corporate capture

Youth4Climate: Driving Ambition

Convened by the Government of Italy and building on the success of the 2019 UN Youth Climate Summit, the event will take place from 28 to 30 September and provide young delegates an unprecedented opportunity to put forward ideas and concrete proposals on some of the most pressing issues on the climate agenda. The first two days will be dedicated to working groups, while the last day will feature a discussion between young delegates and the Ministers attending pre-COP 26.

Interested young people can either:

  • Submit an application by 14 March, detailing the ways they are working with and leading other young people to advance climate action. Experienced young climate leaders are encouraged to submit their application for a chance to be one of two young people representing their country in Milan.
  • Enter the #SumItUp Competition, by submitting a creative sum-up of their favorite #Youth4ClimateLive episode before the 31 March deadline. Youth with creative communication skills and digital storytelling experience are invited to enter the #SumItUp Competition, where one winner will be chosen to travel to Milan and participate in the Youth4Climate event.

The application and the competition provide young people two opportunities to be part of this historic event, whether they are experienced climate activists or just starting their climate advocacy journey. To be eligible to attend, applicants must be between the ages of 15 and 29 and, if selected, all applicants under the age of 18 must be accompanied to the event by a chaperone.

For more information about the Youth4Climate: Driving Ambition event and other ways to get involved in advance of COP26, please visit the Government of Italy’s webpage. Or, catch up on past episodes of the Youth4ClimateLive virtual event series at Youth4Climate.Live. Please direct any questions to youthenvoy@un.org.

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Human Rights, please email the co-chairs at bobbinassar@gmail.com or bknotts@uua.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Children’s Rights-NY, please visit childrightsny.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-NY, please visit ngocsd-ny.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-Vienna, please visit ngocsdvienna.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Intergenerational Solidarity, please email the vice chair at susanneseperson@gmail.com. 

Climate Week NYC 2021: Getting It Done

Climate Week NYC, taking place September 20-26, returns for 2021 with a focus on fulfilling and increasing commitments made by businesses, governments, and organizations. It is the time and place where the world gathers to showcase leading climate action and discuss how to do more, fast.

Hosted annually by international non-profit the Climate Group in conjunction with the United National General Assembly, and in partnership with the COP26 and the City of New York, Climate Week NYC is a global opportunity to come together to accelerate climate action and assess progress ahead of COP26.

Peruse the entire Official Events Program here: climateweeknyc.org.

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Financing for Development, please visit ngosonffd.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-NY, please visit ngocsd-ny.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-Vienna, please visit ngocsdvienna.org. 

Reclaiming and Transforming Multilateralism: Towards a Peoples’ Multilateralism

Alongside the High-Level Political Forum 2021, ActionAid’s Youth Working Group will launch its popular education and advocacy series called “Reclaiming and Transforming Multilateralism: Towards a Peoples’ Multilateralism.” The report was authored by Diyana Yahaya, edited by Nancy Kachingwe, and commissioned by Katherine Robinson.

This series of primers are intended to raise awareness and increase participation amongst the youth movements and young human rights defenders, including young womxn and feminist activists, on the importance of multilateral spaces in safeguarding and expanding their rights, advancing social justice, defending democratic space, and fostering cooperation and solidarity between states as well as between peoples’. With a focus on global multilateral spaces and institutions, it explores the current state of multilateralism, attacks on and the corporate capture of multilateral spaces; and how we can reclaim and transform multilateralism in a way that puts human rights, environmental, social, and gender justice at its center.

Join this panel of feminists from across the Global South in reimagining a just future. Register here!

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Social Development, please visit ngosocdev.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Intergenerational Solidarity, please email the vice chair at susanne.seperson@gmail.com. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Status of Women-NY, please visit ngocsw.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Status of Women-Vienna, please visit ngocswvienna.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Status of Women-Geneva, please visit ngocsw-geneva.ch. 

