2016, youth were nearly three times more likely than adults to be without a job. In 2015, 85 per cent of the urban population used safely managed drinking water services, compared to only 55 per cent of rural population.

“Empowering vulnerable groups is critical to ending poverty and promoting prosperity for everyone, everywhere,”stated Mr. Wu Hongbo, UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs.

Harnessing the power of data

Effectively tracking progress on the SDGs requires accessible, reliable, timely and disaggregated data at all levels, which poses a major challenge to national and international statistical systems. While data availability and quality have steadily improved over the years, statistical capacity still needs strengthening worldwide. The global statistical community is working to modernize and strengthen statistical systems to address all aspects of production and use of data for the SDGs.

About the Report

The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2017 is the annual assessment of global and regional progress towards the Goals. The report is based on latest available data on selected indicators of the global SDG indicator framework, prepared by UN DESA with inputs from a large number of international and regional organizations.

Related information

 

Source: UN DESA

“Without women the Global Goals won’t see the light of day”

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It was October 1989 and Alaa’s mother had just gone into labour. Alaa’s father was in town, working, and couldn’t be reached. Her three-year-old sister had called the ambulance, but the medical crew couldn’t get there in time and so Alaa was born in her parents’ bedroom.

Had this story been happening in present-day Libya, where Alaa Murabit’s parents come from, it could’ve had a very grim ending. In 2015 alone, 303,000 women around the world died during pregnancy or childbirth. That same year saw close to six million children under the age of five perish. That’s over 800 mothers and 16,000 small children dying every day.

Alaa was lucky. She was born in Canada, a country with universal healthcare. “Within minutes I was in a hospital where they took my vitals and made sure I was OK,” she said.

She was even luckier to have supportive, open-minded parents who treated her and her brothers equally and who encouraged her career in medicine. “[My mother’s] definition of leadership was to nurture the necessary confidence and build the skills for her daughters to make their own decisions,” Alaa would later write.

Spurred on by her mother’s example, Alaa Murabit became a vocal activist for women’s rights and universal healthcare. Her initiatives, such as the groundbreaking “Noor Campaign”, which uses Islamic teaching to combat violence against women, are replicated internationally.

Last year, she became the youngest of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals Advocates – a group of eminent personalities who are helping the UN Secretary General to encourage action and commitments for the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals – the SDGs.

This week, Alaa Murabit is in New York for the High-Level Political Forum – an annual meeting to review progress made by countries towards achieving the SDGs. Her message to government officials and other stakeholders is as simple as it is strong: empower women to participate in sustainable development or fail.

“[Only when we] start having honest conversations about the impact that women and girls have on our communities and on this agenda, and the importance of our governments to resource that (…), that’s when we’re going to see legitimate change,” she told ministers and other high-level delegates on Monday.

In Tuesday’s SDGLive interview, she said it was understandable that countries focus more on some SDGs than others, depending on their priorities and capacities. But there are three goals, which according to her underpin the entire 2030 Agenda and where failure is simply not an option.

“The three areas we cannot overlook (…) are education, healthcare and gender equality. Those are the three areas that, when they intersect, can completely transform the world,” she said.

Alaa Murabit is convinced that the only path to achieve the SDGs leads through the economic and social empowerment of women and girls, and through ensuring that they have access to education.

“Data (…) backs up the fact that women and girls really are the key to seeing this agenda come to fruition,” she said in her SDGLive talk.

“If you talk about climate change action [for example], the most cost-effective and practical solution to climate change is the combination of girls’ education and women’s reproductive rights,” she added.

She quoted estimates, according to which equal education and employment opportunities for women and girls would result in a global economic growth greater than that of China and India combined. “We have to realize there is an untapped resource and the only way we can really leverage that is through education and through economic empowerment,” she said.

During the brutal conflict, which erupted in Libya at the beginning of this decade, Alaa called for women and local leaders to be allowed active participation in the peace process. In her new role of SDG Advocate, she remains a fervent champion of genuine women empowerment.

“We so often instrumentalize women,” she said. (…) “We very rarely empower and allow for women to be able to architect their own projects.  And the one way, in which we can actually do that, is through economic empowerment, because we know that when women are economically empowered they re‑invest 90 per cent into their community. And the vast majority of that 90 per cent goes into health and education, so you’re completely transforming that landscape for future generations.”

But despite the wealth of data that supports empowerment and a broader participation of women in SDGs implementation, Alaa Murabit doesn’t see enough progress by countries in that field. “We need to start asking ourselves why, two years in we still haven’t really taken on this agenda as much as we can.”

To Alaa Murabit, the answer is simple: “Without women and girls, this agenda is not going to see the light of day – not even a little bit.”

Related information

International Day of Cooperatives 2017

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The implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is well underway, and cooperative businesses remain one of the best-kept secrets in the SDG toolbox. Cooperative enterprises are based on ethics, values, and a set of seven fundamental principles that keep people, rather than profit, at the centre of their businesses. Cooperatives can be a self-help tool for people to create their own economic opportunities through the power of the collective and pull themselves out of poverty. They re-invest in the communities in which they operate, securing not only the livelihoods of their members but also increasing the wealth of the community as a whole. By being sources of decent work, spaces for democracy and peace building, and an economic force (the top 300 cooperatives alone generate 2.5 trillion USD in annual turnover, more than the GDP of France), cooperatives are truly a partner in transforming our world.

