Social Weekend is the largest contest of social projects in the Republic of Belarus. The organizer of this contest is the Local Fund “Dobra”. The project includes hackaton, national voting, expert selection, training and strengthening of projects, pitching for media and PR experts and the final, which this year took place on December 12, 2019.
The jury of the final in 2019 decided to give support to socially important projects that contribute to solving existing problems in society and contribute to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals: ensuring healthy lifestyles and well-being, quality lifelong learning, gender equality, as well as openness, safety, resilience and sustainability of cities and towns.
The projects that have been supported this season are:
SpasiKIDS: establishment of the School for Parents to teach theoretical knowledge and practical skills of first prehospital care for children. The project provides free training for staff of 110 kindergartens in Grodno, teachers from district centers of the region, who come for advanced training courses, and for national and city charities.
“Towards great victories with small legs”: in 2006, a specialized gym for disabled children with musculoskeletal disorders was opened at the “Chance” Sports Centre. During these years, it helped many disabled children to believe in themselves. Many world victories of Brest invasporters started within the walls of this gym. Now the hall requires repair and renovation of sports equipment.
“Open Lecture Hall”: an educational project designed to become a guide for a huge number of citizens and guests of the capital in the world of art, science, to give answers to topical questions and form a platform for the exchange of new knowledge, impressions and opinions.
Hospice for homeless animals “Dobrenica”: the last shelter for abandoned, crippled, surviving cats, dogs, wild animals. This is not only an opportunity for us to become kinder and more merciful, it is also an opportunity to learn the strength of spirit from those who have gone through hell, but have not lost their all-forgiving love for people.
Beethoven anniversary tour: a unique in its concept social and educational project aimed at popularization of the academic music art in the regions, which includes charity concerts, master-classes, as well as motivation trainings from classical music stars from the USA, Germany, Switzerland, France, Latvia, Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. The festival is fully dedicated to the art of the jubilee 2020, the great German composer Ludwig van Beethoven.
“Calibri” is an application that helps doctors to quickly, efficiently and competently distribute victims at the scene of an emergency.
“Jezhy Vezha” is a network of outdoor/indoor vermicomposters for rental/sale to organizations, associations, spaces producing food waste.
Women’s Safety School: an educational platform for strengthening personal safety for women who do not know how to act in situations of psychological pressure from loved ones, colleagues and/or strangers or who do not know how to behave in situations of physical danger. The team will develop five-minute video lessons on typical situations faced by women with instructions on how to strengthen their psychological and physical safety. “Let’s go, let’s ride”: joint hiking, excursions, trips and travels for people with and without disabilities ReBottle: a 3D printer that prints street furniture from PET bottles.
“Remember”: a free public burial search engine.
“Tradytsyny stroy”: the project aims at fixing authentic regional costumes of Belarus in video clips and integrating them into the modern society. It is an image project that will become not only a practical guide to folk costume, but also a quality product for mass use in Belarus and abroad.
Dog-friendly taxi: every time when calling a taxi, dog owners face a lot of internal and external barriers: is the driver ready to take the passenger with the animal, will the dog’s upholstery not get dirty, how will other passengers feel about the specific smell of the pet? The initiators of the project decided to change the situation and make friends with taxi drivers. For this purpose they want to transform the ecosystem of city taxi services and offer them to become dog-friendly. To make this transition easier, taxi services will be given special kits to transport dogs in a car. “Metamarphoses of the City”: Dull homes, yards, neighborhoods will be transformed into paintings that will be bright during the day and at night will glow with special paints that accumulate light. A unique environment will emerge with images on historical events, myths and legends of a particular city, Belarusian culture. There will be a magical atmosphere in kindergartens, schools, hospitals and hospices, orphanages. The project will attract tourists, revive the economy.
You can apply for the new season of Social Weekend on the website.
The spring ritual “Yuryevsky chorovod” was included in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage at the XIV session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in Bogota. The materials for the dossier were prepared by representatives of the Ministry of Culture, experts and participants of the ritual with the participation of the National Commission for UNESCO, the Permanent Delegation of Belarus to UNESCO in Paris, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The ritual was also included in the State List of Historical and Cultural Properties of Belarus. The theatrical phenomenon of the play “Poulinka” of the Yanka Kupala National Academic Theatre, the tradition of spring roundelays on Easter and Easter week, the tradition of seeing off the winter in the village of Pinkovichi, Pinsk district, the caroling ceremony “Koniki” in David-Gorodka, Stolin district, Brest region, the tradition of making a unique banquet cake in the urban settlement of Porozovo, Grodno region, and creating carpets from straw on black canvas (the village of Rukhovo, the agrarian town of Pologozhevichi and Starye Dorogi of Minsk region) will also receive the status of historical and cultural value.
