UN SDG Action Campaign

UN SDG Action Campaign visits Lehigh University

In April 2016, the SDG Action Campaign visited the Lehigh Global Union Program, coordinated by Director Bill Hunter, to kick off a closer relationship. Lehigh University is an accredited partner of the UN, the sixth university in the world to gain official recognition as a non-governmental organization by the UN Department of Public Information. The Global Union for the United Nations Program regularly provides possibilities for interactions between students and the UN. Students are able to see UN affiliated speakers lecture on campus and at the UN, and many serve as NGO representatives, youth advocates and volunteers.

The UN SDG Action Campaign’s Kristin Gutekunst visited campus for a two day open pop up exhibition. During the visit, students learned about the Sustainable Development Goals by exploring MY World 2015 data, and pilot testing MY World 2030 ahead of its official launch in July. Over 200 students were also able to truly immerse themselves in the global challenges of today through the United Nations Virtual Reality Series.

The collaboration drew upon the support from student volunteers to promote and coordinate the visit and to document the process through photo and video – providing a multitude of students from diverse backgrounds an outlet for their respected disciplines.

The experience generated two reflective blogs, one by Kelsey Leck and another by Katie Morris. Sophomore Katie Morris wanted to do more to increase global awareness by including the stories and images of others. A dual major in Global Studies and Journalism, she collected votes and stories for the Humans of MY World. This photo-narrative project, hosted on a Facebook page shares the personal stories of some of the individuals who voted in the MY World survey.

Sophomore Nadine Elsayed documented the students’ reactions to the UNVR films in a special video.

The two day event closed with a special panel discussion discussing the impact of the Syrian refugee crisis in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where the school is located. This region has one of the largest populations of Syrians in the country. Invited panelists included Abbas Khalaf, Case Manager with Luthern Children and Family Service, an Iraqi refugee who had resettled in the city, and now dedicating his time to helping others making the transition, and Hasshan, another professional working in supporting with refugee populations.

Abbas had the chance to speak candidly about his experience resettling in the United States as a refugee from Iraq. He also told us his feelings after watching the virtual reality film, Clouds Over Sidra, about a young Syrian Refugee.

[wpvideo UgYCNPyb]

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”

Yuwalaya and UN Nepal unite to increase votes

The UN in Nepal has teamed up with Yuwalaya, a youth led NGO that has been organizing advocacy events on post-2015 agenda at various schools and universities in Kathmandu as well as working with volunteers to collect offline ballots throughout Nepal. To support the MY World Global Week of Action 5-11 May, Yuwalaya organized several student workshops. Yuwalaya and the youth organizations they worked with set the goal of reaching a total 20,000 votes for Nepal.

This post was compiled and edited based on original blog and facebook entries by Yuwalaya and co-founder, Mr. Sanjog Thakuri, who has been actively involved in collecting the voices of children, adolescents and youth in the post-2015 development agenda process and in supporting the My World initiative in Nepal.

The UN in Nepal has teamed up with Yuwalaya, a youth led NGO that has been organizing advocacy events on the post-2015 agenda at various schools and universities in Kathmandu as well as working with volunteers to collect offline ballots throughout Nepal. To support the MY World Global Week of Action 5-11 May, Yuwalaya organized several student workshops.

According to Nepal’s 2011 Census, there are roughly 9.2 million children aged 0-14 who make up 35% of the total population, and 7.36 million youth aged 15-29 who are 27.82% of the total population. When the Global Week of Action began, there were roughly 13,000 votes from Nepal on the MY World Survey. Yuwalaya and the youth organizations they worked with have set the goal of reaching a total of 20,000 votes in Nepal.

To support the Global Week of Action, Yuwalaya organized three workshops in participation with colleges and youth organizations. In each session, Mr. Thakuri began by explaining the Millennium Development Goals and presenting the various ways that youth can participate and get involved in the development of the future post-2015 agendas, including via the MY World Global Week of Action. He stressed the importance of youth having a voice in global issues, especially since many were not aware of the impact the global development agenda will have on their lives. He shared the present statistics and priorities of people from Nepal based on My World data. The youth and adolescent participants agreed to mobilize their communities to collect more votes.

During the first session on 5 May, 34 youths studying their first and second years of Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) at Classic College participated in the orientation. The school distributed 1500 ballots to further more vote collection. Continue reading “Yuwalaya and UN Nepal unite to increase votes”

College freshmen give added boost to MY World campaign in Thailand

Thailand’s Dhurakij Pundit University (DPU) held a kickoff event for incoming freshmen on July 4 and 5, bringing together new students and offering them to participate in a range of team-building activities. It was also a way of introducing students to the university’s involvement in MY World, the United Nations Global Survey.

DPU’s International College (DPUIC) gave a presentation about the MY World campaign and invited more than 1,500 new students to hear about the United Nations and many of the post-2015 development challenges facing Thailand and the rest of the world. “The beginning of a new academic year is always an exciting time for both faculty and students. This year is no exception as DPUIC has the opportunity to continue our successful partnership with MY World,” said Dominic Bone, DPUIC Assistant Dean of Student Affairs.

Continue reading “College freshmen give added boost to MY World campaign in Thailand”