This innovative campaign has been awarded this week as one of the best digital and social media campaign in El Sol, the international Latin American Advertising Awards,  which brings together advertising and communication talent from the Latin American region and Spain.

The Campaign “And you didn’t even know about it”,” focused on the use of social media putting citizens at the heart of the campaign. More than 10.000 people donated their Twitter and Facebook profiles, becoming spokespeople of the campaign and the progress made on the MDGs. More than 150.000 messages were generated reaching an aggregated audience of 28 million.

In July 2012 the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, announced the names of 27 people drawn from developing and developed nations, government, civil society and the private sector. Co-chaired by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron,This group was to make up the High Level Panel of Eminent Persons on Post 2015 Development Planning and were tasked by the Secretary-General “…prepare a bold yet practical developmentvision to present to Member States” in September 2013.

What is being discussed?

On May 31st (12:01am EST) the report of the High Level Panel (HLP) on the post-2015 development agenda will be available to stakeholders, following the submission of the same to the UN Secretary General the previous day. A number of UN agencies and stakeholder groups have come together to organize a discussion of the report taking advantage of the Panel’s presence in New York at this time. This event will take place at a critical time in the post-2015 process as the HLP report serves as the opening chapter of a fairly lengthy book, which is the post-2015 process.

What will this conversation achieve?

The purpose of this event is to provide stakeholders and the wider UN community with a platform to directly engage Panel members on the major recommendations and key themes of the report. In addition to providing participating groups with an opportunity to share their views, reactions and questions on the report, the event would also address opportunities for collaboration in terms of advocacy and dialogue across the remainder of the post-2015 process.

As the work of the panel comes to a close, stakeholder groups may be interested to use the recommendations of the Panel to strengthen their engagement with ongoing global, regional and national processes. Using this event to share ideas and information for collaboration could serve as an additional rationale for organizing it, and as a take away for those who attend the event.

The discussion will be managed by a skilled moderator and will involve:

• Opening remarks: Representatives of the HLP Co-Chairs and the Special Advisor to the Secretary General on the Post-2015 agenda will be invited to provide an overview of the report, highlight the report’s key recommendations and explain some of the process by which the report was developed.
• Panel Discussion: A moderated discussion among Panel members and ‘discussants’ from civil society will aim to explore and assess the Panel’s recommendations on key themes and issues. All Panel members available in New York on this date will be invited to attend and address the event. Civil society representatives in this section of the program would, as much as is possible, represent broader coalitions or alliances that have engaged substantively with the post-2015 process.
• Questions and Answers: A ‘Q&A’ segment will allow participants to engage Panelists with specific queries or reactions to the report. The event will also be webcast, enabling it to have a social media component and to expand the pool of civil society representatives who could be engaged. Online participants could be encouraged to submit questions and comments via twitter, allowing the moderator to alternate between questions from the audience in the room, and questions from the online participants. Facilities for simultaneous interpretation are also expected to be available during the discussion.
• Way Forward: The Moderator would conclude the dialogue by inviting relevant speakers in the program to convey plans for the launch and discussion of the report in other parts of the world, as well as opportunities for the Panel’s work to be used to strengthen the post-2015 dialogue at regional, national and sub-national levels.

Who can participate?
The event is open to all interested groups. Pre-registration is required for all individuals who do not work for the UN or diplomatic missions. Queries may be directed to: secretariat@post2015hlp.org

The event will be streamed live via World We Want 2015

Documents:

Event Flier

How to register

Further guidance is available at: http://bit.ly/12yvqyg and www.post2015hlp.org/outreach 

The High-Level Panel, appointed by the UN Secretary General to advise him on the post-2015 agenda, reports on 30th May. Will the report live up to the hype? Will its recommendations meet the aspirations of the many groups and individuals who have contributed to the debate around post-2015, and will it chart a politically effective way forward for governments? This event provides a global audience with a chance to discuss the report with each other and with two key panel members.

The event will be held simultaneously in London, Nairobi, Dhaka and Bogotá. In each location, an audience and speakers will discuss the report with each other and with participants in the other locations, to provide a global response. In Nairobi, Betty Maina, Chief Executive of the Kenyan Association of Manufacturers, and member of the HLP, will present the report and answer questions. In London, Amina Mohammed, the Secretary General’s special advisor on post-2015 and ex officio member of the HLP, will offer her reflections on the report.

As well as responding to the HLP report, the event will provide an opportunity to consider its implications for the intergovernmental negotiations on post-2015 goals in the Open Working Group, and the lead up to the UN special event on the MDGs and post-2015 in September 2013.

