TheSDG Digital GameChangers Award Returns! ITU and its partners are thrilled to announce the return of the SDG Digital GameChangers Award. In its second edition, this prestigious award recognizes digital technologies who are harnessing the power of digital to advance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The SDG Digital GameChangers Award shines a spotlight on those dedicated individuals and organizations that are making a real impact.
The Award will be presented across five distinct categories :
We are calling on all WSIS Stakeholders to showcase your innovative digital solutions that demonstrate the transformative power of technology in achieving the SDGs. Whether it’s a project that leverages digital tools, a groundbreaking legislation or policy, a cutting-edge application, or a visionary idea — your contribution could be the next game changer in our collective quest for a sustainable future.
Don’t miss your chance to be recognized! Submit by 11 August 2024, at 23:59 (Central European Summer Time). Join us in shaping a world where no one is left behind.
The Financing for Sustainable Development Office of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs is carrying out a short survey to evaluate the reach and impact of its work.
We are pleased to invite you to share your feedback about the 2024 Financing for Sustainable Development Report, the 2024 ECOSOC Forum on Financing for Development follow-up, the 2024 SDG Investment Fair and FSDO’s website.
We are very interested in your views and opinions so that we can improve our work. We hope you can take 5-10 minutes to complete this survey by 15 May 2024.
Kind regards,
Sharon Spiegel Director Financing for Sustainable Development Office
4th International Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS4) 27 – 30 May 2024, St. John’s, Antigua and Barbuda
Registration is now open for accredited stakeholders!
The fourth International Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS4) will be held from 27 to 30 May 2024 in St John’s, Antigua and Barbuda under the overarching theme of “Charting the course toward resilient prosperity“. The Conference will seek to assess the ability of SIDS to achieve sustainable development, including the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals. It will result in an intergovernmentally agreed, focused, forward-looking and action-oriented political outcome document.
Representatives of accredited non-governmental organizations, major groups and other relevant stakeholders can now register to attend the SIDS4 Conference until 26 April 2024. Please note that there will be no on-site registration for stakeholders.
Which stakeholders can register to attend the SIDS4 Conference?
Non-governmental organizations, major groups and other relevant stakeholder organizations that fall under the following categories will be able to request registration for their representatives to attend the fourth International Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS4):
1. Non-governmental organizations and major groups identified in Agenda 21 and other stakeholders in consultative status with ECOSOC. You can check if your organization has consultative status with ECOSOC here.
2. Organizations that were accredited to any of the following previous United Nations Conferences on SIDS (please click on the individual links below for details):
3. Organizations that have been granted special accreditation by the Preparatory Committee of the SIDS4 Conference (please check the approved list here).
For a consolidated list of organizations that received special accreditation to attend the SIDS4 Conference, please, check here.
How to register?
Representatives of NGOs in Consultative status with ECOSOC
Non-governmental organizations and major groups identified in Agenda 21 and other stakeholders in consultative status with ECOSOC. You can check if your organization has consultative status with ECOSOC here
Representatives of specially accredited organizations
Organizations that were accredited to any of the following previous United Nations Conferences on SIDS (please click on the links for details or check the consolidated list here.
There will be no on-site registration for stakeholders. All requests for registration must be submitted by 26 April 2024.
Organizations in consultative status with ECOSOC whose statuses have been suspended by the UN NGO Committee will not be able to request for registration to the SIDS4 Conference, irrespective of previous accreditation to past UN Conferences.
If your organization is both in consultative status with ECOSOC and has also been accredited to one of the Conferences listed above, your representatives should register using the dedicated link for NGOs in consultative status with ECOSOC.
Each organization will be able to register up to 10 representatives. If more than 10 are registered under one organization, the Secretariat will approve the registrations in the order that they have been received and up to 10.
All requests for registration will be reviewed on a rolling basis and approved participants will receive letters of confirmation from the Conference Secretariat. Please, allow between 5 – 10 working days for the review of registration requests.
The deadline for registration is 26 April 2024 (5pm, EDT/New York Time).
Interested stakeholders are encouraged to request for registration as soon as possible.
Participants under 18 years old will need to be accompanied by a Chaperone who must be duly registered to attend the SIDS4 Conference. This information must be included in the affiliation letter to be uploaded onto the registration platform.
Registered participants are responsible for all necessary arrangements related to their in-person participation, including travel, visa and others, as appropriate.