Inclusion of local rituals in the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage and the State List of Historical and Cultural Properties is important for sustainable development at the local level. It contributes to raising the status of a given area, maintaining its attractiveness for local residents and popularizing it among tourists, and, accordingly, employment and decent work for local residents, creating infrastructure, building resilient settlements and peaceful and open communities for sustainable development (SDGs 8, 9, 11, 12, 16).
“Yuryevsky chorovos” is the third belarusian element on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List. The first was the Belarusian rite “Kaladnya Tsary” in the village of Semezhevo, Kopyl district, Minsk region (2009), the second was the “Celebration in honor of the Icon of the Mother of God of Budslavskaya (Budslav Fest)” in the village of Budslav, Myadel district, Minsk region (2018). “Yuryevsky chorovod” is held in the village of Pogost, Zhitkovichi district, Gomel region. It is a spring ritual, including ritual songs, magical acts and entertainment, held for the fertility of the land and well-being. For the ritual the whole village houses and yards are cleaned, people prepare festive traditional clothes, bake and decorate ritual bread, and then the festive procession goes through the streets of the village to the sown field.
SDG Global Festival of Action is an annual event organized by the Sustainable Development Goals community and designed to inspire action on Sustainable Development Goals.
The 2020 SDG Global Festival of Action will take place in Bonn from 1-3 April and will provide a platform to meet with key people, activists and leaders in the field of SDGs, identify the most innovative ways to inspire action to achieve the SDGs and explore the transformations that are taking place to benefit people and the planet.
More than 2,000 SDGs actors from around the world, including artists, social innovators, philanthropists, international agencies and NGOs, local governments and national governments, academic institutions and leading enterprises will join forces to find new ways to inspire action to achieve the SDGs.
Applicants can apply by 10 January 2020.
The fourth SDG Global Action Festival will be an important milestone in accelerating progress towards sustainable development goals as 2020 marks the launch of the Decade of Action. Each thematic section of the Festival will be designed to meet and network, share experiences and explore ideas, approaches and methods to better prepare for joint efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
The high-level plenary meetings will bring together United Nations leaders, national and local government officials, progressive thinkers and change activists to discuss the political landscape, the importance of cooperation and how local solutions lead to global change. Each year, the Festival helps participants deepen their knowledge of SDGs and takes a practical approach to promoting SDGs. It will explore policies related to climate action, gender equality and inequality.
The Festival brings the global community of the SDG together: it strengthens cooperation and changes. This year, along with popular demonstration sites, the organizers will hold networking workshops. Throughout the festival, the SDG Live Studio will host live strategic presentations, TED-style talks on the SDG Action and interviews with influential experts. Media partners and content creators will be able to use the media area to tell the community about the most interesting festival events.
The exhibition area will explore practical experiences in translating local action into global impact. It is a special space where performances and demonstrations, installations and virtual tours will take place.
The Expert Meeting on Measuring Poverty and Inequality and the Workshop on Harmonizing Poverty Statistics for Measuring SDG 1 in EECCA countries, organized by UNECE, took place in Geneva on 4-6 December. The meeting and workshop was attended by Elena Kukharevich, Deputy Chairwoman of the National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus and head of the interagency working group on monitoring and evaluation of SDG achievements of the Council for Sustainable Development. The participants of the meeting considered issues related to the measurement of poverty and inequality, in particular, the disaggregation of poverty indicators for monitoring the Sustainable Development Agenda to 2030, representation and accuracy of the sample in surveys, the impact on poverty of social payments, the use of administrative data for measurement, familiarized themselves with the best international practices in this area. Representatives of the participating countries studied the experience of Belarus in multidimensional poverty assessment.
The participants shared their experience in developing statistical capacity to measure poverty and defined the main directions for further actions to harmonize poverty statistics. E.I. Kuharevich told the seminar participants about the progress made by the Republic of Belarus in measuring SDG 1 and the harmonization of poverty statistics within the framework of monitoring SDG 1.