MY World, the United Nations global survey for a better world is a groundbreaking initiative inviting citizens to virtually take their seat at the UN and participate in the global conversation on the next development agenda by voting in an option-based survey.

From Rwanda to Philippines and Mexico City to Amman and Madrid; across schools, mosques, offices and refugee camps, citizens have been turning out in their hundreds of thousands to vote and help define a better world for all.

In India, Laila Sein, of MY World partner AFRC INDIA, remarked: “The best thing I found about the survey is that our students have started thinking beyond cricket and mobile phones. They have begun thinking about critical issues that affect them.”

Initial results from this survey have been released this week as the UN Secretary-General’s High Level Panel for the post-2015 dialogue meets in New York to submit their recommendations on the future international development agenda. Real time results from MY World are also being presented on a regular basis to the UN Secretary-General and the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development.

To date, 57% of the votes have been collected offline, 35% though the website and around the 8% have come through mobile phone.

“We are using mobile phone and web technology as well as conducting surveys face to face to directly connect with people. This is allowing us for the first time to see in real time who is voting, from where, and what their priorities are”- highlighted Corinne Woods, Global Director of the UN Millennium Campaign – “MY World is a powerful tool for national as well as global decision making. These half a million votes are just a start – we have until 2015 and beyond to continue gathering people´s views and maintain this conversation flow between policy makers and citizens around the world.”

‘Crowdsourcing’ the future development agenda.

MY World demonstrates the UN’s commitment to an open and inclusive dialogue on the post-2015 agenda and harnessing the full power of technology and social media. MY World is supported by over 400 civil society organizations, youth groups, faith organizations, corporations and global personalities.

“We are getting a rich mix of data that is generating important information not only on global priorities, but also how these differ by characteristics: gender, age, location and education level. So far there seems to be a strong overlap of priorities among regions. Education, health, water, food, “an honest and responsive government” and “protection against crime and violence” feature amongst the top ten for every region of the world”- said Claire Melamed, from the Overseas Development Institute.

What are global citizens saying?

Participants in MY World are asked to select which six out of sixteen issues are most important for them and their families. Results to date reveal that voters’ top three priorities are “a good education”, “better healthcare” and “an honest and responsive government”. “Access to water and sanitation” and “nutritious and affordable food” are also perceived by people as being of key importance to improving their lives.

Citizens voting predominantly for health and education reveal the continuing relevance of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which recently observed the 1000 day milestone to their 2015 target date. MY World represents an entry point for people to build on MDG achievements and help define an ambitious development agenda after 2015 that has poverty eradication and sustainable development at its core.

However, results also indicate that people are pointing to new issues to be addressed, such as “an honest and responsive government”, “better job opportunities” and “protection against crime and violence”, which also rank within the top seven priorities.

MY World has generated extremely positive and powerful responses across the world, as demonstrated by Oyebola Folajimi Kehinde, one of the thousands who participated in the offline representative survey in Nigeria: “The final statements most of the grassroots people kept hammering on was that “let’s all hope they do something tangible with the newly collated data.”

Until 2015, the UN and partners continue to invite men and women everywhere to vote in MY World and contribute to shaping a better world together.

Representatives of civil society organizations, people’s movements, academics and researchers deliberating over two days to consider alternative narratives on development, propose the following analysis and recommendations for the consideration of the High Level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda1.

The discourse on a successor development framework to the MDGs is taking place at a time of profound shifts and changing dynamics. We are deeply concerned about the continuing harsh environment for sustained well-being, inclusive economic growth, social transformation, and fulfilment of human rights. The structural and systemic underpinnings
of the crisis of finance, energy, food, land and water, and the resulting turbulence and
uncertainties; widening global and national inequalities; a model of global economic
governance that imposes excessive fiscal discipline on borrowing countries; cutbacks in
public spending in areas such as health, education, water, sanitation and programs for social protection; and poorly regulated privatisation and public-private partnerships continue to stifle economic and human potential.

Rising risks and vulnerabilities from climate change; growing numbers of working poor and
people with precarious livelihoods; excessive dependence on extractive industries that are
environmentally destructive and unsustainable; and persistent and new conflicts, intensify
and entrench poverty and suffering, increase the numbers of internally displaced persons and refugees, and raise levels of violence against women, young people and the most
disadvantaged.

Read more…

African thinkers, parliamentarians and civil society organizations who gathered in Midrand, South Africa, articulated what is emerging as a growing consensus in various fora taking place on the continent.

