The impact of Covid-19 has been unprecedented, not just in the tragic impact on lives, or the disproportional impact it has had on the most disadvantaged communities, but also in terms of what we have seen can be achieved. As lockdown restrictions ease and we all negotiate living in a ‘new normal’ we must not lose the opportunity to understand what factors made change happen at a pace previously unimaginable, and apply this to address the underlying inequalities and climate challenges that existed before Covid-19 that it has so dramatically highlighted. To drive this, Business in the Community has spent the last month in conversation with over 100 business leaders and a further 500 practitioners and partners to understand what Covid-19 has taught us about how we could turn ambitions into action. Now is our moment to not simply slip back to a new normal, seeing the last few months as a series of heroic acts, but instead to seize the opportunity to accelerate action. Join us to hear and share your thoughts with a diverse panel of business game changers on their experiences and reflections, and how they plan to take these actions forward in their businesses to Build Back Responsibly.
SDG 17: PARTNERSHIPS
Responsible Innovation Framework
This webinar marks the launch of Business in the Community’s Responsible Innovation methodology, including a panel of expert innovators. Every company is innovating daily just to stay ahead, and even more so as we look to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. But to what extent are the impacts of these innovations on our communities and environment considered? This year has seen Business in the Community develop and pilot a new approach to responsible innovation, which enables innovators to identify and mitigate unintended consequences and capitalize on opportunities to support our communities, protect our environment and meet the Global Goals. Responsible innovation has been shown to reduce risk and bring cost reductions, improved brand value, increased resilience, enhanced employee, customer and supplier relationships, and ultimately, more innovation. By joining this webinar, you will receive the tools needed to put the Responsible Innovation Framework into practice within your businesses. There will also be opportunities to collaborate and innovate responsibly together.
For more information, contact Elena Perez, Events Manager at BITC, [email protected].
Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data’s Fifth Anniversary Town Hall
Our fifth anniversary is coming up and we’re getting ready to celebrate. On September 25, we’re hosting a virtual gathering to launch the publication of our five-year report, to reflect on progress since our founding in 2015, and most importantly, to hear from you. We want to hear about your favorite data memories, some of the biggest challenges you’ve worked through, the biggest difference in SDG data that you see now versus five years ago, and we want your input on what the next five years should look like.
Have something to share? Send us an email, tweet it with #Data4SDGsAt5, and/or come to the townhall. We’ll see you online.
Global Blockchain Business Council’s Blockchain Central UNGA
The Global Blockchain Business Council’s (GBBC) Blockchain Central UNGA will bring together leading voices in technology, policy, and business to discuss the role of technology and community in accelerating progress toward achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
This year’s Blockchain Central UNGA will be entirely virtual, open to the public, and live-streamed, allowing stakeholders and citizens across the globe to tune into thought provoking discussions, fireside chats, and presentations on the issues our global community is tackling to create a more secure, equitable, and functional societies for all.
Keynote Speakers:
Akon, Grammy-nominated Artist, Producer, Tech Entrepreneur
Megan Roberts, Deputy Director of Policy Planning, UN Foundation
Superintendent Linda Lacewell, NYS Department of Financial Services
David Treat, GBBC Board Chair; Senior Managing Director & Head of Accenture’s Blockchain Business
Leanne Kemp, Founder & CEO, Everledger; Chief Entrepreneur, Queensland, Australia
Charles Sims, Head of Technology, LA Clippers
Nature for Life Hub: Part 1
To coincide with the 75th UN General Assembly, UNDP and partners are creating a four-day “Nature for Life Hub”- a virtual space where global leaders will share stories on the importance of nature for sustainable development. Leaders participating in the ‘Nature for Life Hub’ will invite a virtual audience to engage in lively, thought-provoking exchanges, and will engage a wide variety of sectors, including governments, businesses, financial institutions, youth and local communities. All events will showcase nature-based solutions in policy, in practice, in communities, in art – but most of all, in action.
Sept 24, DAY 1 – SDG DAY: Celebrating the value of nature in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
Sept 25, DAY 2 – BUSINESS AND FINANCE DAY – Greening our wallet in development, finance and business.
Each day will culminate in key messages to be issued by the coalition of partners to be fed into the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework negotiation process, CBD COP 15 and Climate COP 26 negotiation processes.
Nature for Life Hub: Part 2
To coincide with the 75th UN General Assembly, UNDP and partners are creating a four-day “Nature for Life Hub”- a virtual space where global leaders will share stories on the importance of nature for sustainable development. Leaders participating in the ‘Nature for Life Hub’ will invite a virtual audience to engage in lively, thought-provoking exchanges, and will engage a wide variety of sectors, including governments, businesses, financial institutions, youth and local communities. All events will showcase nature-based solutions in policy, in practice, in communities, in art – but most of all, in action.
