European Development Days #EDD17 – Celebrating the SDGs and One UN
(Top image: UN colleagues & Young Leaders with Her Majesty Queen Mathilde of the Belgians / UNRIC)
Organised by the European Commission, the European Development Days (EDD) is Europe’s leading forum on development since 2006. The development community comes together every year to share ideas and experiences in ways that inspire new partnerships and innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges. This year’s edition took place on 6-8 June, 2017 in Brussels.


The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals stand at the European Development Days included a wide range of exciting and innovative features such as the #SDGstudio, virtual reality films, touch-screens showcasing data visualizations and polling mechanisms on the SDGs, and a selfie photobooth to invite visitors to show their commitment and take action on the Goals.


The UN stand is organized by the UN SDG Action Campaign, the UN in Brussels (25 UN entities), UNECE and the World Bank. Occupying a central space at the European Development Days global village, the UN SDG stand is a convening space to engage thousands of visitors on the Sustainable Development Goals and showcase the efforts of the United Nations and its partners around the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

During the European Development Days:
- Thousands of people visited the United Nations stand, with active participation of several hundreds per day (in total there were 8000 participants attending EDDs)
- There were 35 #SDGStudio dialogues! 16 on Day 1 and 19 on Day 2.
- The United Nations was involved in more than 50 out of the 120 EDD sessions
- More than 90 UN colleagues were hosts at the UN Stand, inviting delegates and showcasing SDG innovation
- Around 350 people took a selfie at the photobooth


