Background
The fifth SDG Global Festival of Action, powered by the UN SDG Action Campaign, finds new ways to inspire, mobilize and connect people and organizations to take action on the SDGs. In light of the pandemic, the Festival will be held in a dynamic virtual space with six different stages, featuring plenary sessions, lightning talks, performances, interactive workshops, exhibits and a space to connect with leaders, changemakers, activists, private sector and more. To access the virtual space, please register here.
WHY IS THIS A TURNING POINT FOR PEOPLE AND PLANET?
We must make 2021 a turning point for people and planet! COVID-19 has turned our life upside down, and it urges everyone to work together towards a better recovery, keeping the SDG’s as our ‘north star’ and blueprint for transformative action.
As a better understanding around the inextricable links among the SDGs is emerging, leaders from governments, the private sector and across societies are reimagining and redesigning jobs, finance, mobility, health care, education, and technology. The need for acting - not issue by issue, but across entire systems - offers real hope for unlocking rapid action on daunting challenges such as pandemics, now and in the future, along with deep-seated inequalities and climate change.
The pandemic has also shown the resilience of humankind and how global threats require global action and solidarity. Also evident is the profound power of individuals. People have collectively constrained the spread of the virus by heeding the advice from health professionals and organizations. They demonstrate how actions add up, and will take us past the turning point and on to transformation. The Festival brings together all stakeholders to share bold imaginings, bold ideas and bold approaches to seize the opportunity of this moment and ensure we create a turning point for people and the planet.
THE FESTIVAL’S FOUR THEMES
Centering around the concept of turning things around, the Festival will provoke debate and drive ideas and actions around four themes that will determine the pace of progress. It will #TurnItAround for climate action in a critical year for bold and transformative leaps forward as the world races to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies, combat deforestation, protect biodiversity and achieve net-zero carbon emissions. It will #TurnItAround for poverty & inequality to mobilize behind a new social contract for those left furthest behind. Through universal health coverage, safety nets, justice and human resilience, the world should never again be in a position of such acute vulnerability. The Festival will #TurnItAround for gender equality as a central tenet in building forward together, because gender discrimination is not only wrong, but harms us all by undercutting the intelligence and experience of over half of humanity. It will #TurnItAround for inclusive systems and sustainable finance because we must rethink the global economy and power structures, achieve inclusive financial systems that align with the SDGs, and stop perpetuating wide-scale discrimination and exclusion. For the latest program, click here.
MULTILINGUALISM AND ACCESSIBILITY
Live and pre-recorded sessions featured on the Main Stage will be in English and simultaneously translated into French and Spanish and signed in International Sign Language for full accessibility. Live and pre-recorded sessions on the Japan Stage will be in English and Japanese and will also be signed in International Sign Language. Social media assets will be in English, French, Spanish and Japanese.