Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a pleasure for me to participate in the opening of this year’s edition of the SDGs Learning, Training and Practice sessions, organized in connection with the 2020 session of the UN High-level political forum on sustainable development.
Let me begin by thanking UNITAR for the long-term partnership and great collaboration with DESA in organizing the programme of the workshop sessions and for hosting them virtually on your platform in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic that prevents us from being together in person. UNITAR is a close partner of DESA in several other projects, including two that will be launched today.
I also want to express DESA’s appreciation to the numerous partner organizations that will be leading the different learning sessions throughout the week and sharing their expertise with stakeholders all over the world.
We have an impressive list of institutions from different sectors who have demonstrated the highest level of flexibility not only in working in partnership to prepare the workshops, but also in adjusting the content to the virtual format. The high number of registrations for this year’s sessions is an encouraging sign of the ongoing commitment of the global community to the implementation of the SDGs.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The assessments on the impact of COVID-19 on the SDGs are alarming. The reports and other analytical products prepared by DESA show that if responses to combating the virus are ad hoc, underfunded and without a view to long-term goals, decades of progress are at jeopardy of being reversed. As countries are stemming the impacts of the virus on their populations and begin to move towards recovery, we need coherent and comprehensive actions that can place the world on a robust trajectory towards achieving sustainable development, in line with the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement on climate change.
In this regard, the global multilateral system can be pivotal in supporting three strategic priorities during the response and recovery, namely: 1) maintaining progress already made towards eradicating basic deprivations. It is critical that we support those at immediate risk of poverty, hunger or disease, while facilitating their safe return to work and education, and their access to health care; 2) accelerating the universal provision of quality essential services to all, such as quality healthcare, education, water, sanitation, clean energy and Internet, which if accessible, would help secure well-being, develop resilience and combat inequalities. and 3) reversing the degradation of nature, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions, land degradation and biodiversity loss.
Education is one of the essential services that must be universally accessible. Estimates indicate that school closures have affected 90% of students around the world – or 1.6 billion youth. Prolonged school closures risk exacerbating educational and income inequalities around the world for years to come. More than ever, we need to invest in education, learning and knowledge exchange including for the poorest and most vulnerable populations.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I now have the pleasure to officially launch two concrete outcomes of UNDESA’s partnership with UNITAR.
Since 2016, our organizations have offered an annual online course on “Strengthening Stakeholder Engagement for the Implementation and Review of the 2030 Agenda”. While the main target of this online course has been to train government officials, I am pleased that the course has been adapted into a Massive, Open, Online course (a ‘MOOC’), which was offered for the first time in late 2019.
Today, we are pleased to launch the 2020 edition of this online course which is open to all interested stakeholders and is offered free of charge. Registration opens today and the course will be delivered between September and December 2020. The link for more information is shown on the slide.
Secondly, together with UNITAR we have also adapted the content of the online course into a publication, which we are also pleased to launch today. The document is currently available online in English, with Spanish and French versions being made available shortly.
Strengthening the engagement of stakeholders will be critical if we are serious about delivering on the Decade of Action for the SDGs. We count on your support to promote these materials as much as possible.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
My final message is about the need for all of us to increase our ambition and to commit to concrete actions that accelerate the implementation of the SDGs. I want to take this opportunity to invite all of you to register and share information about your SDG Acceleration Actions using the global platform set up by DESA. So far, we have more than 150 SDG Acceleration Actions registered by governments and stakeholders around the world.
By accelerating action on SDG implementation, we can avert the worst outcomes of the pandemic and ensure a fairer, more sustainable world for everyone.
I wish you all a great learning opportunity!
Thank you for your attention.