UN SDG Action Campaign

SDGs: A People-powered Agenda – Leave No One Behind

The SDGs Exhibition Launches July 18 at the United Nations!

Throughout the post-2015 process and following a call to action from the United Nations Secretary-General in 2012, over ten million people shared their hopes and dreams with the UN to help shape the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As we enter the era of Agenda 2030, the challenge now is to show that the SDGs are in fact achievable through partnership and action from everyone everywhere. Will YOU become a part of this movement to build a better world?

INTRODUCTION

The exhibition recounts how millions of ordinary people have ensured the Sustainable Development Goals are a bold and ambitious agenda through the most inclusive and transparent process the UN has ever seen. It also provides some concrete examples of the actions people can take now to help their governments with the implementation of the SDGs by 2030.

We need YOU to help ensure the SDGs become widely known and to ensure that as the Agenda 2030 is implemented, and NO ONE IS LEFT BEHIND.

The exhibition was curated, designed and produced by the UN SDG Action Campaign on behalf of the UN Development Group (UNDG), in partnership with: the Federal Government of Germany, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

It features voluntary input and stories from millions of people around the world through data visualizations, photographs, videos, virtual reality. It also allows interactive ways to share your opinion, make your commitment and explore how to take action on the SDGs.

HOW TO VISIT

The exhibition is open to the general public during official UN visiting hours, 418 July 18 – 7 September 2016,

Monday through Friday from 9:00 am to 4:30 pm
Saturday & Sunday from 10:00 am to 4:30 pm
All visitors must exit the building by 5:30pm

The entrance is at 46^th Street and 1^st Avenue, New York, NY 10017. Visitors without an official UN Pass will have to first obtain a guest pass at the screening station on 46th and 1st across the street from the UN. Be sure to bring a photo ID.

If your delegation or mission would like to schedule a special exhibition tour, please kindly contact Alice Chen at alice.chen@undp.org (6096510945)

FEATURED CONTENT

MDGs to SDGs

Learn about the process that led us from the Millennium Development Goals to the Sustainable Development Goals with a special emphasis on peoples’ voices. By using cutting edge technology and data visualizations, the voices of over 10 million people, especially the voices of the most vulnerable populations, are told through the following initiatives:

MY World 2015 Survey – over 10 million people, most of them youth, have told the UN their top six of sixteen priorities for a better world, data that has fed into the post-2015 agenda
World We Want – a knowledge platform hosting documentation, and data visualizations including those from online, national and thematic civil society consultations
Humans of MY World – a photo exhibition telling the stories of MY World voters around the world
Virtual Reality – immerse yourself in the life of some of the world’s most vulnerable using high-tech 3D VR headset

Action to Engagement Arena

The action and engagement arena allows visitors to “get their hands dirty” and take action for furthering the SDGs: right here, right now! These are some of the ways to take action:

MY World Survey2030 – Modeled after the first phase of MY World, this citizen satisfaction survey will monitor Global Goal progress and allow further specialization at a local level
Women’s Economic Empowerment– tell us what you think would help to empower women economically by filling out our survey
Own Your Voice– Virtually “Meet” six young women from around the world who are using their voice to change the world, they are the Youtube Change Ambassadors!
Commitment Corner – How will you help achieve the SDGs by 2030? Make your commitment on our SDGs blackboard and take a selfie, tag us @SDGAction

There’s more, but you’ll have to come see for yourself. Visit the SDGs Exhibition before September 7^th 2016 and see what actions you can take for the SDGs!

Data and Development – A Conversation with Peoples’ Voices Challenge Winner, Popily

Throughout the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), the UN Millennium Campaign had the pleasure of hosting the Peoples’ Voices Challenge Award Ceremony at the We the Peoples Hub. The Peoples’ Voices Challenge Awards is a celebration of the work of the hundreds of partners at the United Nations who gave voice to those who don’t often get a say in global conversations.

Data visualization is not normally the first thing you would think of when talking about empowering marginalized communities, but Popily is not your average data analytics firm. Popily is a data science and visualization company that lets everyday, non-technical people figure what is important from their data and share it with anyone, anywhere. The Popily team used the millions of MY World survey results and thousands of Humans of MY World Facebook page posts to generate interactive data visualizations. The public can explore these visualizations on their website, so people can discover the stories in the data that they find most meaningful. We talked to Popily Co-Founder Vidya Spandana about the role data visualization and analytics plays in the Post-2015 Agenda.

