IDG Support Team Sep 19 The 2023 Girls Speak Out will draw upon the IDG theme of “Invest in Girls’ Rights: Our Leadership & Wellbeing” focusing on action for girls’ rights. This begins with fulfilling, protecting, and respecting girls’ rights. It demands trusting girls’ leadership as equal partners, ensuring there is space for girls to be heard, to participate and co-lead, and respecting their voices, perspectives, and lived realities as decision-makers and as the leaders of today. This also requires investing in and supporting girls’ health and well-being as well as their education and including girls in determining what their needs are while working in an intergenerational effort to meet those specific needs. In listening to Girl Advocates’ perspectives and Girl Activists who are already making change, the overarching questions at this year’s Girls’ Speak Out will be: How are you taking action for girls’ rights? How are you investing in, supporting, and working towards the realization of girls’ rights? Register Here In-person Registration:https://www.eventbrite.com/e/717402930477?aff=oddtdtcreator Virtual Registration:https://www.eventbrite.com/e/717421947357?aff=oddtdtcreator
In collaboration with the Working Group on Girls, the GSIJP Office is cosponsoring with Istituto Internazionale Maria Ausiliatrice (IIMA) Salesian Sisters of Don Bosco an IDG Sponsorship Day on October 7 ‘Investing in Girls’ Leadership and Power.’ This is an X/Twitter Storm starting at 11.00 a.m. EST. Follow social media for more details.
Join girls from Asia Pacific on October 7 from 10.30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. Malaysian time in their celebration. LINK TO REGISTER
The words of the UN Secretary General at a press conference following the opening of the 78th Session of the General Assembly
” My appeal to world leaders will be clear:
This is not a time for posturing or positioning.
This is not a time for indifference or indecision.
This is a time to come together for real, practical solutions.
It is time for compromise for a better tomorrow.
Politics is compromise.
Diplomacy is compromise.
Effective leadership is compromise.
If we want a future of peace and prosperity based on equity and solidarity, leaders have a special responsibility to achieve compromise in designing our common future for our common good.
Next week here in New York is the place to start.”
All you every need to know about the General Assembly and what is taking place from September 16 to 29
JCOR have prepared a very informative guide in Powerpoint to help us navigate at home and at the UN Headquarter in NY. It is available in four languages English, French,Spanish and Portuguese. Get a sense of when your national leaders are going to address the assembly on Slides 6,7 and 8. Social media with sample messenging are towards the end.
Saturday September 16: Mobilization Day: Opening Session of the SDG Action Weekend followed by ‘Towards a Rights-Centered Gender-Transformative Economy, including a new International Financial Architecture” organized by Women’s Major Group, with the suppor of UN Women. It will be live on UN Web TV from 12.00 pm – 2.00 pm. EST. This is followed by a side event at 2.15 pm. entitled from SDG Summit to Summit of the Future: building the UN we Need in Conference Room 4 and lastly at 4.15 pm EST : Towards the Realisation of SDGs: Multi-stakeholder, Intersectional and Intergenerational Approach.
Sunday September 17th: I will attend the Global People’s Assembly at the Church Center. 9.00 am EST Opening Plenary; 11.15 am Which Financial Architecture for Economic Justice; 1.30 pm Linkages of Pushback, Linkages of Resistence: Gender, Climate, Migration and Democracy and at 3.00 p.m. join the Climate March.
Monday, September 18 is the first day of the SDG Summit with a leaders dialogue taking place in the UN. From 9.00am – 11.00 am EST I will attend the second day Global People’s Assembly in a session entitled Feminist Economy. The conclusion of the day is around Civil Society Networking followed by Final Plenary and Public Action at 6.30 p.m. EST Concurrently, Religions for Peace have an event TRILATERAL PARTNERSHIP OF REGIONAL FAITH-BASED NETWORKS FOR THE SDGs: Register HERE to attend virtually. Register HERE to attend in person.
A good overview of all activities taking place over the next two weeks – within the opening of the UN General Assembly 78th Session. Thanks to NGO Branch DESA
On 18-19 September 2023, world leaders will gather at the SDG Summit in New York for the mid-point review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the implementation of its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Summit is expected to adopt a political declaration that will provide a roadmap for putting the world back on track to achieve the SDGs by their 2030 deadline. The Summit will be informed by the 2023 Global Sustainable Development Report prepared by an independent group of scientists and the 2023 Special Edition of the SDG Progress Report by the Secretary-General. More information about the 2023 SDG Summit is available on the website at: hlpf.un.org/sdg-summit.