Sept 28, Day 3 – GLOBAL AMBITION DAY: A planetary response to our planetary emergency.
Sept 29, Day 4 – COMMUNITY DAY: Celebrating the power of local action, and the role of indigenous peoples and local communities in our planetary response.
Each day will culminate in key messages to be issued by the coalition of partners to be fed into the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework negotiation process, CBD COP 15 and Climate COP 26 negotiation processes.
Business Fights Poverty NYC Online 2020
Join us for a week of inspiring and engaging content, live events, peer networking, and community-led learning to drive connections, conversations, and collaboration around how we rebuild better after the pandemic. The event will explore how business and its partners can help create an equitable and resilient future, and each day we will deep-dive into a specific theme:
- Imagining the Future We Want (Monday);
- Creating an Equitable World (Tuesday);
- Helping People Survive and Thrive (Wednesday);
- Building Resilient Livelihoods (Thursday);
- Shaping System-Level Partnerships (Friday).
The event is co-hosted with AB InBev and Visa, and a range of supporting partners, including Anglo American, Mars, Nestlé, and Standard Chartered. Content partners include Harvard Kennedy School Corporate Responsibility Initiative, the UN Office for Partnerships, WBCSD, Business in the Community, The Partnering Initiative, and the League of Intrapreneurs.
Roundtable: Driving leadership action to Build Back Responsibly
With COVID-19 impacting the world over, the 75th United Nations General Assembly Week (UNGA) will be a key moment in the 2020 calendar for the world to focus on social and environmental challenges and accelerate collaborations to meet the Global Goals.
This roundtable is part of a series of virtual events, which Business in the Community (BITC) is running to elevate the conversation and drive action on how business can Build Back Responsibly.
Over the last month, we have been in conversation with over 100 business leaders and a further 500 practitioners and partners, to understand what Covid-19 has taught us about how we could turn ambitions into action. Now is our moment to not simply slip back to a new normal, seeing the last few months as a series of heroic acts, but instead to seize the opportunity to accelerate action. So to coincide with this year’s United Nations General Assembly week, we will be bringing together influential business leaders across our network to create faster, bolder, bigger action.
This event is by invite only. For more information, contact Elena Perez, BITC’s Events Manager, at [email protected]
SDG Moment
Convened by the UN Secretary-General, the SDG Moment consists of a three-hour virtual meeting with Heads of State and Government and SDG partners. The meeting will seek to strengthen accountability and create a sense of urgency, ambition and transformative possibility around the Decade of Action. It will also serve to underscore the importance of the 2030 Agenda as the north star for the COVID-19 response and recovery. The meeting will place a strong emphasis on priorities relating to poverty and inequality; climate change and nature; and gender equality, while cross-cutting issues such as finance, human rights and technology will be considered throughout.
Making Global Goals Local Business: Getting Started
Our Getting Started webinar is aimed specifically at businesses that are trying to develop a better understanding of the SDGs, and how they relate to their work.
This 1-hour webinar will discuss what the SDGs are, demonstrate why business should be engaged, and present practical guidance on how to get involved. The second half of the webinar will take the form of a Q&A session and open discussion.
“We the Peoples” – Reimagining global governance on the eve of the UN’s 75th anniversary
The 75th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations (UN) is not only an occasion for celebration of its achievements, particularly in enshrining human rights norms, but also an opportunity for civil society reflection on how the UN should change to better serve a world that is very different from that of 1945. This event will focus on thinking more boldly, assessing prospects for change and responding to the challenges involved in building a more open, inclusive and democratic UN through a 90-minute live debate with audience participation. The event will have English, French and Spanish translation.
During the course of the event, participants will engage with critical perspectives on the concrete actions needed to strengthen the ability of the UN to advance human rights and social justice through its engagement of civil society and people’s movements and the promotion of civic freedoms.
Global Impact Forum
Recognizing that global challenges often require local solutions, the inaugural Global Impact Forum will showcase four key initiatives to mobilize corporate action on the Global Goals: SDG Ambition, Young SDG Innovators, Target Gender Equality and Business Ambition for 1.5°C. As a new suite of engagement opportunities, Global Impact Initiatives are designed to mainstream sustainable business practices and scale solutions from the ground up through the efforts of Global Compact Local Networks around the world. The Forum will zoom in on what it takes to implement these initiatives at regional, national and organizational levels. You will hear from governments on their advancements through multi-stakeholder partnerships, from UN and civil society leaders on their vision to scale collective impact, and from business – from executive level to young leaders – on how their actions are leading to meaningful progress towards the achievement of the SDGs.