How exactly are these people-centred, values-based enterprises helping to eradicate poverty and promote prosperity? How are they reaching those most at risk for being left behind? And what can governments, civil society, and the UN system do to better support cooperatives in their mission to build a better world?

Inclusion as theme of 2017 International Day of CooperativesTo answer these questions and share cooperative solutions for inclusive development, the Committee for the Promotion and Advancement of Cooperatives (COPAC) will host the observance of the 2017 International Day of Cooperatives during the High-level Political Forum, on 14 July from 1.15 to 2.30 p.m., Conference Room 4, United Nations Headquarters, New York.

The 2017 International Day of Cooperatives will focus on ‘inclusion’ under the theme ‘Co-operatives ensure no one is left behind’, which complements the priority theme of the 2017 High-level Political Forum for Sustainable Development: ‘Eradicating poverty and promoting prosperity in a changing world’.

The event will feature high-level speakers from COPAC’s membership, co-operatives in the field, and Permanent Representations to the UN. Participants will be invited to engage in an interactive discussion with our speakers and to enjoy the debut of COPAC’s video ‘Cooperatives ensure no one is left behind’.

COPAC is a multi-stakeholder partnership of global public and private institutions that promotes and advances people-centred, self-sustaining cooperative enterprises, guided by the principles of sustainable development – economic, social and environmental – in all aspects of its work. The Committee’s current members are the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the International Co-operative Alliance, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and the World Farmers’ Organisation.

Programme of the Event


There are many ways to celebrate the International Day of Co-operatives:

  • Communicate to policymakers in your city, country, or region how co-operatives are building a better world, and ask for their support
  • Organize a celebration that showcases your co-operative’s contributions to inclusion
  • Post videos and photos on social media and online that illustrate how your co-operative ensures no one in your community is left behind


Spread the Word and Connect with Us!

UN HQ

HIGH-LEVEL POLITICAL FORUM 2017

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The meeting of the high-level political forum on sustainable development in 2017 convened under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council, will be held from Monday, 10 July, to Wednesday, 19 July 2017; including the three-day ministerial meeting of the forum from Monday, 17 July, to Wednesday, 19 July 2017.

The theme will be “Eradicating poverty and promoting prosperity in a changing world“. The set of goals to be reviewed in depth will be the following, including Goal 17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development, that will be considered each year:

  • Goal 1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere
  • Goal 2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
  • Goal 3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
  • Goal 5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
  • Goal 9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
  • Goal 14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development

In accordance with paragraph 84. of the 2030 Agenda, Member States have decided that the HLPF shall carry out regular voluntary reviews of the 2030 Agenda which will include developed and developing countries as well as relevant UN entities and other stakeholders. The reviews will be state-led, involving ministerial and other relevant high-level participants, and provide a platform for partnerships, including through the participation of major groups and other relevant stakeholders.

In 2017, 44 countries have volunteered to present their national voluntary reviews to the HLPF. For more details, please click here.

 

United Nations High-Level Political Forum 2017 – Special Event on “Youth in STEM for achieving peace and positive social change for all”

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Entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship led by young women and men, has shown increased potential in responding to prevalent social and economic challenges. Driven by their responsiveness to current trends and opportunities, entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs are key drivers of change for the development of peaceful and resilient communities.

Enterprises and social enterprises led by young women and men not only trigger the necessary momentum for local innovation and sustainable development, but can also contribute to direct and indirect job creation, especially through the peer-to-peer support they facilitate, they can reduce the social gap of inequalities as well as contribute to economic growth and the creation of sustainable inclusive and equitable societies.

In light of this, UNDESA’s Division for Social Policy and Development – in collaboration with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the United for All Peoples (UP),
with the support of the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-NY and the participation of Disabled Peoples International (DPI) and the Manhattan Multicultural Counseling (MMC) – are organizing a special event during the 2017 High Level Political Forum (HLPF) on “Youth in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) for achieving peace and positive social change for all”, 14 July, 9-10:30 a.m. in conference room 8, United Nations Headquarters, New York.

The event aims to discuss how the academic fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) can contribute to the empowerment of youth – with a special focus on young women and girls – by eliminating the gender gap in education and skill-development, and by providing equal employment opportunities, as a strategy to reduce overall inequalities, eradicate poverty and promote peace and prosperity for all. Furthermore, the event seeks to recognize the role that young women and men in STEM are playing in our society and in the achievement of the SDGs, thus functioning as drivers of peace and prosperity.

Concept Note

Flyer of the Event

WFS2016 – São Paulo Declaration now available for download

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WFS2016 LogoSão Paulo Declaration – Families in Balance — Eradicating poverty and promoting prosperity ensuring that NO FAMILY IS LEFT BEHIND

The Office for ECOSOC Support and Coordination (OESC) of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs accepted the Declaration and it will be distributed to all participants of this year’s High Level Segment.