SDG Summit Programme
An Information Package for the SDG Summit, including the Programme, has been circulated by the President of the General Assembly on 11 September and is available here. More information on the Programme can be found here: https://www.un.org/en/conferences/SDGSummit2023/programme.
In his accompanying letter, the President stated that following open, transparent and inclusive consultations under the leadership of H.E. Mr. Fergal Mythen, Permanent Representative of Ireland to the United Nations and H.E. Ms. Alya Ahmed Saif Al-Thani, Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar to the United Nations, he has been informed that the text attached to his letter has reached the broadest possible agreement among Member States ahead of the Summit. In this regard, the President stated his intention to transmit the draft political declaration to the Secretariat for its further processing. The President also expressed his sincere thanks to Ambassadors Mythen and Al-Thani for their steadfast and professional stewardship of the political declaration process.
The President noted in his letter that while it may not address all issues of importance for every delegation, the draft declaration ensures a common understanding among Member States to advance transformative actions leading up to 2030. He emphasized that the political declaration represents the beginning of a new phase of accelerated implementation of the 203 Agenda, which will need to be complemented by continuous high-level political guidance.
SDG Action Weekend
To galvanize all actors ahead of the SDG Summit the United Nations is organizing an SDG Action Weekend at United Nations Headquarters on 16 and 17 September 2023. Being the first time that the United Nations Headquarters will be open to all stakeholders ahead of the General Assembly high-level week, the SDG Action Weekend will be an opportunity for all stakeholders to showcase their innovative and ambitious commitments, contributions and multi-stakeholder partnerships to drive SDG transformation between now and 2030 and mobilize towards an ambitious SDG Summit. It will bring together heads of state and government of UN Member States and other senior government representatives such as ministers, leaders from civil society and activism, youth advocates, academics, private sector representatives, and more.
The SDG Action Weekend will consist of the SDG Mobilization Day (16 September 2023) and the SDG Acceleration Day (17 September). The SDG Mobilization Day (16 September) will feature seven “mobilization segments.” These include segments on Major Groups and other Stakeholders as well as on civil society, youth, women, local and regional governments, the private sector and science and academia. The SDG Acceleration Day (17 September) will be centered around the twelve UN High-Impact Initiatives spearheaded by the UN development system to highlight a set of transformative transitions and cross-cutting enablers that can be brought to scale to bring SDG achievement back on track. The SDG Action Weekend will also feature high-level opening and closing sessions as well as more than 40 high-level side-events organized by coalitions of UN Member States, UN entities and other international organizations, and global stakeholder networks. Please review the full programme here.
The SDG Action Weekend will be open to representatives of all Member States, the UN system and organizations and stakeholders whose work is relevant to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs. All in-person participants MUST have either a valid UN grounds pass or a Special Events Ticket issued by the United Nations to enter the United Nations Headquarters during the SDG Action Weekend. Please note that, as an exception, CSO badges (“N”) and retiree badges (“R”) will be valid during the two days of the SDG Action Weekend (16 -17 September 2023). Holders of a UNLP (United Nations Laissez-Passer) can also attend the SDG Action Weekend. Registration for the SDG Action Weekend was closed at 5 pm EDT on 8 September 2023. Due to the large number of registration requests received, no late registrations nor onsite registration can be accommodated. If you missed the deadline to register, you can follow the live streaming on UN WebTV. More than 4000 stakeholders have registered to attend the SDG Action Weekend.
National Commitments to SDG Transformation
The Secretary-General has urged world leaders to deliver a “Rescue Plan for People and Planet” at the SDG Summit including by announcing national and global commitments to drive SDG Transformation in the years ahead. Member States are encouraged to present forward-looking national commitments to SDG transformation that include (i) priority transitions and areas for investment that will help maximize progress across the SDGs; (ii) a national benchmark for reducing poverty and inequality by 2027; and (iii) steps towards strengthened national planning and institutional frameworks to support progress in these areas. Member States in a position to do so have further been encouraged to put forward time-bound global and regional commitments to strengthen international cooperation and support for developing countries, particularly the most vulnerable countries. The SDG Acceleration and Accountability Platform now includes a separate, dedicated form for submitting National Commitments to SDG Transformation. The updated form seeks to respond to the requests from RCs and Member States for a simplified process for registering national commitments on the platform. The platform is currently accepting submissions through the end of UNGA high-level week, with a deadline of Friday, 22 September 2023. Member States can access the dedicated form here: National Transformation Commitments to SDG Transformation.