The #SDGStudio was a new and exciting feature of the United Nations stand, which is a unique platform to generate informal and insightful inter-generational dialogues between young leaders and high-level officials from the United Nations, the European Commission and a wide range of other institutions present at the EDDs. The #SDGstudio was proud to host the following dialogues:
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- Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations & Suman Kumar, EDD Young Leader, Nepal
- Role of Youth for the SDGs: Alexander De Croo, Deputy Prime Minister of Belgium & Minister of Development Cooperation, Digital Agenda, Telecom and Postal Services, Belgium & Esenam Amuzu, EDD Young Leader
- Health and SDGs: Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General elect, WHO & Vytenis Andriukaitis, European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety & Kalaba Nkonde, EDD Young Leader
- Discussion on SDG Advocates and promoting the SDGs: Thomas Gass, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Inter-Agency Affairs in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) & Laura Hildebrandt, Programme Specialist, UN SDG Action Campaign
- Sustainable Development Goals, Advocacy, the Power of Women, & New Media: Dr. Alaa Murabit, SDG Advocate & Founder of the Voice of Libyan Women & Nadir Nahdi, BENI Founder & Youtube Creator for Change Fellow
- HeForShe – Men’s Role in Achieving Gender Equality: Yannick Glemarec, Deputy Executive Director, UN Women & Vandinika Shukla, EDD Young Leader
- Transforming the Living Conditions of Slum Dwellers: Aisa Kirabo Kacyira, Deputy Executive Director, UN-Habitat &
Marine Gaudron, PLATFORMA - Empowering Youth for the SDGs in Latin America: Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary-General, Ibero-American Conference (SEGIB) & Ahtziri Gonzalez, ONE Youth Ambassador
- Canada and the SDGs: Hon. Stéphane Dion, Special Envoy to the European Union and Europe & Ambassador of Canada in Germany & Laura Hildebrandt, Programme Specialist, UN SDG Action Campaign
- Investing in Creativity, the future is now: Eduardo Matoko, Assistant Director-General, Africa Department, UNESCO & Vandinika Shukla, EDD Young Leader
- Root Causes of Migration, Migration & SDGs: Gervais Appave, Special Adviser to the Director General of IOM & Odessa Primus, EDD Young Leader
- How sustainable is Agenda 2030? Peter Wollaert, UNITAR Fellow & Managing Director CIFAL Flanders & Ruben Bäumer, EDD Young Leader
- Development potential of legal migration and mobility between the EU and Africa: Eugenio Ambrosi, IOM Regional Director for the EU & Ahtziri Gonzalez, ONE Youth Ambassador
- If you don’t define yourself, someone else will: Nadir Nahdi, BENI Founder & Youtube Creator for Change Fellow & Vandinika Shukla, EDD Young Leader
- Development Minerals Matter for the SDGs: Daniel Franks, Programme Manager, ACP-EU Development Minerals Programme & Silvia Flores, EDD Young Leader
- UNCDF and Its Role in Achieving the 2030 Agenda: Xavier Michon, Deputy Secretary General, UNCDF & Liudmyla Palamar, ONE Youth Ambassador
- African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States and SDGs: Viwanou Gnassounou, Assistant Secretary-General, African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) & Liudmyla Palamar, ONE Youth Ambassador
- Water and SDGs: Murray Biedler, Water Division, UNESCO & Paolo Ronco, Joint Research Center, EU Commission & Mila Palamar, ONE Ambassador
- The Importance of Tackling Air Pollution and Climate Change: NK by Nour Kays, Green Entrepreneur, SwitchMed Programme and Courtney Gehle, EDD Young Leader
- How to Create Decent Jobs in the Global Supply Chains? Dan Rees, Director, Better Work, ILO & Michael Elkin, Chief Technical Adviser, SCORE, ILO & Ahtziri Gonzalez, ONE Youth Ambassador
- World Vision Youth Ambassadors from Romania, Ghana and South Sudan & Mila Palamar, ONE Youth Ambassador
- The Central Role of Water for Inclusive and Sustainable Growth: Stefan Uhlenbrook, World Water Assessment Programme, UNESCO
- The Role of Private Sector in Achieving SDGs: Marcos Neto, Director, Istanbul International Center for Private Sector in Development, UNDP & Nishchal Banskota, EDD Young Leader
- Data and SDGs: Paula Hidalgo-Sanchis, PhD, Manager, Pulse Lab Kampala & Anand Kantaria, Programme Manager, UN SDG Action Campaign & Chinenye Ezeakor, EDD Young Leader
- Signing Ceremony of the Memorandum of Understanding between UNDP & the African Guarantee Fund (AGF) with Barbara Pesce-Monteiro, UN/UNDP Director in Brussels and Felix Bikpo, CEO of AGF
- Role of Local and Regional Authorities in Implementing the Migration-Related Elements of the SDGs: Cecile Riallant, Head of UN Joint Migration and Development Initiative & Odessa Primus, EDD Young Leader
- Financing for the SDGs: Yves Guicquero, Head of Development Agenda and International Partnerships, French Development Agency (AFD) & Elias Habbar-Baylac, UNDP
- Learning for Development Partnership (Learn4Dev): Monica Lisa, Programme Officer, Innovative Learning Solutions at International Training Centre of the ILO & Fleur Rondelez, ILO
- Partnerships and the SDGs: Thomas Gass, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Inter-Agency Affairs in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) & Leonardo Parraga, EDD Young Leader
- Fashion, Traceability & Informed Choices: Rakesh Vazirani, Director of TUV Rheinland Group & Tasneem Ava, EDD Young Leader
- Making the SDGs Work for Indigenous People: Martin Oelz, Senior Specialist on Equality and Non-Discrimination, ILO & Fleur Rondelez, ILO
- Why Can’t We Achieve SDGs Without Resilient Recovery? Jo Scheuer, Director, Climate Change & Disaster Risk Reduction, UNDP & Renaud Meyer, Country Director, UNDP Nepal & Liudmyla Palamar, ONE Youth Ambassador
- Risk Reduction and its role for the SDGs: Robert Glasser, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction and Liudmyla Palamar, ONE Youth Ambassador
- Transforming Mindsets: 2030 Youth Agenda for Sustainable Development: Dareen Abulail, NET-MED Youth Project, UNESCO & Vandinika Shukla, EDD Young Leader
- The Informal Economy: Luis Frota, Senior Social Security Specialist, ILO & Fleur Rondelez, ILO
In addition to the above guests who visited the #SDGstudio, the UN stand also welcomed the following visitors:
- Her Majesty Queen Mathilde of the Belgians & SDG Advocate
- Professor Muhammad Yunus, Founder, Grameen Bank & SDG Advocate
- Paul Polman, Chief Executive Officer, Unilever & SDG Advocate
- Ambroise Fayolle, Vice-President of the European Investment Bank










View more photos: UNRIC Gallery / SDG Gallery