Presentation of draft framework under Global Stakeholder Consultation Process at the Center for Global Agenda (CGA) during the UN General Assembly Science Summit

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Center for Global Agenda: 77th UN General Assembly, Science Summit Statement 3 (Culture)

This position statement is part of a series of statements from the Center for Global Agenda (CGA) at Unbuilt Labs leading up to the 77th UN General Assembly Science Summit (SSUNGA77) to offer actionable recommendations. CGA Co-Directors Marvin Cheung and Marguerite Van Cook will be presenting at and engaging both fellow presenters as well as the general public at the SSUNGA77 on these recommendations.

Marvin Cheung, Center for Global Agenda at Unbuilt Labs, Co-Director, on culture:

“As we reflect upon the future of multilateralism, sustainable development, and science diplomacy at the SSUNGA77, it is pivotal that we examine their intersections with culture as well. Too often global policy discussions around people adopt a top-down view, focusing on politics and the few who already have leverage; how can we create a positive bottom-up culture of change that includes everyone?

“Building a positive bottom-up culture of change is critical to evidence-based, science-based decision-making. A stronger focus on people and culture presents the opportunity to (1) win the hearts and minds of people for unanimous, lasting, and sincere support for peace, (2) rebuild trust with people and communities who have experienced historical wrongs, and (3) engage new, historically underrepresented, and younger demographics.

“In practice, this means engaging in an integrated partnership with non-state actors, such as those from the cultural industry, as well as combining scientific and expert knowledge with local knowledge and common values. We argue that researchers not only have a duty to prove, but also a duty to persuade — this includes securing buy-in from people who belong to different academic disciplines, disadvantaged communities that may not have access to quality education, and faith-based communities.

“As researchers ourselves we recognize the challenges in satisfying the duty to persuade — we would like to make three recommendations: (1) integrating a public consultation phase into research processes, (2) encouraging universities, companies, and other research institutions to have public open houses and showcases for research, and (3) implementing cross-disciplinary research partner programs where researchers from STEM and researchers from the humanities can exchange ideas.

“More generally, we recommend investing in developing intercultural competencies, including: (1) learning user research and cross-cultural negotiation techniques to ask thoughtful questions and communicate with care, (2) exploring different art, languages, literature, as well as music, and (3) interacting with diverse or underrepresented communities.

"There is one initiative we would like to highlight and that is The Human Library, where real people are on loan to readers."

For more information please see the Center for Global Agenda (CGA) at Unbuilt Labs website: https://unbuiltlabs.com/cga or visit our Pressroom for past announcements statements: https://unbuiltlabs.com/pressroom

Center for Global Agenda: 77th UN General Assembly, Science Summit Statement 2 (Strategy)

This position statement is part of a series of statements from the Center for Global Agenda (CGA) at Unbuilt Labs leading up to the 77th UN General Assembly Science Summit (SSUNGA77) to offer actionable recommendations. CGA Co-Directors Marvin Cheung and Marguerite Van Cook will be presenting at and engaging both fellow presenters as well as the general public at the SSUNGA77 on these recommendations.

Marvin Cheung, Center for Global Agenda at Unbuilt Labs, Co-Director, on strategy:

“It is vital that we differentiate between sustainability, which is often associated with climate action, and sustainable development, which has a critical peace component. While they are interlinked in areas such as climate security or forced migration, and we advocate strongly for climate action, we believe an actionable strategy to deliver on the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals requires us to reorient more holistically around sustainable development.

“In practice, we recommend shifting from a macro-level strategy focused on climate change to a micro-level strategy focused on Health for All presented by the World Health Organization (WHO) to drive SDG action. This strategy (1) increases accountability at an individual level and at a rights level, (2) highlights the common as well as individual benefits of sustainable development, and (3) demonstrates the relevance of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals to a diverse audience.

“We draw upon the holistic conception of health presented by the WHO and the High Level Advisory Board on Effective Multilateralism established by the UN Secretary General. Health, as defined by the Constitution of the WHO, is ‘a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity; the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being without distinction of race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition’.

“This right to health framework includes (1) access to affordable health care including essential drugs, vaccinations, as well as mental health support, and (2) global and local responses from state and non-state actors to address underlying social determinants of health for the better.

“It is important to emphasize the connections between sustainability, sustainable development, as well as Health for All, and we offer our unreserved support towards climate action. At this time and based on expert research, we believe a micro-level strategy focused on individuals and Health for All is more likely to help deliver on the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and this is the strategy we recommend moving forward.”

For more information please see the Center for Global Agenda (CGA) at Unbuilt Labs website: https://unbuiltlabs.com/cga or visit our Pressroom for past announcements statements: https://unbuiltlabs.com/pressroom

Center for Global Agenda: 77th UN General Assembly, Science Summit Statement 1 (Preamble)

Dedicated to the study of global governance and global agenda setting for non-state actors, the Center for Global Agenda (CGA) at Unbuilt Labs is currently hosting the Recommended UN Action Plan to Close the Compliance Gap (CCG), a publication at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). We will be recommending on the methods non-state actors can employ to accelerate sustainable development, protect global commons, provide global public goods, offer checks and balances, and deliver Health for All.

The Center for Global Agenda is part of the broader global think tank ecosystem at Unbuilt Labs, which has three main scopes of work: scope 1: we study crises and disruptive trends, a narrower scope 2: we explore what doing good means today, and finally scope 3: we examine methods of advancing sustainable development and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

We are pleased to announce that the Co-Directors of the Center for Global Agenda Marguerite Van Cook and Marvin Cheung will be presenting at the Science Summit at the 77th United Nation General Assembly (SSUNGA77). As a Global Diplomacy Fellow at UNITAR, Cheung will be speaking at a session together with fellows from the UNITAR Global Diplomacy Initiative Fellowship and UN General Assembly President's Fellowship programs on the future of multilateralism, sustainable development, and science diplomacy. Cheung and Van Cook will then be presenting at a second session co-organized by ENoLL and CGA on driving living labs adoption globally as part of CGA’s The Future of Global Governance Series.

The Center for Global Agenda is delighted to share our research and learn from fellow colleagues at SSUNGA77. We will be publishing a series of position statements leading up to the presentations to offer actionable recommendations.

We invite everyone to join us on the CGA Public Forum on SDG 16 Hub hosted by the UNDP Oslo Governance Centre: https://www.sdg16hub.org/group/center-global-agenda-recommended-un-acti… Anyone is welcome to provide feedback and comment by creating an account.

We are also pleased to support Act4SDGs by the UN Sustainable Development Goals Action Campaign. Our initiatives are highlighted on our Act4SDG profile.

For more information please see the Center for Global Agenda (CGA) at Unbuilt Labs website: https://unbuiltlabs.com/cga or visit our Pressroom for past announcements statements: https://unbuiltlabs.com/pressroom