GFDD to Attend the Special Events of the 69th Session of the United Nations General Assembly

The United Nations Headquarters in New York City is abuzz with activity as the High-level meetings of the 69th session of the United Nations General Assembly (the main deliberative, policymaking and representative organ of the UN) kick off today on Monday, September 22. These meetings will be followed on Wednesday by the start of the General debate that runs until September 30.

During that time statements will be delivered by UN Member States on
international policy matters ranging from peace and security to sustainable development. GFDD is poised to attend many of the events that will run in parallel to these important meetings.

On Tuesday September 23, GFDD will begin by covering the UN Climate Summit, a High-level meeting organized by the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the United Nations
Headquarters in New York, to engage leaders and advance climate action and ambition. The summit will be about action and solutions that are focused on accelerating progress in areas that can significantly contribute to reducing emissions and strengthening resilience – such as agriculture, cities, energy, financing, forests, pollutants, resilience and transportation.

On Wednesday September 24, the Foundation will co-sponsor the Civil Society Report Back
on the UN Climate Summit, an event intending to provide a forum for civil society leaders to reflect on what was discussed during the Climate Summit, and what they heard from the people these leaders are meant to representing. The meeting will be held on the second Floor of the Church Center for the United Nations (Corner of First Avenue and 44th Street in Manhattan) from 8.45am to 10.45am. In the afternoon, GFDD will head to the Trusteeship Council chamber for the for the Global Education First Initiative High-Level event, “Quality Education for the World We Want” taking place from 3pm to 5pm. This event is part of the Secretary General’s Global Initiative on Education, which aims to put every child in school, improve the quality of learning and foster global citizenship.

On Thursday September 25, GFDD will
attend a briefing on two important civil society initiatives relating to the post 2015 development agenda and climate change agenda. The first will be a briefing on Action/2015, a major new public campaign that will seek to build public pressure on our leaders to commit to ambitious and transformative action to end poverty, address inequality and ensure sustainable development in the intergovernmental negotiations that
will conclude in 2015. The next briefing will focus on The Big Development DataShift. This is an ambitious initiative to invest in the ability of citizens and civil society organizations to collect and curate data so that we can improve the monitoring and accountability of the post-2015 sustainable development goals. The briefing will take place from 4pm to 6:30pm at the offices of the Open Society Foundations, at
224 W. 57th Street in New York City.

Finally, on Friday September 26, the Foundation will attend a panel discussion entitled “How to make it happen: shaping International Development Cooperation for the effective implementation of the Post-2015 development framework” hosted by Mexico Secretary of State Jose Antonio Meade, and Netherlands Minister of Foreign Trade and Development Lilianne Ploumen. This high-level event will seek to
use concrete examples to demonstrate the potential for effective development cooperation and multi-stakeholder partnership to support the UN’s post-2015 development agenda. The event will take place in Conference Room 6 of the United Nations Secretariat Building from 9.15am to 10.45am. In the afternoon, GFDD will report on a High-level special event co-organized by the Permanent Missions of Italy, Palau and Monaco on the importance of Oceans within the Post 2015 Development Agenda, entitled “Healthy Oceans and Seas: Paving the Way Towards a Sustainable Development Goal”. The discussion will take place at 4.00pm in Conference Room 7 of the UN Secretariat Building.

To find out more about the general program of events during the 69th session of the United Nations General Assembly, please visit the official website at http://www.un.org/en/ga/69/meetings/index.shtml

Related links:
http://www.globaleducationfirst.org/about.html
http://www.un.org/climatechange/summit/about/
http://www.action2015.org/
http://civicus.org/thedatashift/
http://www.un.org/en/ga/69/meetings/index.shtml
http://www.un.org/en/ecosoc/about/mdg.shtml