These two meetings and their corresponding outcome documents are what is referred to as the “Africa Narrative”. The outcome documents bellow successfully fed into the Global Governance Consultation.

• “Financing the Post 2015 Development Agenda:Sustainable Financing for Development”
• “Structural Transformation in the African Context”

The Millennium Development Goals (MDG) agenda helped to focus the world’s attention on the importance of explicitly concentrating on and channeling resources to poverty reduction and various dimensions of social development. In Africa, this was against the backdrop of structural adjustment and ‘development as usual’ policies which had not only failed to deliver human development outcomes, but also resulted in reversals in a number of countries.

On April 5th, the world will reach a vital moment in history’s largest and most successful anti-poverty push – the 1,000-day mark before the target date to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

These eight concrete goals were set in the year 2000, when more leaders than ever before gathered at the United Nations and agreed to cut global poverty and hunger by half, fight climate change and disease, tackle unsafe water and sanitation, expand education and open doors of opportunity for girls and women.

It was not the first time leaders had made lofty promises. Cynics expected the MDGs to be abandoned as too ambitious. Instead, the Goals have helped set global and national priorities, mobilize action, and achieve remarkable results.

In the last dozen years, 600 million people have risen from extreme poverty – a fifty per cent reduction. A record number of children are in primary school – with an equal number of girls and boys for the first time. Maternal and child mortality have dropped. Targeted investments in fighting malaria, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis have saved millions of lives. Africa has cut AIDS-related deaths by one-third in just the past six years.

There are also goals and targets where we need far more progress. Too many women still die in childbirth, when we have the means to save them. Too many communities still lack basic sanitation, making unsafe water a deadly threat. In many parts of the world, rich and poor alike, inequalities are growing. Too many are still being left behind.

To accelerate action, the international community should take four steps now.

First, scale up success through strategic and targeted investments that have a multiplier effect, boosting results in all other areas: one million community health workers in Africa to serve hard-to-reach areas and keep mothers and children from dying of easily preventable or treatable conditions; scaled-up investments in sanitation; universal access to primary health services, including emergency obstetrical care; and adequate supplies to address HIV and malaria.

Ensuring equal access by women and girls to education, healthcare, nutrition and economic opportunities is one of the most powerful drivers of progress across all the Goals.

Second, let us focus on the poorest and most vulnerable countries, home to some 1.5 billion people. Often dogged by famine, conflict, poor governance and large-scale organized criminal violence, these countries are finding it most difficult to make progress despite their best efforts. Many have not yet achieved a single MDG. By investing in regions such as the Sahel, the Horn of Africa, and Central Asia, we can promote a virtuous circle of economic development, human security, and peace building.

Third, we must keep financial promises. Budgets cannot be balanced on the backs of the poorest and most vulnerable. It is ethically unacceptable and it will help neither donor nor recipient. Despite austere times, many countries have been exemplary in honoring pledges. New donors among the emerging economies are also stepping forward. We should applaud these efforts and encourage more.

Fourth, the 1,000-day mark should be a call to action to a global movement from governments to the grassroots who have been so critical to success. We should also harness the full power of technology and social media – opportunities that were not available when the goals were formulated at the turn of the century.

The MDGs have proven that focused global development objectives can make a profound difference. They can mobilize, unite and inspire. They can spark innovation and change the world.

Success in the next 1,000 days will not only improve the lives of millions, it will add momentum as we plan for beyond 2015 and the challenges of sustainable development.

There will be much unfinished business. But, as we look to the next generation of sustainable development goals, we can find deep inspiration knowing that the MDGs have shown that, with political will, ending extreme poverty is achievable and within our grasp.

Let us make the most of the next 1,000 days and make good on our Millennium promise.

The author is the secretary-general of the United Nations.

During her stay in the country, between April 2^nd and 5^th, Ms. Woods will meet young girls, slum dwellers and indigenous communities to listen to their claims and visions for the new development agenda to be in place after the expiration of the Millennium Development Goals in 2015.  Brazil’s national consultations for the post-2015 scenario are being facilitated by the United Nations in collaboration with the Government. The results of the consultations will be submitted to the High- Level Panel that will produce the report to the UN Secretary-General to advise him on the post-2015 global development agenda.

On the first day of her trip, Ms. Woods will meet with the youth in the community of Borel in the northern zone of Rio de Janeiro; on Wednesday (April 3^rd), also in Rio, her focus will be an event with young girls that will count on the participation of Brazil’s Human Rights Minister, Maria do Rosario.

