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This year’s SDGs in Practice began with an in-person Opening Segment event on Monday 8 July in Conference Room 11 at the UNHQ in New York. The theme of the Opening Segment was “the crucial role of training and learning for advancing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”. A full room of 130 participants was joined by some 800 viewers online to hear from Mr. Nikhil Seth, UNITAR Executive Director and Assistant Secretary General, H.E. Mr. Marco A. Suazo, Head of Office, UNITAR NYO, and Ms. Lotta Tahtinen, Chief of Outreach and Partnerships Branch, Division for Sustainable Development Goals, DESA, on the fruitful relationship between UNITAR and DESA, the history, success, and importance of the SDGs in Practice series, and the critical importance of training and learning in fulfilling Agenda 2030.

Following the opening remarks, Dr. Yasar Jarrar, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of the International Advisory Group gave a keynote presentation on the current and predicted state of affairs in the sustainable development world, particularly highlighting the relationship between multilateral diplomacy and the private sector, education, and artificial intelligence.

Immediately after the presentation, participants heard from a multidisciplinary panel of four experts on “the crucial role of training and learning for advancing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” in the context of each panellist’s speciality. The panellists were Ms. Paloma Duran, Former Director of the SDG Fund and Professor at Universitat Jaume I, Ms Natalia Urzola Guitierrez, Chief Operating Officer at the Global Network for Human Rights and the Environment, Ms Yongyi Min, Chief of the SDG Monitoring Section of the UN Statistics Division, and Ms. Aashna Aggarwal, Strategic Alliance Associate, Scale Microgrids.

On the same afternoon, the online substantive training sessions began with the session on the Future of Education and Artificial Intelligence, organized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization – International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNESCO-IESALC). The session on Partnership Building and Multi-Stakeholder Engagement, organized by the 2030 Agenda Partnership Accelerator (UN DESA and The Partnering Initiative) and Partnerships2030 followed the next morning.

The remainder of the week of training featured sessions on Driving the national transformations we need: lessons from the Global Sustainable Development Report organized by UN DESA, UN Development Coordination Office (UNDCO), and UN Development Programme (UNDP); Climate Change, Biodiversity loss and Pollution organized by UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and UN DESA; Jobs and Social Protection by the International Labour Organization (ILO). Data Collection and Analysis for SDG Monitoring, with the UN Statistics Divisions and the Data Diplomacy Academy; Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions led by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and UNDP; and concluded with a special session on Harnessing Citizen-Generated Data for SDG and VNR Monitoring and Evaluation, organized by the Collaborative on Citizen Data.

This year, the SDGs in Practice series benefitted nearly 1300 participants interested in the progression and promotion of sustainable development The gender split was about 50% female and 48.5% male, and participants represented every region in the world, with Africa and Asia having the largest percentages. Interest came mostly from academic institutions and civil society organizations, but also included significant numbers from national governments, UN entities, and the private sector.