UN Updates
--Video:
UN Year in Review 2017 (six minute report). “2017--A new Secretary-General, António Guterres, arrives at the United Nations, dedicated to reform, gender parity and conflict prevention. Around the world, the list of challenges keeps growing…” (opening comment)
--Media: UN News Centre “with breaking news from the UN News Service.” Check in regularly for reports, daily updates, photos, videos and perspectives.
SDG Updates
--Video: State of Sustainable Development 2018 (2 minute promotional video). United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). See also the UNDP's newly reorganized
website including a link to the
UNDP Strategic Plan, 2018-2021.
--Report: Sustainable Development Goals Report 2017. United Nations. “While considerable progress has been made over the past decade across all areas of development, the pace of progress observed in previous years is insufficient to fully meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and targets by 2030. Time is therefore of the essence. Moreover, as the following pages show, progress has not always been equitable. Advancements have been uneven across regions, between the sexes, and among people of different ages, wealth and locales, including urban and rural dwellers. Faster and more inclusive progress is needed to accomplish the bold vision articulated in the 2030 Agenda.” (quote from the Overview)
--Report: Civil Society Consultation for the UN Development System Review Process. UN-NGLS (2017). “…the UN Non-Governmental Liaison Service (UN-NGLS) conducted a consultation process for the UN development system (UNDS) review process to enable civil society organizations to provide analysis to inform the repositioning of the UNDS to deliver on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The civil society perspectives also serve as inputs to the analysis underpinning the Secretary-General’s December report on the UNDS repositioning…A synthesis of key recommendations is provided [in this report.”] (opening paragraph)
--Report: Repositioning the United Nations Development System to Deliver on the 2030 Agenda: Our Promise for Dignity, Prosperity, and Peace on a Healthy Planet. Report of the Secretary General, UN General Assembly, Economic and Social Council (21 December 2017). This is a follow up and elaboration of the Secretary-General’s report in June 2017 on repositioning the UN on behalf of the SDGs (
click here for the June 2017 report).
Multi-Sectoral Reports
--Report: World Development Report 2018: Learning to Realize Education’s Promise.World Bank (2018). Click
HERE for Main Messages. “The Report explores four main themes. First, education's promise…Second, the learning crisis…Third, promising interventions to improve learning…Fourth, learning at scale…Change requires…” (quote from website)
--Report: Freedom in the World 2018: Democracy in Crisis. Freedom House (2018). Click
HERE for the Key Findings and a three minute video overview
. “Democracy faced its most serious crisis in decades in 2017 as its basic tenets—including guarantees of free and fair elections, the rights of minorities, freedom of the press, and the rule of law—came under attack around the world. Seventy-one countries suffered net declines in political rights and civil liberties, with only 35 registering gains. This marked the 12th consecutive year of decline in global freedom.” (opening from the Key Findings)
--Report: Pathways for Peace: Inclusive Approaches for Preventing Violent Conflict.United Nations and World Bank (full report to be released in 2018). Click
HERE for the Main Messages.
“The resurgence of violent conflict in recent years has caused immense human suffering, at enormous social and economic cost…To understand ‘what works,’ [this report] reviews the experience of different countries and institutions to highlight elements that have contributed to peace. Central to these efforts is the need to address grievances around exclusion from access to power, opportunity and security. States hold the primary responsibility for prevention, but to be effective, civil society, the private sector, regional and international organizations must be involved.” (quote from website).
--Report: No Time to Retreat: Annual Synthesis Report 2017. Agenda for Humanity, United Nations (November 2017). “Through its 5 core responsibilities and 24 transformations, the Agenda for Humanity sets out a vision and a roadmap to better meet humanitarian need, risk and vulnerability for the 130 million people who are affected by humanitarian crises and for the millions more people at risk. The changes it calls for have the potential to transform the humanitarian landscape, in order to save more lives and accelerate progress for people in crisis contexts so they can benefit from the universal and ambitious Sustainable Development Goals. At the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul in May 2016, 9,000 representatives from Member States, non-governmental organizations, civil society, people affected by crises, the private sector and international organizations came together and made over 3,700 commitments to deliver on the ambitious changes called for in the Agenda for Humanity…This report provides a summary of the progress that 142 stakeholders reported around the 5 core responsibilities and 24 transformations of the Agenda for Humanity.” (excerpts from the Executive Summary)