On Thursday (4), the Director travels to Brasilia where she is attending a public hearing with teenagers in the Human Rights Commission at the Federal Senate. On Friday (5), the last day of her visit to Brazil, she will meet with indigenous communities in Dourados, Mato Grosso do Sul, which are participating in the Joint Programme on “Food Security for Indigenous Women and Children in Brazil” (*).

The UN Millennium Campaign supports citizens’ efforts to pressure their governments to implement the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). It is also responsible to guarantee that the voices and concerns of citizens are heard in the planning of the post-2015global development agenda. Learn more at www.endpoverty2015.org/about

(*) This Joint Programme comprises five UN agencies, namely: Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO / WHO), UNICEF, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), International Labour Organization (ILO), United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO); and Brazilian government partners:  Special Secretariat for Indigenous Health at the Ministry of Health (MS), the National Indigenous Peoples’ Foundation (FUNAI), Ministry of Social Development and Fight against Hunger (MDS) and the Brazilian Cooperation Agency at Ministry of External Relations (ABC / MRE).

More information:

Ms. Valeria Schilling
Communication Advisor, UNIC Rio de Janeiro
21-2253-2211 Valeria.Schilling@unic.org

Mr. Mario Volpi
UNICEF Brazil
61-3035-1969 mvolpi@unicef.org

New York, 21 March 2013 – The United Nations presented today the first findings from an unprecedented global conversation through which people from all over the world have been invited to help Member States shape the future development agenda that will build on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) after their target date at the end of 2015.

The snapshot report of initial findings entitled “The Global Conversation Begins” was delivered to more than 100 representatives of Member States who will negotiate the future development agenda that is likely to build on the MDGs and sustainable development agenda from Rio+20.

“We are reinventing the way decisions will be made at the global level,” said Olav Kjorven, UN Assistant Secretary-General and Director of Bureau for Development Policy at UN Development Programme. “People want to have a say in determining what kind of world they are going to live in and we are providing that opportunity by using digital media as well as door-to-door interviewers.”

Three emerging priorities for the future development agenda, referred to as ‘the Post-2015 agenda,’ can be identified:

• First, the progress on MDGs should be accelerated and adapted to contemporary challenges, such as growing inequalities within countries and the impact of globalization.
• Second, the consultations point to the need for a universal agenda to address challenges like environmental degradation, unemployment, and violence.
• Third, people want to participate, both in the agenda-setting as well as monitoring the progress in implemention of the Post-2015 framework.

“There is huge energy and appetite to engage in these global consultations,” said John Hendra, Co-Chair of the UN Development Group MDG Taskforce and Deputy Executive Director of UN Women, which co-led the discussions on how to address inequalities with UNICEF. “Of course this report is only preliminary, but it’s already clear that inequality is a universal concern, and in that context, people are calling for gender equality and women’s rights to be at the centre of the Post-2015 agenda.”

Hendra also noted that the emerging priorities are broadly consistent with the UN Task Team report “Realizing the Future We Want For All.

The United Nations engaged so far more than 200,000 people from 189 countries through a mix of digital media, mobile phone applications, conferences, and paper ballot surveys in this initiative officially launched last week in New York.

The United Nations teams in Member States are making sure that groups usually absent from participation in global processes – for example, women, indigenous communities, the youth, people with disabilities – are consulted on what they see as priorities for development of their communities.

In Peru and Ecuador, the UN Country Teams are placing a particular focus on consulting communities from the Amazon region.

In Uganda, a mobile phone text message campaign has reached 17,000 people who have voiced their opinions on issues that they care about.

In Zambia, the Post-2015 agenda discussion is supported by the First Lady, Christine Kaseba Sata and celebrities from sports and arts.

There are several tracks available for people to participate in framing the next development agenda: there are almost 100 national consultations in Member States; there are eleven thematic consultations on issues such as inequalities, food security, and access to water; people continue to contribute their ideas through the World We Want 2015 web site; and people vote for six out of 16 priorities through the MY World survey.

Findings from the global conversation will be delivered to the UN Secretary-General, Heads of State and Government attending the 2013 UN General Assembly, and the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals.

The ”Global Conversation Begins” report will be presented to the High-level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda – chaired by Prime Minister of UK David Cameron and Presidents Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia and Susilo Yudhoyono of Indonesia – in the panel’s meeting in Bali at the end of this month.

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Click here to download the report.

MEDIA CONTACTS:
Stanislav Saling, UNDP; stanislav.saling@undp.org; Tel: +1-646-781-4077; Cell: +1-917-346-1955
Sharon Grobeisen, UN Women; sharon.grobeisen@unwomen.org; Tel: +1 646 781 4753