Global Sustainable Development Report
The Global Sustainable Development Report 2023 (GSDR) will be launched on Tuesday, 12 September, at a press conference at 12:30 p.m. EDT at UN Headquarters in New York. On Monday, 11 September, the Independent Group of Scientists who prepared the report met with the Deputy Secretary-General for a hand-over ceremony. Additionally, UN DESA is organizing a Global Policy Dialogue in the SDG Studio on “Time for Transformation” (14 September, 11 a.m.-12 p.m.) to further present the GSDR to the public in an engaging and informal way. Finally, the Report will be presented to Member States and other stakeholders at the SDG Summit (18 September). Scientists will also participate in webcast interviews at the UN-organized SDG Media Zone during the UN General Assembly High-level Week.
Fraudulent email warning
The Secretariat of the SDG Summit has been made aware of fraudulent emails that are being circulating regarding the SDG Summit, including preparatory events. Please consult the SDG Summit website for accurate details about the Summit and its preparations.
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Two events are on the calendar – the first tomorrow Thursday, September 7, at 10.00 am EST and the second a week later on Thursday, September 14 at 10.00 am EST. They are organized by UNANIMA and co-sponsored by other NGO’s including Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd. REGISTER HERE to receive the Zoom link
The second event – Rethinking Multilaterialism REGISTER HERE
A two day program it scheduled and planned for September 16 and 17 – the first day is a mobilization day featuring mostly NGO’s and the second is an Acceleration Day with the foucs on High Impact Initiatives. The full 24 page program is available HERE The proposed program is vast and complex and always demands choices – difficult choices. How does one choose between ‘A Rights-Centered Gender-Transformative Economy, including a New International Fiancial Archecture’ and ‘Breaking Down the Barriers to Leave No One Behind’ and ‘Torchbearers for the SDG’s Meaningful Youth Engagement & the 2030 Agenda.’ Other aspects of the day focus on ‘Catalyzing Transformative Change: Science, Academia and the Journey to 2030;’ ‘Local & Regional Governments Forum: Action and Leadership from the Ground Up; Towards the Rescue Plan for People and the Planet;’ ‘Enhacing Advocacy, Financing and Acountability: Key Messages from Civil Society to the SDG Summit and Beyond;’ and ‘Unlocking the Potential of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMES): Meeting the Finaincing Gap.’
The SDG Acceleration Day (17 September, 2023) will propel stakeholders from ambition to action by highlighting how the High Impact Initiatives, multigenerational campaigns such as Generation Equality, and cross-SDG impact catalyzers such as SDG Digital can accelerate collective achievement. See pages 11 to 21 of the program
These programs, presentations, approaches surely indicate a tumultous desire for a new future – one of equity, prosperity and wellbeing for every person and for the planet. It is a privilege to be part of, a participatant in, and a contributer to such activities. While attending and moving throught the varous fora inside and outside of the United Nation, the unmistakable ask, advocacy moment, is and will be one of peace, good will and prosperity for all. I, as your representative at the United Nations hold this desire for you, your ministry and your country at this time. The Congregations is surely part of a groundswell seeking full implementation of the Sustaiable Development Goals, gender justice, climate justice and the upholding of the rights of every person especially those of girls, women, and children in all their diversity and mother earth.
While all this is happening we are in the Season of Creation …
and will observe UN International Peace Day on September 21 which is linked with ambition to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Take Action and contribute to implementation of the SDGs See the Action Guide for helpful suggestions
We invite you to the Global People’s Assembly 2023 on 17 and 18 September! This is a hybrid event – with the physical assembly in the UN Church Centre in New York and online participation for all events. We will also have interpretation in French and Spanish for the majority of sessions. Please register above to receive links for online participation and a confirmation letter to access the Church Center in New York.
The Global People’s Assembly is the culmination of community and national People’s Assemblies in 41 countries and constituencies, where representatives of marginalized and excluded groups alongside civil society discussed the state of implementation of the SDGs.
This year we will bring people’s voices to the UN SDG Summit on the 18th and 19th of September and other high-level events during the UN General Assembly week. It is now more important than ever that we come together to make our voices heard, as it is the SDG mid-point and we are still not close to achieving the 2030 agenda.
This year’s programme is brought to you by 60 civil society networks from national, regional and global levels (see list of organisers here) – coordinated by Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP).
Best wishes,
Ingo Ritz and Rose Heffernan
On behalf of the Organisers
On Monday, September 18th the opening of the SDG Summit will take place.
The official meetings of the SDG Summit will be available live on UN TV: http://webtv.un.org.
Day of the Girl 
