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!

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

UN Volunteers in Ecuador roll out MY World at the Regional Youth Forum in Quito

UN Secretary General’s Envoy on Youth Ahmad Alhendawi praises UN Volunteers in Ecuador‘s mobilization and support to youth participation in the definition of the post2015 agenda through the MY World survey.

UN Volunteers rolled out the MY World survey at the 2014 Regional Forum for Latina America and Caribbean (Foro Regional de Juventudes LAC 2014) in Quito, where UN agencies, intergovernmental organization, youth networks and the Government of Ecuador elaborated a regional perspective along with priority and recommendations for the post-2015 agenda.

Great work UN Volunteers!

UN Volunteers engage Bhutanese people in having their say at the UN

Source: UN Volunteers

Bhutanese youth have their say at the UN (Riikka Suhonen/UNV 2014)

UN Volunteers engage Bhutanese people in having their say at the United Nations through the global MY World survey

Nearly 800 people voiced out what matters to them most by voting in the global MY World survey at the Tarayana Fair in Thimphu, Bhutan on 2-4 May. UNDP Bhutan and UNV, in cooperation with the Tarayana Foundation, mobilized volunteer students from YHS Tarayana School Club to engage people in expressing their views through paper ballots at the MY World tent. Her Majesty the Queen Mother Ashi Dorji Wangmo Wangchuck, the Patron of the Tarayana Foundation, and the Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay inaugurated the MY World tent and also voted their top development priorities.

Queen Mother of Bhutan also voted for MY World (Riikka Suhonen/UNV 2014)

From about 200, the total number of Bhutanese MY World respondents has now reached 1000. The MY World Week of Action in Bhutan continues in the central and eastern parts of the country, where volunteers will discuss with youth and students in various schools and colleges about the role of volunteerism in development, and mobilize them to conduct the survey in their communities. UN Volunteer Riikka Suhonen has done an amazing job in reaching out to stakeholders in Bhutan and positioning volunteering as part of the broader discussion on societal happiness and well-being.

UNV supports MY World as a contribution to make the ongoing post-2015 consultations process truly inclusive.

United for MY World during the General Assembly

The night of September 25, 2013 was a remarkable time for MY World. Even though it was held during the week of General Assembly, the busiest time of the United Nations, our partner recognition event was greeted with overwhelmingly interests and engagement. The crowd drew to the exhibition space in UNICEF House, New York, where the event was hosted, was just as inclusive as the MY World Survey. From Nobel Economic Prize winner Muhammad Yunus to disabled children from our partner in India – NineisMine, everyone had a chance to share their voices on MY World and the post 2015-development agenda.

Continue reading “United for MY World during the General Assembly”

Building Kazakhstan’s Future, One Vote at a Time

The MY World Booth our key national partner, the National Volunteer Network, helped to design for UNV Kazakhstan’s outreach activity on International Youth Day, August 12, 2013. As an eye-catching, interactive feature of the event, respondents to the MY World Survey could attach six stickers onto the board for the issues they deemed most important for Post-2015 development, in addition to filling out the MY World paper ballot.

contributed by UNV Kazakhstan, Josefine Ulbrich (UNV Intern for Youth Networks & Volunteering)

On International Youth Day 2013, taking the continuation of the National Consultation process into their own hands, 16 youth volunteers engaged the Kazakhs in an open conversation about their priorities for the post-2015 development agenda. They contributed to the offline roll out of the MY World survey in two bustling public places in Astana.

Building on the momentum of the Post-2015 National Consultation Process led by Kazakhstan’s government and the UN Country Team, which engaged more than 2000 people, UNV Kazakhstan promoted youth’s powerful role as agents of change and mobilized young volunteers in a MY World outreach campaign, to make sure the ideas of Kazakhstan’s people are reflected in the global conversation on Post-2015 development.

Continue reading “Building Kazakhstan’s Future, One Vote at a Time”

25 Sept. MY World Partner Recognition Event and Award Ceremony

When: 25 September 2013, 6:15 pm (EST)
Where: Danny Kaye Center. UNICEF House, 3 UN Plaza, New York

Thanks to the support of over 700 partners worldwide, MY World, the United Nations survey for a better world, has mobilized over 850,000 participants in 194 countries.

By September 2013, we will have reached 1 million votes and this turning point provides the perfect backdrop for a MY World Partner Recognition Event and MY World Award Ceremony.

The MY World Awards will recognize the work of those partners who have stood out for their performance in the promotion of the MY World survey at the national or international level.

Continue reading “25 Sept. MY World Partner Recognition Event and Award Ceremony”

Merel, Youth Volunteer for post-2015: Bangladesh

As part of the UNDG national consultations for the post-2015 development agenda in Bangladesh, the United Nations Resident Coordinator’s office and the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme have jointly led the first phase of the My World survey in Bangladesh through offline and online promotion of the survey.

“As I joined the UNV Field Unit in Bangladesh, UNRCO and UNV were already thinking about ways to increase participation to the My World survey. I joined the discussion addressing many questions: Can we translate the survey into Bangla? How do we reach out to the rural and urban poor? And most importantly: whom do we want to target?” said Merel Fuchs, international UN Youth Volunteer. The United Nations System in Bangladesh decided to involve specifically young people due to the high demographic percentage represented by youth that constitute the Bangladesh population. The UNV FU in Bangladesh took up the challenge to coordinate the process and acted as a focal point for all participating organisations as well as volunteers. The translated Bangla version of the survey was distributed and collected by different UN entities and international and local NGOs. The numerous partners disseminated the survey through their networks. In total more than 9.000 surveys were distributed throughout the country.

