Re: Breakfast meeting UN Day 2014
Philadelphia, October 17, 2014
Dear Breakfast Participant,
I look forward to greeting you at our breakfast meeting on United Nations Day 2014. In preparation for this breakfast meeting, I like to provide you with an update and some background information help with the discourse.
The adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals to replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is a process that has been in the works for years. Now, in 2014, there is one year left of deliberation between Member States before the next development agenda, labeled the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda is set, at which time it will become the responsibility of governments around the world to dedicate financial resources and form policy to implement universal targets. The forming of the Post-2015 Development Agenda was designed to be open and transparent and involve the input of stakeholders at all levels. UNA-USA has been asked by our State Department to provide input that can help with finalizing the agenda. Our chapter is one of 30 to organize consulting sessions with the community, in our case Philadelphia. These sessions are meant to achieve the following:
1.Gather input from the grassroots to be shared with the U.S. Department of State and U.S. UN Mission during the final stage of negotiations
2.Educate your Chapter’s community on the Post-2015 Development Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals
3.Lay the groundwork for taking action to advocate that the U.S. Congress and local governments will be leaders in implementing the SDGs at home and abroad
Regarding # 1, please note that as the UN moves into the negotiation phase of the process, it is by no means certain that all 17 goals outlined in the Open Working Group Document will be included in the framework. Our event provides the opportunity to gather input on the inclusion of specific goals and targets that can be shared with the U.S. representatives sitting at the negotiating table.
Our breakfast meeting is a consultation. Following welcome, greetings and introductions, the “meat” of the breakfast will be an open discussion about the current list of 17 goals as been defined by UN working groups, preceded by introductory remarks from Dr. Lucille Pilling about the role an impact of NGO’s in the policy making of the United Nations.
For your information, the goals for the period 2015-20130 are:
1.End poverty in all its forms everywhere
2.End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture
3.Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
4.Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote life-long learning opportunities for all
5.Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
6.Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
7.Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all
8.Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
9.Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
10.Reduce inequality within and among countries
11.Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
12.Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
13.Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts*
14.Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
15.Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
16.Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
17.Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development
We like to emphasize three to four goals to discuss with you at the breakfast.
Sub-goal description for these goals are forthcoming and can be send to you ahead of the breakfast meeting if you like to receive those. We just don’t want to overburden you with too much reading.
Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or suggestions you may have.
Sincerely,
Christiaan Morssink, PhD, MPH
Executive Director
cc. Manisha Patel, Marietta Tanner, Mary Day Kent, Cynthia Hyler.
1501 Cherry Street Philadelphia PA, 19102