Tell us about Popily, some of the things you work on, and your goals as an organization:

Popily is a data visualization and data science company, we let people put in their data and automatically generate thousands of visualizations so that they can walk through a data set instead of being confused by a giant spreadsheet of lots of numbers. [Popily] is really there to democratize data so that people who don’t have a background or experience in science or statistics can actually engage with it in a real way. Imagine being able to walk through a visual representation, instead of just looking at a piece of paper. The more people who can do that, the more empowered they can be to make decisions on what is actually happening.

For us data is a way to see the world in an observational way with some kind of reality to it, and so for more people to have the ability to access that the better we think so that we can make collective decisions together. That aligns perfectly with the work that the [UN Millennium Campaign] is doing with MY World.

What was it that made [Popily] decide that [The MY World Survey] would be a perfect pilot project for you guys to work on?

When [CEO Jonathan Morgan] brought [MY World] on for us we were really excited because the idea of actually getting information and data about peoples lives around the world really humanizes the whole date concept and really brings our tool to life. We would actually really like to step back and let the data and the voice of the people shine and this was the best opportunity to do that.

What does this mean for Popily to win [Most Innovative Visualization] right now?

It’s extremely exciting for us, we launched officially about two or three months ago so it’s very new for us and to be able to announce partnership with the United Nations, to explore people’s data that actually has meaning has us over the moon. This is an opportunity that we’ve really been able to leverage and open up new opportunities around democratizing data. What were are more excited about is to bring data in the hands of regular people and whatever tools they need to be able to explore it.

What are some of the ways that people can actually use Popily?

Sure! You would just go to Popily.com and then there you can sign up to either upload your own data sets and explore it or there are loads of public data sets – including the MY World data set – that you can explore yourselves.

What are some of the finding you saw in the [MY World] data?

There were so many things that were really exciting. Just getting to actually look at what is in there has been sort of like a treasure that you can open up and see. One of the things that was really interesting is how education is such a priority across gender, age, and country… I also thought that is was interesting how in certain countries the younger generation… its better to reach them via paper balloting as opposed to any kind of web or mobile tools, and I would have never expected that.

What do you have planned for the future?

There’s a lot actually! We’ve been partnering with companies and organizations, especially governments and city governments, to be able to explore data that citizens would care about. So helping organizers put the data in a shape that they can make some decision on and then put it back out in the hands of regular people is really fun and is exactly what we got to do.

Visually explore MY World data with Popily

Humans of the world can now visually explore the data from the MY World global survey in new ways. Popily – a data science and visualization company — has uploaded the open data from the survey onto their site, allowing users to further investigate, discuss and understand the survey via thousands of data visualizations. The site allows for easy social sharing, allowing users to collect, comment and share the data. Popily will also partner with the UN Millennium Campaign to analyze and curate this data, providing new insight ahead of the UN General Assembly in September 2015. See Popily site

MY World is the UN Global Survey for a better world, conducted between 2013 and 2015 across the globe. The 7.7 million responses have been collected mostly from person to person paper based methods, as well as online and through SMS. Although this data is all open source, the current data visualizations allow for disaggregation by country, age, gender, income level and method of collection. Popily will now allow people to further explore the data with new ways of comparison, diving deeper into the database. Each visualization is a potential insight into the priorities, needs, and voices of the citizens that have spoken up to help guide the new UN development agenda. Continue reading “Visually explore MY World data with Popily”

Lesotho’s MY World campaign launched by youth volunteers

MYWorld Launch Lesotho — Dr. Tesfaye Shiferaw, UNICEF Representative in Lesotho takes the MY World 2015 Global Survey on Friday, October 24. Photo: Mark S. Cogan / UNDP Lesotho

MASERU–As the United Nations in Lesotho celebrated the 69th birthday of the UN with national and international partners last Friday, (October 24) it also formally introduced the Basotho people to MY World 2015, the United Nations Global Survey with the help of the United Nations Volunteers and volunteer-involving organizations like the Rise Up Youth Organization.

“We will work to pass the survey on to other youth, which means getting into villages and into schools,” said Ramootsi Majalle, Director of the Rise Up Youth Organization.

Ramootsi said he hopes to enable as many Basotho as possible to have their say, including those with visual disabilities by translating MY World into braille.

Lesotho, a small landlocked country in Sub-Saharan Africa, is beset by a number of persistent development challenges. It has the second highest HIV burden in the world—second only to its close neighbour Swaziland. Half of the country lives below the national poverty line.

The United Nations seeks the views of the Kingdom of Lesotho on the world they would like see post 2015. Unemployment is rampant, particularly among youth, who make up almost half of the population.