For logistical information including accommodation and visa requirement, please check the dedicated host country website.
Please also note that the United Nations does not charge fees for participation in Conferences and events. If you are aware of possible scams, please email us using this email address (sids4@un.org).
Dear NGOs representatives accredited at the United Nations Office at Geneva,
We are pleased to share some updates, news and events taking place at the UN in Geneva (and in New York exceptionally this month) in the coming weeks with you.
We would be grateful if you could circulate the September Newsletter with your colleagues.
The thematic discussions form part of the comprehensive stock-taking of progress made in implementing all international drug policy commitments to address the challenges identified in the 2019 Ministerial Declaration, that is being conducted by the Commission in preparation of the 2024 Mid-Term Review. The thematic discussions will consist of two intersessional meetings – the first one will take place 23-25 October 2023 and the second one on 4-6 December 2023.
The October meeting will cover the following topics:
23 October:
Morning: Expanding & diversifying range of drugs & drug markets
Afternoon: Illicit abuse, cultivation, production, manufacture of & trafficking in illicit narcotic drugs & psychotropic substances
24 October:
Morning: Links between drug trafficking, corruption & other forms of organized crime
Afternoon: Low value of confiscated proceeds of crime related to money-laundering arising from drug trafficking
25 October:
Morning: Criminal misuse of information & communications technologies
Afternoon: Non-compliance with international drug control conventions & international human rights law
For each topic, up to 3 NGOs will have the possibility to present their work and discuss the progress made. To ensure an inclusive, comprehensive, and meaningful civil society participation, NGO interventions will be coordinated by the Vienna NGO Committee on Drugs (VNGOC).
Each speaker will have 3 minutes to present their work on the thematic focus of the day, interventions can be made either in person or online.
Note: Interpretation will not be available during the meetings and all abstracts and statements have to be submitted in English.
To apply for a speaking slot please fill out this online form:
Deadline for applications is 17 September 2023 at 23:45 CET (Vienna time).
When submitting your application please make sure that your abstract is relevant to the topic of the event, and clearly describes what you will be presenting about. Statements focusing on good practice examples and/or showcasing experiences ‘from the ground’ are especially welcome.
Please share this call with your respective partners and networks to ensure wider participation.
Further to our first “Information Session for the NGOs in Consultative Status with ECOSOC” held on the margin of “the Consultation with the NGOs” on December last year, you are cordially invited to attend the second “Virtual Information Session for the NGOs in Consultative Status with ECOSOC” onMonday 20 March 2023 at 10:00-11:00 EST via Teams.
This meeting will provide an opportunity to review the ECOSOC events of this year, details from the Secretariat, and essential guidance from the NGO Branch.
The tentative program for this event will proceed as follows:
Moderator: Mr. Wook-Jin Chang, Chief of NGO Branch
Presentation on SDG Summit (Ms. Marion Barthelemy, Director of the Office of Intergovernmental Support and Coordination for Sustainable Development, DESA)
Presentation on the July ECOSOC High-Level Political Forum (Mr. Friedrich Soltau, Chief of Intergovernmental Policy and Review Branch, OISC/DESA)
Presentation on the ECOSOC Youth Forum (Ms. Leslie Wade, Chief of Inter-organizational and Inter-institutional Support Branch, OISC/DESA)
Presentation on the UN 2023 Water Conference (Ms. Naiara Costa, Senior Sustainable Development Officer, Division for Sustainable Development Goals (DSDG/DESA)
Q&A
We strongly encourage all NGOs participated in the Consultation to be present at this upcoming virtual session where key information will be shared, and questions to be answered.
Pursuant to General Assembly decision A/RES/73/226 of 20 December 2018, the Midterm Comprehensive Review of the Implementation of the Objectives of the International Decade for Action (UN 2023 Water Conference) will be held from 22 to 24 March 2023 at the UN Headquarters in New York. The co-hosts are the governments of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Republic of Tajikistan.
Side events can be organized in connection with the UN 2023 Water Conference, either in-person or virtually, by Member States, the UN system, Intergovernmental Organizations and accredited non-governmental stakeholders. The side events will be an opportunity for all participants to share knowledge and solutions to accelerate implementation of SDG 6, identify new and emerging issues, exchange national and local experiences and practices, and showcase voluntary commitments for the Water Action Agenda.