Supporting Implementation of the Post-2020 Global Diversity Framework [English and Spanish]

The Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON), the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) and United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) in collaboration with the UN Regional Commissions are organizing a series of webinars to increase the understanding of the monitoring framework of the post 2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), to foster collaboration between national statistical offices, Parties to the CBD and experts in the biological sciences for its operationalization and to discuss the current activities and technical aspects of implementation of the GBF monitoring framework at the global and national level.

Considering the development of EBV, BONs and Biodiversity Change indicators endorsed by GEOBON, and recent adoption of the SEEA EA and their relevance to the GBF, this webinar series will bring together relevant stakeholders from the CBD Parties, scientific communities and statistical communities to advance a shared understanding and have an initial discussion on implementing the GBF Monitoring Framework.

The high-level regional webinars will be  conducted according to the official language or the region. Registered participants will receive the connection links for the webinars.

Register here!

To read the full concept note and view recordings of the June 28 webinar pertaining to Africa, Europe, North America, and the Caribbean region, visit seea.un.org/events/webinars-supporting-implementation-post-2020-global-biodiversity-framework.

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, please visit facebook.com/NGOCoRIP. For more information on the NGO Committee on Financing for Development, please visit ngosonffd.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-NY, please visit ngocsd-ny.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-Vienna, please visit ngocsdvienna.org. 

A gathering to foster the basic principles of a new approach for a fairer and more inclusive Digital Society

Grand Conversation: 

A gathering to foster the basic principles of a new approach for a fairer and more inclusive Digital Society

21 June 2021, Monday

Opening 6:00 AM PDT | 9:00 AM EDT | 2:00 PM WEST | 3:00 PM CEST | 4:00 PM EAT

Watch live on facebook.com/occam.milano.

This year 2021 is turning out to be rich in mutations. People are taking back their hopes and activities after the dark months of the Covid confinement. The great rendezvous of G7, G20 and COP26 are proving to be rich in contents and looks promising in terms of a step towards new global assets. The “Next Generation EU” Plan aims at reinforcing not only the new generation, but also at reforming countries in a more just and efficient way. The wind of digitalization blows strong and gives the feeling of a new world in gestation. All of us understand that we can be the protagonists: this is the reason for this Grand Conversation and the invitation to take part to actively discuss how to build the future rather than being a passive audience

21 June 2021

Live on facebook.com/occam.milano

This year 2021 is turning out to be rich in mutations. People are taking back their hopes and activities after the dark
months of the Covid confinement. The great rendez-vous of G7, G20 and COP26 are proving to be rich in contents and
looks promising in terms of a step towards new global assets. The “Next Generation EU” Plan aims at reinforcing not only
the new generation, but also at reforming countries in a more just and efficient way.
The wind of digitalization blows strong and gives the feeling of a new world in gestation. All of us understand that we can
be the protagonists: this is the reason for this Grand Conversation and the invitation to take part to actively discuss how to
build the future rather than being a passive audience.

Preliminary Agenda

Opening 6:00 AM PDT 9:00 AM EDT 2:00 PM WEST 3:00 PM CEST 4:00 PM EAT
Greetings: Daniela Bas, Director, UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs – Division for Inclusive Social Development, USA
Maurizio Molinari, Director, European Parliament Office in Milan, Italy
General introduction: Pierpaolo Saporito, President, OCCAM and Infopoverty Programme, Italy

Session 1: Policies and Strategies Fostering the Next Digital Society

We are living in a moment of gestation towards new forms of society that are arising all over the world in different shapes, operated by digital
innovations that are now part of the common practices of life, work and governance. They are growing up in their global assets to give life to the Next Digital Society.