Click in the links below to download the final text of the São Paulo Declaration, discussed and approved at the World Family Summit 2016 held in São Paulo, Brazil, translated by the United Nations into its official working languages.

 English | French | Spanish

U21 kicks off Student #GlobalMobility Month in June!

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Students from 21 member universities across the Universitas 21 (U21) network will be going global in June and July 2017 to participate in a diverse range of activities at the Universities of Edinburgh and Johannesburg and off-site in Ecuador.

On 26 – 30 June, the University of Edinburgh will host 73 students from 21 member institutions for the annual U21 Undergraduate Research Conference (URC). The conference will be run in collaboration with the University’s ‘Global Academies’ programme which tackles global environmental challenges through teaching, research and outreach. Through the theme ‘Future Societies, Global Citizens’ students will consider the global challenges facing future societies and discuss how today’s internationally-minded students can become global citizens. During the conference students will have the opportunity to share their research on a diverse multi-disciplinary range of topics through the medium of poster, presentation, or pecha kucha (concise form of presentation). The academic programme will be complemented by extracurricular events to explore Scotland’s political and cultural heritage, from tours of Edinburgh Castle and the Scottish Parliament, to a traditional Ceilidh dance.

Students from University College Dublin, the University of Edinburgh, Tec de Monterrey and the National University of Singapore will also be going global this month, travelling to South Africa to participate in the University of Johannesburg’s (UJ) Summer School, ‘Fabricating Design Spaces’ from 26 June – 14 July. As part of the course, students will work with the Department of Jewellery Design at UJ in collaboration with leading South African Fashion Designer, David Tlale, and emerging new talent Mariambibi Khan. Students will be introduced to basic metal smithing techniques in the first week of the course, the design and manufacture of metal embellishments for clothing during the second week of the course, and at the end of the three-week course, they will have an opportunity to exhibit their creations.

Students from the Universities of Melbourne, Queensland, Birmingham, Edinburgh and the National University of Singapore will travel to Ecuador to take part in the Social Entrepreneur Corps (SEC) from 25 June – 21 July, a programme administered on behalf of U21 by the University of Connecticut. In Ecuador, they will work directly with SEC field professionals and social entrepreneurs in rural locations to establish new, and grow existing micro-consignment supported businesses. They will live with local families, study Spanish, and work with local community service organisations and businesses.

U21 Provost, Professor Bairbre Redmond, said: “The U21 Undergraduate Research Conference, Summer School, and Social Entrepreneur Corps are all valuable learning, cultural, and experiential opportunities for our undergraduate students. These events give U21 students the unique occasion to come together and share their work and become involved in challenging and creative projects with other students from some of the best universities in the world. I hope that the attendees in all three events have a wonderful and valuable experience at these activities and I particularly thank the Universities of Edinburgh, Johannesburg and Connecticut for their hard work in planning and hosting this year’s events.”

 

Get Involved!

You can join in, comment or follow U21’s #GlobalMobility events via the Twitter hashtag and via @U21News, or for details on each event, please see the below:

U21 Undergraduate Research Conference @EdinburghUni

#U21URC

U21 Summer School @MediaUJ

#SummerSchool #U21atUJ

Social Entrepreneur Corps

#EcuadorSEC

For details on U21’s student activities and how you can get involved, please HERE

JOIN THE CLIMATE ACTION CHALLENGE

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The What Design Can Do Climate Action Challenge is a global design competition that calls on the creative community to submit innovative ideas for helping people adapt to climate change. The challenge specifically focusses on the poorest and most vulnerable people, particularly in the Global South, who will suffer the brunt of climate change. 

What Design Can Do (WDCD), the IKEA Foundation and Autodesk invite designers, creative thinkers and imaginative trouble-shooters from all countries and disciplines, to take part. The call for participation opened on 23 May at WDCD Live Amsterdam 2017, and will close on 21 August 2017.

WHAT ARE WE LOOKING FOR?

We are looking for fresh and innovative solutions to help mankind adapt to climate change. The best designs are innovative, practical, scalable, affordable, and easily understood. The Climate Action Challenge is open to everyone, yet specifically aimed at designers and creative entrepreneurs. Both existing and completely new ideas and solutions may be entered.

HOW TO ENTER?

You can participate in one of three Challenge tracks: student, creative professional or start-up. The top ideas in each track will be evaluated by an international jury and selected to join a special acceleration programme in the last phase of the challenge.

All proposals should be entered via the WDCD Climate Action Challenge Platform. Our innovative briefing generator will help you decide how to tackle the many problems related to climate change. Use this online tool to discover the design strategy, the topic and the location that suits you best. 

WHY ENTER?

• You are concerned about the climate crisis and want to make a positive contribution to a possible solution
• You will be part of a global creative network and can benefit from its combined knowledge and creativity
• You have the chance of receiving exposure for your ideas through the communication channels of all the partners involved
• Last but not least: as a winner you are eligible for a share of the €900.000 award package and to join our acceleration programme!

For more information visit: www.whatdesigncando.com/challenge-2017/climate-action/