The Role of Technology in Achieving the Global Goals
Technology and innovation are central to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. When utilized effectively, technology can be mobilized to identify barriers to solutions for the SDGs on a global and local scale, as well as guide policy design, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation. Join us for a panel discussion on the role of tech in achieving the SDGs.
Localizing Change – Think Global, Act Local
We have heard the phrase “Think Global, Act Local,” as a catch-all phrase for grassroots impact, but what does it truly mean in action? We have seen bold actions recently of human compassion, local communities protecting refugees, food and farm activists transforming urban farming, advancing local alternatives to clean energy and water, and local movements driving global change. How can we adopt this mindset into our work as young leaders to transform the world and achieve the SDGs by 2030?
Quiz Night (Day): Youth and the Global Goals
Join the UNITE 2030 Youth Delegate Social Media Team for a fun, spin-the-wheel style game all around Youth and the Global Goals.
Youth SDG Summit
As the largest youth generation in history, it’s time to step up. The 2030 Agenda clearly applies to all of the world’s 1.2 billion young people, who currently make up 16 per cent of the global population—and to the 1.3 billion young people who will call the world home by the year 2030.
During the 75th anniversary of the United Nations’ General Assembly, we are calling on youth around the world to action to acknowledge the work being done already for the Global Goals, and the work that is still left to be done. We are hosting the Youth SDG Summit to empower young leaders to continue their work toward the Global Goals. The Youth SDG Summit is invitation only.
The theme of day 1 of the Youth SDG Summit is For People.
The theme of day 2 is the Youth SDG Summit is For Planet.
Digital Cooperation in the Humanitarian Sector
A discussion on the importance of global cooperation to connect, respect and protect all people in the digital age – and the unique challenges and opportunities in using digital technologies in the humanitarian sector.
The event will cover how the humanitarian sector is already improving effectiveness and efficiency in a changing landscape through the use of new technology and innovation, such as drones, data analytics, AI, biometrics, blockchain and mobile money transfers. Then, participants will explore where more could or should be done, taking account of the unique risks and challenges associated with deploying new technologies in humanitarian contexts, such as data privacy and protection, and the spread of misinformation. Finally, there will be time to reflect on ways the community can work together to coordinate and scale up efforts more effectively, keeping a clear focus on the people they serve.
The event is co-hosted by the Office of the UN Secretary-General’s Special Advisor working on Digital Cooperation, the UN World Food Programme, and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
#digitalcooperation
#UNGA75
Food Crises and COVID-19 – Emerging evidence and implications for action
Organized by the Global Network Against Food Crises, founded by the World Food Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 2016.
The Global Network’s key partners will hold a side event at the 75th session of the General Assembly of the United Nations to update the Member States and all concerned stakeholders on latest evidence on the situation in countries affected by food crises under the COVID-19 pandemic, and trigger a collective discussion on concrete actions Member States can take to address food crises in a coordinated manner.
The 2020 Global Report on Food Crises showed an already dire picture of global acute food insecurity and malnutrition – even before the COVID-19 disease’s spread began to impact food systems. Alongside the report, the Global Network’s partners carried out the campaign on “Food Crises and COVID-19” and delivered key messages on their commitment, the way forward and priority actions to address the worsening food crises, which are now being compounded by the COVID-19, the on-going locust plague and other risk factors, and to protect and strengthen food systems in the post-pandemic word.
Multilateralism in Crisis
QatarDebate is hosting a virtual debate on the efficacy and challenges to multilateralism, in the context of recent world events, such as a global pandemic. A group of talented university debaters will exchange arguments on whether multilateralism has been a success, or a failed experiment.
Join us as we find the inspiration for new ideas, solutions, and partnerships that will fuel our determination towards addressing the wide range of complex global problems facing humanity.
Calculating the Cure: AI and COVID-19
A discussion on how to use artificial intelligence (AI) and bioinformatics to find candidate drugs for repurposing to meet the challenges of Covid-19. Identifying existing drugs currently on the market to treat a variety of conditions that could also be used to treat COVID-19 offers an opportunity to quickly meet an urgent need, since existing drugs have already completed extensive trials and are available in the market.
Quickly knowing which drugs could be effective in the fight against COVID-19, and what side effects could be expected, is vital, but the number of drugs on the market is vast. This discussion examines the role AI and bioinformatics can play in finding rapid solutions to a rapidly spreading healthcare crisis.