For reference:
Sustainable Development Goal 1 is “The universal eradication of poverty in all its forms”. Objectives of the Goal:
To study reporting on indicators of Goal 1 of sustainable development, please visit the website of the National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus.
On December 3, 2019 in the business center “Gomel-Raton” an extended meeting of the regional group of sustainable development was held in the format of the seminar “Localization of Sustainable Development Goals in the Gomel region”. The event was organized by the Gomel region executive committee. The seminar was attended by representatives of the Gomel and other regional sustainable development groups, educational and scientific institutions, public associations and international organizations. Partners in the event included UNDP, UNICEF, UNFPA and the Support Programme for Belarus of the Federal Government of Germany.
The seminar presented international, national and local experience, best practices and lessons learned on the way to implementing Agenda 2030. The discussion enabled the participants to better understand the challenges facing the region and the country as a whole and to consider strategic, institutional and practical measures to achieve Sustainable Development Goals in the context of the Gomel region.
During the seminar the participants were informed about the results of the MARS expert and consulting mission, which worked in 2017 in Belarus. The experts of the mission developed a roadmap for achieving Sustainable Development Goals in the Republic of Belarus. Belarus was proposed platforms for accelerating the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals:
Seminar participants were familiarized with the priorities of sustainable development of the country, laid down in the draft national sustainable development strategy for the period until 2035, developed by the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Belarus, as well as approaches to regional development and monitoring of sustainable development goals at the national and regional levels. Representatives of the Mogilev regional executive committee. In addition, the successful experience of inter-regional cooperation was presented on the example of the Mogilev region.
Understanding the interconnectedness of the three dimensions of sustainable development – economic, social and environmental – the workshop addressed a number of selected cross-cutting issues.
The economic section was opened by Andriy Sobko, First Deputy Chairman of the Economy Committee of the Regional Executive Committee: he spoke about the priorities and directions of economic development of Gomel region. Antonina Ezhova, Head of Administration of “Gomel-Raton”, and Dmitry Morozov, Director of “Gomel Technopark”, made presentations on innovation business in the region.
The social session talked about social aspects of sustainable development in the Gomel region; how state structures and public associations can cooperate for sustainable development; and how the public participation mechanism is applied in practice. The environmental section raised issues of the use of recycled material resources, forest protection, and the state of water resources in the region, and Ilya Borovtsov, Youth Ambassador for Sustainable Development, presented a project on the use of rainwater for domestic purposes.
The workshop was supported by the UNDP/UNICEF/UNFPA project “Supporting the Functioning of the Architecture for Managing the Sustainable Development Goals of the Republic of Belarus” and the Belarus Support Programme of the Federal Government of Germany.
On November 28, 2019 annual public hearings of socially responsible companies were held in Minsk for the second time.
Public hearings were organized by the fund “Dobra” in partnership with “Belarusbank” and were attended by representatives of business companies, government agencies and international organizations. After all, corporate social responsibility implies partnership of business, government and society, as well as the introduction of sustainable development strategy in each organization.
The participants of the public hearings discussed why it is beneficial for companies to participate in resolving social issues, which in turn will help accelerate the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals.
Alexander Skrabovsky, Director of the fund “Dobra” and Coordinator of the Sustainable Development Partnership Group for Business Interaction, drew attention to the need for innovative approaches that would allow both doing things important for society and earning money. Social responsibility is a guarantee of the company’s prestige and stable growth. “World practice shows that socially responsible business grows faster. And in the future consumers will increasingly demand socially responsible behavior from companies,” he said.
Among the successful projects that were presented at the public hearings were projects in the field of animal protection and ecology, medicine and education. These are, for example, “Teacher for Belarus” (supported by BPS-Sberbank), the project “Senior Specialist” (ADEL chain of pharmacies), the opening of family-type orphanages and training of cashiers in sign language (Belarusbank) and others.
Also, a year ago the fund “Dobra” announced the emergence of an index, which will assess the corporate sustainability and responsibility of Belarusian companies. The index is a digital indicator, which is designed to assess and self-evaluate the company’s activities in the field of sustainable development and corporate social responsibility. Companies are assessed on four groups of criteria: labor relations and human rights, good business practices, consumers and participation in community life, and environment. A total of 134 indicators are presented. Based on the survey results, each company is assigned a social sustainability and responsibility index – a figure from 0 to 12. 23 Belarusian companies have already passed the assessment.