Daniela Rondinelli, Member of the European Parliament, Commission on Employment and Social Affairs, Belgium
Uma Rani, Senior Economist, International Labour Organization (UN-ILO), Switzerland
George Hara, Special Advisor, Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister of Japan
Liberato C. Bautista, President, Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations (CoNGO), USA

Session 2: The New Post-Covid Paradigm

The Covid-19 emergency is still pressing, imposing a hard change of behaviour to the society. After the pandemic, other priorities will emerge in the field of health security and in the expansion of human relationships, thanks to the increased digital opportunities. The whole world is now connected, and the ancient North-South gap can be easily overcome, changing the paradigm from charity and support, to transferring knowledge and competences. Africa woke up and started producing many innovations adaptable to its context without the influence of big, for-profit multinational enterprises. This should be a further motivation to renew win-win collaborations. How can emerging countries enter the digital development process? How to exploit human and material resources that are pivotal for the industrial development?Tony Ojobo,

President, African ICT Foundation, Nigeria
Nicolas Boissez, Head of Communication and External Relations, Fondation Hirondelle, Switzerland
Sofia Khadiri, Innovation Manager, LDV20 – Sparkasse, Italy
Andrea Cuomo, President Sacertis Knowledge, IW Bank, Switzerland

Session 3: e-Services for Development

The flow of change is exposed to different accelerations: enterprises are putting in place codes of conduct; governments are understanding how to use them, especially in the post-pandemic phase; consumers are still very much depending on the global supply. Much space can and must be covered by digital innovations to tackle the needs of consumers and the society as a whole, in fields such as health, education, jobs, agriculture, creative production. The aim is to ensure an e-welfare able to grant a dignified lifestyle and access to jobs for every individual.

Food Security and Agriculture
Jawoo Koo, Senior Research Fellow, International Food Policy Research Institute, USA
Giulia Bartezzaghi, Director, Food Sustainability Observatory – Politecnico di Milano, Italy
Giovanna Seddaiu, Project Coordinator, EWA-BELT EU Horizon2020 Project, Italy

Telemedicine
Francesco Sicurello, President, International Institute of Telemedicine, Italy
Claudio Azzolini, Professor Emeritus, University of Insubria, Italy
Fabrizio Conicella, General Manager, OpenZone, Italy
Hassan Ghazal, Founder and President, Moroccan Society for Telemedicine and e-Health, Morocco

Education

Toky Ravoavy, NGO Ligne Verte, Madagascar
David Neely, President, Affecting Change International, USA
Michael Mathews, Vice-President for Innovation and Technology, Oral Roberts University, USA

Session 4: How the Digital Communication can Drive the Process to Envisage a New, Better Digital Society

Cinema always anticipated new, visionary societies: what we live now was already done in films. The audio-visual language became universal, a new koiné, and everyone can be a producer, diffuser and consumer. Billions of movies are uploaded every day on the platforms, and the virtual world creates the reality. How to empower this collective creativity towards trends able to register and feed new aspirations of young people, in open dimensions that even democracy can benefit of?

Melita Zajc, Associate Professor of Media Communication, AMEU ISH Ljubljana, Slovenia
Jasmina Bojic, Founder and Director, UN Association Film Festival, USA
Firdaus Kharas, Founder, Chocolate Moose Media, USA
Giacomo Mazzone, Secretary-General, Eurovisioni, Italy

Roundtable: New Approaches to Build the Next Digital Society

The ancient régime is dying, and we need to find new perspectives, opening to younger generations to allow the growth of a world based on their vision. Traditional, hierarchical systems based on archaic powers are inconsistent with the new digital nature. This new DNA shall be made explicit and become the instrument for the development of the new SDG-inspired society, where software and hardware merge for the transformation of ideas into things and for the creation of correct actions enhanced by artificial yet intimately human intelligences.Participants to the Conversation, plus:

Heidi Tworek, Senior Fellow, Center for International Governance Innovation, USA
Nicol Turner-Lee, Senior Fellow, Brookings, USA
Giuseppe Enne, Founder and Scientific Advisor, Desertification Research Centre, Italy

Conclusion 10:15 AM PDT | 1:15 PM EDT | 6:15 PM WEST | 7:15 PM CEST | 8:15 PM EAT

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Social Development, please visit ngosocdev.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Education, Learning, and Literacy, please visit facebook.com/NGOCELLatUN. For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-Vienna, please visit ngocsdvienna.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-NY, please visit ngocsd-ny.org. 