Priority will be given to events organized by Member States and those organized in partnership by several networks/organizations. All interested parties are strongly encouraged to partner with others to organize a side event.
Side events can be hosted (1) in-person inside the UN Headquarters; (2) in-person in other locations in New York; or (3) virtually.
For additional details and guidance on how to submit a side event proposal, including Guidelines, please visit the website: https://bit.ly/Water2023SideEvents
The deadline for applications is 13 January 2023. The Conference Secretariat will review submissions and only notify those organizers whose events have been approved.
We would like to inform you that submission of written statements to the fifty-sixth session of the Commission on Population and Development (10-14 April 2023) is now open. The special theme of the session is: “Population, education and sustainable development”.
Written statements by NGOs in General and Special Consultative Status with ECOSOC, to be circulated as official documents for consideration of the Commission at its fifty-sixth session, can be submitted by email between 1 November and 1 December 2022. Only the first twenty statements received by 1 December 2022 will be processed by the UN Secretariat and published as formal documents that will be posted on the session’s webpage.
Statements must be submitted via email using the template provided at the link above. Please follow all instructions on the website carefully to avoid rejection of submitted statements.
Please note that registration of NGO representatives for the fifty-sixth session will open in early 2023. Submission of requests for oral statements will also open at that time. Detailed information will be sent prior to the opening of registration and posted on the Commission’s website.
ALERT: The consultation has now been rescheduled to Dec. 13, Tuesday.
Dear NGO Representative,
The Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) is holding consultations with organizations in consultative status with ECOSOC to discuss questions of interest to the Committee or to the organizations relating to the relationship between the NGOs and the United Nations in line with paragraph 61 (a) of ECOSOC resolution 1996/31.
The consultations will provide an opportunity for NGOs in consultative status with ECOSOC to present and exchange views with members of the Committee on the issues outlined in the attached Concept Note. NGOs in consultative status who can attend the hearing in New York are invited to interact with the Committee during this open session. Organizations who wish to speak at the hearing will be given three minutes to make their intervention.
The consultations will take the form of written submissions and an interactive hearingon Tuesday 6 December 2022 from 10:00am – 1:00pm in Conference Room 4 at the United Nations Headquarters, New York.
Please note the following:
The deadline for submission of written inputs was 31 August 2022. We are no longer receiving written submissions.
Venue: The interactive hearing will take place on Tuesday 6 December 2022 from 10:00am – 1:00pm in Conference Room 4 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
The deadline for registration is Monday, 14th November 2022.
In addition to registering, each attending representative must have a valid UN Grounds Pass. Instructions for obtaining your grounds pass are available on the following page: https://csonet.org/?menu=86
The UNODC Civil Society Unit, in cooperation with the Alliance of NGOs on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (Alliance) is pleased to inform NGOs about the upcoming thematic discussions of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ) which will take place on 5-7 December 2022 in Vienna, and invites relevant NGOs to express interest to participate as speakers.
The thematic discussions which will be on Pillar II of the Kyoto Declaration (Advancing the criminal justice system)will be held in Vienna in a hybrid format and will cover the following topics:
The meeting will cover the following topics:
5 December: Safeguarding victim’s rights and protecting witnesses and reporting persons; Improving criminal investigation processes;
6 December: Improving prison conditions; Reducing reoffending through rehabilitation and reintegration;
7 December: Mainstreaming a gender perspective into criminal justice systems; Addressing the vulnerabilities of children and youth in contact with the criminal justice system.
For each day, up to 5 NGOs will have the possibility to present their work and positioning as panelists (1 per panel – 3 in total) and speakers (up to 4 per segment – 12 in total). In order to ensure an inclusive and meaningful civil society participation, NGO interventions will be coordinated by the Alliance of NGOs on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (The Alliance) in co-operation with the UNODC Civil Society Unit.
Each speaker will have 2-5 minutes to present their work on the thematic focus of the day.
Note: There will be no interpretation during the meetings and all abstracts and statements need to be submitted in English.
Deadline for applications is 26 October 2022 at 23:45 CET (Vienna time).
When submitting your application please make sure that your abstract is relevant to the topic of the event, and clearly describes what you will be presenting about. Statements focusing on good practice examples and/or showcasing experiences ‘from the ground’ are especially welcome.
Please share this call with your respective partners and networks to ensure wider participation.
We are looking forward to receiving your applications.