Volunteers have contributed in many ways to the success of My World in Bangladesh. Volunteers on the field administered the survey and informed young people about the post-2015 process of consultations and the opportunity to participate in the debate and have their voices heard also via completing the My World survey.

Online volunteers also played an essential role in making the survey work in Bangladesh: online volunteers who had been working with UNV translated the survey into Bangla and over 40 online volunteers supported the UNV FU in entering the results. People from across the globe came together to support the My World process in Bangladesh: from all continents, online volunteers applied to enter data. “To me it is really inspiring to see volunteers from Colombia, the USA, DRC, Czech Republic, India, Australia and of course Bangladesh commit their time and energy to turn My World into a “youth success” in Bangladesh” says Merel “Last but not least, of course, is the active interest of UN agencies, NGOs and local volunteers in administering the surveys who are the driving force of My World in Bangladesh”.

Due to the time and energy of all people involved over 4200 people participated in the offline survey by the end of June 2013. Most of the participants were young people under 35 years old. Our partners enabled youth from across the Bangladesh to participate in the survey and thus reached out to all different kind of social, ethnical and religious groups.

It is clear how the priorities of young people in Bangladesh speak to their personal well-being and development, while the other priorities are socially inclined, underlining the importance of good governance and active participation in their futures. When looking at the results according to educational attainment, it is interesting that the prioritisation of ‘equality between men and women’ has a correlation with the education level of participants: those with below secondary education attainment listed gender equality as more important than those who attended beyond secondary school[1], who prioritised ‘an honest and responsive government’.

While the results are not representative for all youth in Bangladesh, the outcome does point to the importance of giving quality education and fair employment opportunities to young people – no matter their educational or socio-economic background.

The work is not over for the UNV FU in Bangladesh: their aim is to increase the overall number of participants and encourage people throughout the country to mark the difference. A similar exercise can only be the beginning of further engagement and participation of young people to the development of their country!

bangledash — Workshop on post-2015 development and distribution of the survey by Merel Fuch

[1]If you want to know more about the results, check out the UN Bangladesh website!

MY World in Sudan

In Sudan, the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme is holding a number of workshops in 6 states: White Nile, Kassala, Gadarif, Blue Nile, Genina, Sinnar. The participants are coming from various national universities, such as the University of Khartoum, Jazeera University, Sudan University, Ahfad University, but also volunteer groups, NGOs, the Scouts and the Y Peer Networks. During the workshops, students and youth activists are lead through interactive sessions for raising awareness, youth empowerment, discussion on the new development agenda and promotion of the offline roll out of the MY World survey.

So far more than 1000 votes were collected; the volunteers were present in a national radio show and visited more than 4 universities. The MYWorld engagement will continue in the future, since they are planning to keep spreading the offline roll out and to engage national celebrities for the “Mark the Difference” Campaign.

Making every vote count in India

UNV Field Unit in India has mobilized thousands of Indians to vote for the My World Survey. Where internet or mobile options are not available, UNV’s partners at the grassroots level are supporting offline surveys since March 2013 reaching out to thousands of Indians to engage them in the post-2015 process. So far, about 2500 offline votes have been collected through this mobilization effort, covering more than eight Indian states from all the four regions. The survey provided opportunities to youth (both rural and urban), educationists, women, tribal, marginalized and poor people to give their opinion about the changes that will make this future free of poverty and more equitable.

In Karnataka, the students of Social Work of BSW College run by Belgaum Integrated Rural Development Society (BIRDS) reached out to more than 1000 tribal, marginalized and poor households from the remote areas near Belgaum in March. The survey was translated in Kannada, a language the people speak. In Assam, the members of the SUROVI Shishu Panchayat (children’s assembly) reached out to more than 130 children and youth in slum and remote areas of Guwahati between 18-24 April. The participating youth felt that in a society where they hardly ever get a chance to have their say, it was a great feeling to learn that the UN wants to hear them.

In Mumbai, Maharashtra, about 30 school principals and teachers participated in the survey in April organized supported by Anant Vikas Trust. Currently, efforts are on to mobilize more than 10,000 votes in communities in rural and urban areas around Mumbai. In Delhi, more than 100 students, teachers and other participants voted through the offline survey in May during Children’s Social Conclave, 2013 organized by People’s Institute for Development and Training (PIDT), UNV and other partners to mark Global Youth Service Day.

In Kerala, a team of 20 enthusiastic youth took it upon themselves to reach out to their communities in Wayanad District of Kerala supported by AFRC INDIA to hear their unique perspectives for a better world. In June, this team of youth volunteers traveled extensively for nine days throughout the district and collected approximately 675 votes, exhibiting the great role volunteers could play in development efforts. In words of Laila Sein, founder AFRC, “The best thing I found about the survey is that our students have started thinking beyond cricket and mobile phones— about critical issues that affect them.”

On 20 July, more than forty youth stepped forward to disseminate the offline survey with the backing of Anant Vikas trust in village Gomla, Haryana. This brigade of young volunteers was able to collect more than 70 votes from the villagers. Thanks to PIDT efforts, 388 tribal, marginalized, poor people and youth submitted their votes in Jharkhand. 200 votes came from the local women alone. Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth development (RGNIYD) organized the My World Survey in Tamil Nadu in July and 42 students of RGNIYD representing more than 12 Indian States participated in the survey.

Currently, offline survey is being organized in Tamil Nadu, Jammu and Kashmir, and Maharashtra supported by Youth For Human Rights International, The Peace Gong, and Anant Vikas Trust.

India old woman — A volunteer explains to an old lady, born in 1920, what is the MY World Survey.

Continue reading “Making every vote count in India”