CIVIL SOCIETY AND THE SUMMIT OF THE FUTURE
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Civil society plays a fundamental role in shaping a future that, today more than ever, needs multilateral approaches to ensure an inclusive, sustainable, and safe society for all. Since 1947, sixty-eight UN-supported civil society conferences have resulted in successful outcomes. As a result of previous interactions with civil society organizations, we now look forward to the 2024 UN Civil Society Conference in Support of the Summit of the Future to be held in Nairobi on 910 May.  

The Summit of the Future will take place 22-23 September in UNHQ New York, resulting in an intergovernmental Pact for the Future, annexed with a Global Digital Compact and Declaration on Future Generations, which all hope to deliver a UN for people and planet in the 21st century and beyond. The convergence of these processes represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to strategize the path forward for the United Nations and the global community, to advance the work marked by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and build a world where no one is left behind. Civil society is an essential partner in a global endeavor that must come up with solutions and approaches from all sectors in society, in a spirit of collaboration and true networked and inclusive multilateralism. 

 

OBJECTIVES
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We hope that the 2024 UN Civil Society Conference in Support of the Summit of the Future, set to take place 9-10 May in Nairobi can achieve three main objectives.  

  1. INCLUSIVE. Increase awareness, ambition, and accountability for the Summit of the Future beyond New York and support the amplification of diverse voices and initiatives to inform an inclusive Pact for the Future.
     
  2. IMPACTFUL. Keeping in mind that by May, we will have more clarity on the likely substance of the Pact for the Future, use the Nairobi moment to build multi-stakeholder ImPACT Coalitions constituting Member States, civil society, academia, think tanks, foundations, and the private sector, to champion, act on, and push forward specific issue areas or big-ticket reforms proposed in the consensus language of the Pact. These coalitions seek to both raise the ambition of the Pact for the Future, and see through its implementation and action. The civil society-hosted, multistakeholder “ImPACT for the Future Package'' seeks to be a contribution by diverse stakeholders to enhance the implementation of key reforms and issues across the Pact for the Future. 
     
  3. INNOVATIVE. Seize the conference itself as an opportunity to innovate the way civil society interacts with intergovernmental processes. To showcase an effective model of intergenerational cooperation and solidarity, championing diverse expertise, and doing something new in a civil society-hosted multi-stakeholder forum.  

 

CALL FOR ENGAGEMENT
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  • Submit an application for a civil society-hosted online or in-person workshop before the deadline of March 31, 2024. 
     
  • Submit an application to host an exhibit at the conference before the deadline of April 8, 2024. 
     
  • Submit a proposal for an offsite event, or let us know which events you are already conducting in support of the Summit of the Future. 
     
  • Submit a proposal for an ImPACT Coalition before the first deadline of 8 April, 2024 to be featured in the conference program. After the conference: Continue to work across the ImPACT coalitions to raise the ambition and accountability of the Pact for the Future; inform the Pact negotiations with inclusive perspectives; feed into what the UN’s Summit of the Future moment beyond just its negotiated outcome; and follow through the commitments of the ImPACT coalitions to implement reforms, beyond the Summit of the Future.   

 

THE ImPACT FOR THE FUTURE PACKAGE
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The key outcome of the 2024 United Nations Civil Society Conference will be called “ImPACT for the Future.” Given the short time frame for the Conference, as well as the fluid nature of the negotiations around the intergovernmentally negotiated Pact for the Future, the outcomes will take shape in various formats to have the greatest impact. As such, we will produce the following:  

  1.  A hub for “ImPACT Coalitions,” which will be civil society generated, diverse stakeholder constituted coalitions which agree to work towards advancing certain key reform initiatives leading up to and beyond the Summit of the Future.  
     
  2. A Co-Chair’s Summary as a record and summary of the Conference itself. 

 

CO-CHAIRS: Carole Ageng’o & Nudhara Yusuf        |         CONTACT: undgccso@un.org