1,500 participants make noise at the Global Festival of Action for the world to hear: activate and connect for sustainable development

Multiple voices and solidarity as the success ingredients for global action: this was the main takeaway from the last day of the Global Festival Action for Sustainable Development.

More than 1,500 participants from more than 100 countries convened at the Festival, hosted by the United Nations SDG Action Campaign.

After making new connections, exchanging innovative solutions and dancing to the sound of SDG-inspired beatboxing, our Festival-goers are now taking it all home, committed to keep acting for sustainable development!

Gathered at the closing ceremony, the amazing UN SDG Action Awards winners gave their main takeaways from the Festival. “I’m going to learn from these seven other people to create a movement and change the world”, said Foluke Michael, founder of Creative Youth Initiative Against Corruption in Nigeria.

“Never give up. Everyone wants to help their family, their community, their country. We need to bring out that desire of everyone and transform it into action”, summarized founder of Sri-Lankan initiative The Road to Rights, Ashan Perera.

More than 30,000 people watched the livestream from 158 countries and the Festival was a trending topic on Twitter in Germany.

#SDGglobalFest trending across the world

Thanks for joining us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram! Those are the countries where people were tweeting & posting to Instagram with #SDGglobalFest

Closing out the Festival, a fully interactive rap filled with love fired up the crowd, bringing together acoustic drums, beatboxing and SDG inspired lyrics. “We’ve got all the love we need”, sang the participants in unison.

See all the images of the third day

Browse photos of the second day

See photos of the first day

Revisit the Awards Ceremony

The Festival is over but the change-making doesn’t end here… let’s continue acting for SDGs!

Join us for the Global Day of Action on 25th of September with #ACT4SDGs.

Looking forward to seeing you next year for the third round of the Festival, from 2 to 4 May 2019!

Stay tuned to the Festival website for updates on the next edition and check the UN SDG Action Campaign page all year long to see how people are pushing for change in every single corner of the planet.

21 – 23 March: Global Festival of Action – Register now!

Join us for the second Global Festival of Action for Sustainable Development on 21-23 March 2018 in Bonn, Germany!

The Global Festival of Action for Sustainable Development will be 2018’s meeting place for SDG Actors – from across the globe – to meet, network, build partnerships, share best practices, practical tools and ideas to further action towards the 2030 Agenda!

Do you have a story to tell? An initiative to share? A network to showcase? Then, we want to hear from you!

In order to create a diverse, dynamic and inclusive event for the international SDG community, we are calling for sessions, innovations, SDG Studio guests, participants and… we want to recognize and celebrate some of your greatest achievements through the inaugural UN SDG Action Challenge Awards!

The Festival will feature tracks on innovation & disruptive change, citizen engagement and communicating the SDGs in sessions ranging from high-levels panels to interactive deep-dive workshops.

JOIN US!

For more information on ways in which you can get involved and register your interest to attend, please visit http://globalfestivalofaction.org. Follow us on Twitter & Facebook with @SDGglobalFest.

*Interested in helping to co-design the Festival this year? Check out our Partnership opportunities – we want to hear from you!