UNCTAD15 civil society discussion on frontier technologies, the digital economy and development

Join us for a pre-event on the road to UNCTAD15. This discussion is the second part of a series of online discussions with civil society held in preparation for the UNCTAD15 ministerial conference.

The dialogue aims to raise awareness of civil society representatives on the issues of technology transfer, e-commerce and the digital economy. The outcome of the session will be presented to member states as part of the intergovernmental preparatory process for UNCTAD15. Find out more here.

The event is open to the public, but registration is mandatory. Register here!

Questions for discussion

Technology transfer

  • What would be the elements of an agenda for technology transfer that include civil society’s concerns and aspirations?
  • What are the challenges and opportunities that frontier technologies can bring?
  • What are the mechanisms to accelerate technology transfer and ensure that it benefits the most disadvantaged communities?

E-commerce and digital economy

  • What would be the elements of an agenda for the deployment of e-commerce and digital economy in developing countries that include civil society’s concerns and aspirations?
  • What are the challenges and opportunities that frontier technologies can bring?
  • What are the mechanisms to accelerate the adoption of e-.commerce and digital economy, ensuring that they benefit the most disadvantaged communities?

Programme

Opening remarks:

  • Ms. Shamika Sirimanne, Director, Division on Technology and Logistics, UNCTAD

Keynote address on the agenda for technology transfer that includes civil society’s concerns and aspirations:

  • Ms. Neth Daño, Coordinator and Asia Director ETC Group, the Philippines

Keynote address on mechanisms to accelerate the adoption of e-commerce and the digital economy leaning no one behind:

  • Mr. Parminder Jeet Singh, Executive Director, IT for Change

Followed by an Interactive dialogue with civil society representatives:

  • Moderated by Ms. Chee Yoke Ling, Third World Network

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Financing for Development, please visit ngosonffd.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Education, Learning, and Literacy, please visit facebook.com/NGOCELLatUN. For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-NY, please visit ngocsd-ny.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-Vienna, please visit ngocsdvienna.org. 

Combating Corruption: The Relevance & Capacities of Faith-Based Organizations

Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly Against Corruption (UNGASS)

Side meeting: “Combating Corruption: The Relevance and Capacities of Faith-Based Organizations”

Representatives from diverse faith traditions, along with UN officials with direct experience in combating and proposing solutions to corruption—trafficking, public corruption, organized crime—will discuss the role of FBOs in corruption prevention and intervention efforts to improve ethics, justice, rule of law, good governance, and sustainable development.

Moderator: Dr. Thomas G. Walsh, Chairman, Universal Peace Federation; Co-Chair, Coalition of Faith-Based Organizations, USA

Panelists:

  • Amb. Thomas Stelzer, Dean, International Anti-Corruption Center, Vienna
  • Mrs. Livia Krings, Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Officer in the Corruption and Economic Crime Branch of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Austria
  • Dr. Liberato “Levi” Bautista, President of The Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations (CoNGO) in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations and Main Representative to the UN for the United Methodist Church-General Board of Church and Society
  • Imam Sheikh Mohammad Ismail, The Muslim Chaplain, The University of Sheffield, The Octagon Centre, Sheffield, UK
  • Bishop Munib Younan, Former President, Lutheran World Federation; Honorary President, Religions for Peace, State of Palestine

Question and Answer:

For Q&A, please email questions to coalitionfbo@gmail.com Thank you!

This webinar is sponsored by:

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the Committee of Religious NGOs at the United Nations, please visit rngos.wordpress.com. For more information on the NGO Committee on Drugs & Crime-NY, please visit nyngoc.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Financing for Development, please visit ngosonffd.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Freedom of Religion or Belief, please visit unforb.org.

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