“Engaging youth is critical to reaching a sizable portion of the Basotho people,” said Ms. Karla Robin Hershey, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Representative in Lesotho.

“We want to make sure that their voices are heard as we transition into the next set of sustainable development goals.”

UN Day activities led by volunteer involving organizations yielded almost 150 votes on the afternoon.

Several national volunteer groups helped collect MY World votes, including the Rise Up Youth Organisation, and the Campaign for Education Forum. In addition, MY World was supported by the National Volunteering Corps, a government volunteering initiative supported by UNV and UNDP.

“MY World Survey is a great opportunity for Basotho to have their say in determining the post-2015 agenda,” said John Villiers, a UN Volunteer from Ireland.

“The turnout was outstanding and we look forward to working with our national partners to spread MY World into other districts across Lesotho.”

Contact Information:

Mark S. Cogan, UNDP Communications and Reporting Specialist, mark.cogan@one.un.org, +266 Tel: (+266) 22 313 790 ext. 377

Lesotho UN Day — Volunteers in Lesotho carry out the MY World 2015 Global Survey on UN Day. Photo: Mark S. Cogan / UNDP Lesotho

Launch of localized MY World Website in China

Blog by Evonne Tang, Youthink Center China

On November 1st, MY World China’s newly improved website, www.myworld2015.cn, was unveiled during the World Youth Forum 2014 annual meeting, organized by MY World Partner, Youthink Center. The localized Chinese website was created in collaboration with Youthink, the UN Millennium Campaign and UNDP.

MY World is a global survey for citizens led by the United Nations and MY World partners. It aims to capture people’s voices, priorities, and views, so that global leaders can be informed as they begin the process of defining the new development agenda for the world.

Continue reading “Launch of localized MY World Website in China”

MY World 2015 Launches in Jalisco, Mexico

November 11, 2014

The MY World 2015 global survey is bringing the voices of residents from Jalisco, Mexico to the United Nations by asking them what issues make the most difference in their lives.

On 23 September, the UN Millennium Campaign and Corporativa de Fundaciones, A.C. signed a memorandum of agreement to roll out MY World in the State of Jalisco, Mexico. This week Corporativa de Fundaciones, A.C., held a press briefing where the following partners signed an annex agreeing to take part in the campaign: the Undersecretary of Planning and Evaluation from the Government of Jalisco, COPARMEX Jalisco, Instituto Jalicense de la Juventud, Federación de Estudiantes Universitarias, Colegio de Estudiantes Cientificos y Tecnológicos del Estado de Jalisco, Instituto Tecnológico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, Campus Guadalajara, Universidad Jesuita de Guadalajara and the Unión de Sociedades de Alumnos del ITESO.

Nearly 400 dedicated and enthusiastic volunteers, mostly students and youth, are currently being trained to carry out the survey. The Jalisco campaign will run from now until May 2015 and aims to reach at least 200,000 Jalisco residents using both online voting and paper ballots. By engaging students at universities across Jalisco, and young people through the State’s Youth Council as well as IMJUVE (the Youth Institute of Mexico) the campaign aims to extend across at least 80% of the state’s territory.

The results of the survey will not only contribute to the new sustainable development agenda at the UN, but according to David Gómez Álvarez, the Jalisco Undersecretary of Planning, these citizen priorities will also become incorporated in the State Development Plan in 2015.

Follow MY World Jalisco on Twitter and Facebook

See the disaggregated results of the MY World Jalisco survey

Video (en español):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvPqxYPpwck

Notas de prensa (en español):

My World 2015 in SIMONU Bogotá 2014

Blog by MY World Youth Ambassador, Julián Rodríguez

UNDP Colombia, the United Nations Information Center (UNIC) Bogota and the Secretary of Education of Bogota organized the largest Model UN in Colombia – SIMONU (Simulación de las Naciones Unidas). As a UN initiative, SIMONU was conceived in late 2012 in an effort to bring students together from different background.

In early 2013, 150 schools were convened to be part of this initiative. More than 1500 students from almost 105 public and private schools participated in the largest simulation in almost 40 committees with a wide range of topics.

This year, 2100 students from around 220 schools in Bogotá participated in the simulation in 54 committees themed around the Respira Paz campaign (Breath Peace).

Undoubtedly, this learning experience is an achievement for Colombian Education. For this reason, the MY World Colombia team participated in SIMONU with two of its partners, doing different activities around the campaign. Almost 2200 people answered the survey and others reflected on the survey in their SIMONU committees. The MY World team also recorded participants sharing what their most important MY World priority was and why.

In Colombia, MY World 2015 is supported by UNDP Colombia and the Bogota Secretary of Education. These two organizations have shown their commitment to the Colombian youth with this opportunity to participate in the Post-2015 Agenda. Thank you for the great collaboration, without you this would not have been possible.

Want to learn more about SIMONU Bogota?

https://www.facebook.com/SimonuBogota

@SIMONUBogota

An Honest and Responsive Government – the Role of Citizen Voice

Blog by Caya Johnson, Global Youth Advocate

“Throughout history, progress has always been driven by citizens, who have the courage to raise their voices” – US President Barack Obama, Open Government Partnership Side-Event, 24 Sept. 2014

By empowering people around the world to have their priorities heard at the UN, the MY World 2015 Global survey has enabled a more transparent and accountable international development process – so perhaps it is unsurprising that these people have a similar aspiration for the openness and accountability of their own governments. Out of the 16 MY World priorities, “An Honest and Responsive Government” is the 4^th most voted for worldwide.

Disaggregated MY World Results on “An Honest and Responsive Governance”

Furthermore, the MY World survey indicates that in low-HDI countries people feel that governance has a very real impact on their lives. In these countries an honest and responsive government is the 2^nd most voted for priority on average, indicating that governance and poverty are indeed linked. This linkage is backed up by research carried out by Transparency International showing a clear connection between poor governance and poverty.

Continue reading “An Honest and Responsive Government – the Role of Citizen Voice”

Data for Sustainable Development in Small Island Developing States

The Third International Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS) took place this month from 1 – 4 September, in Apui, Samoa. The overarching theme of the conference was ‘The sustainable development of small island developing States through genuine and durable partnerships’. Six multi-stakeholder partnership dialogues were held in parallel to the plenary meetings. The overall objective of the conference was to assess progress to date, seek renewed political commitment for action, identify new emerging challenges and opportunities for the sustainable development of SIDS, and identify priorities for the sustainable development of SIDS to be considered in the elaboration of the post-2015 UN development agenda. In this context, MY World has published a report with a focus on data from SIDS, including MY World survey data and regional consultation data sets reposited on the World We Want website: worldwewant2015.org/reports

Please feel free to read our report by following this link.

SIDS Priorities

People Driven Accountability Side Panel Event During 65th Annual DPI-NGO Conference

“An agenda that is built on the priorities of people will be a better agenda – it will respond more to their needs, to their aspirations, and how they want to live their lives.”

– Paul Ladd, People Driven Accountability Workshop, DPI-NGO Conference

New York City – August 28, 2014

The United Nations Millennium Campaign (UNMC) and the World We Want 2015 Policy Strategy Group presented the People’s Voices Workshop on August 28, 2014 during the 65th Annual DPI-NGO Conference. The workshop, titled ‘People Driven Accountability’ presented examples of the UN Millennium Campaign’s strategy for ensuring the millions of voices, hopes and dreams of people from around the world are heard by world leaders as they negotiate the post-2015 development agenda.

Ms. Rosa Lizarde, Co-chair of the World We Want 2015 Policy Strategy Group, moderated the workshop, and the keynote address was given by Mr. Nicholas Pron, Special Advisor to the President of the United Nations General Assembly. Panelists included Paul Ladd, UNDP Post-2015 Team Lead, Ghazala Mehmood, Policy Strategy Group Member representing Barakat Incorporation, Niels Caszo, President of AIESEC US representing youth-led organizations, and Mohan Sunkara, the CEO of Azri Data Engineering. Ravi Karkara, UNMC Post-2015 Strategic Partnerships Advisor and Co-chair of the World We Want 2015 Policy Strategy Group offered the closing remark for the workshop.

The workshop focused on how MY World 2015 and the World We Want 2015 are tools which allow people to have a say in UN Processes. The MY World Survey has so far accumulated the voices of over 4 million people from 194 countries. The World We Want 2015 platform steers discussions on the post-2015 agenda and enhances civil society’s participation to ensure that people’s voices are taken into consideration when drafting the new development agenda. The results of the MY World Survey are hosted in the World We Want 2015 Trends page and they complement the global consultative exercises by UNDG and by civil society organizations worldwide in light of building an inclusive future development agenda after the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) end in 2015. All of this open data is available for anyone to access, so “everyone can use this data to make a strong case and point and to hold governments to account,” as Ravi Karkara pointed out during the workshop.

Continue reading “People Driven Accountability Side Panel Event During 65th Annual DPI-NGO Conference”