For their long-term contribution to the sustainable development of the Republic of Belarus, Belgazprombank, Belarusbank, and the Adaani Company were awarded the National Coordinator for Sustainable Development Goals Marianna Shchetkina and the fund “Dobra”. Another five representatives of the business community were awarded for new responsible business practices in Belarus.
On 27 November 2019, the Third International Forum of Women Leaders was held in Grodno. The aim of the event was to promote women’s leadership, gender equality and the participation of women in public and political life at the local level. By achieving this goal, the organizers of the forum see capacity-building and networking among women, which ultimately contributes to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals.
The International Forum of Women Leaders was organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection. The Forum was partnered by the following institutions: Grodno Regional Executive Committee, Yanka Kupala State University of Grodno, the Belarusian Women’s Union, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in the Republic of Belarus and the Council of Europe.
This is the third time the Forum has been held in Belarus. The first was held in June 2016, the second in October 2018. This year’s Forum brought together about 90 participants – representatives of government agencies and international organizations, public associations and business structures.
Discussions of the agenda of the International Forum of Women Leaders were held in three parallel thematic sessions:
1. Promotion of women’s political participation at the local level.
This session raised the problem of obstacles faced by women in politics, presented the experience of the Republic and abroad, and considered examples of good practices that support political participation of women at the local level.
2 Balance between work and personal life: myth or reality?
This session focused on national and international experiences in promoting gender and family-friendly jobs and motherhood as corporate values for employers. The speakers talked about the development of family-friendly infrastructure and social environment as a driving force to enhance gender equality and empower women in public and family life.
3. The role of universities in strengthening women’s leadership at the local level.
The session explored the various opportunities that universities can and do provide for training women leaders.
The event was opened by the Minister of Labour and Social Protection, Irina Kostevich. In her speech, the head of the department spoke about the current impact of gender policy of the Republic of Belarus, as well as the tasks that are currently assigned to officials working on gender equality issues in the country.
The Minister stressed that in terms of gender equality Belarus holds high positions in many authoritative ratings. Thus, according to the UNDP Global Report “Human Development Report 2018” The Republic is ranked 31st in the gender-sensitive development index and 28th in the gender inequality index. Belarus also holds the leading position among CIS countries in the index of opportunities for girls: 24th place among 144 countries in the world.
“We have done much to increase women’s participation in the labour market, reduce labour segregation and the gender pay gap, as well as to promote a balance between labour and family responsibilities, support women’s entrepreneurship and increase women’s participation in economic decision-making at the highest level. Nevertheless, important gender gaps remain, which hinder progress in gender equality”, emphasized Irina Kostevich.
It is important to note that the International Forum of Women Leaders is held for the first time at the regional level. Looking back on today’s situation, it is crucial that women have more opportunities and actively participate in the system of local governance and self-governance as persons responsible for decision-making, their implementation and results.
“Local governments are closest to citizens and therefore are the best way to involve women in the decision-making process regarding their living conditions and can use their knowledge and opportunities to promote sustainable development,” the Minister said.
The representation of women at the decision-making level in Belarus is quite high. According to the preliminary results of the elections to the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus held the day before, the proportion of women in this area has increased to 40% of the total number of deputies in the House of Representatives and members of the Council of the Republic. It should be noted that, on average, women are represented in national parliaments only by 24.5 per cent worldwide. In the local councils of deputies, almost half of them are women – 48.2 per cent. For comparison, in 2017 the proportion of women among the heads of rural, settlement and urban (district) executive committees and their deputies was 68.8 per cent.
Women are widely represented in State administration. Thus, 67.4 per cent of civil servants at all levels of administration are women, including 56.2 per cent at managerial and deputy positions. In addition, 68 per cent of State employees are women.
It is characteristic that women outperform men in educational achievements. Today more than 57.7% of citizens with higher and postgraduate education are women. University teaching staff is 55% women. At the same time, they are still not very visible in managerial positions: at the level of rector of the university – 5 against 47, at the level of vice rectors – 47 against 163.
Irina Kostevich noted: despite the fact that the management position depends not on gender, but on personal competence, professionalism and ambitions, in real life it is still difficult to compete with men on equal terms with women. Among the reasons for this the Minister mentioned the double employment of women at work and in the family, established stereotypes, professional segregation.
These challenges are not unique for Belarus. At the October Beijing +25 Regional Review Meeting in Geneva, it was noted that technology, economy, governance and construction are still largely dominated by men. Even in countries that have achieved a high degree of gender equality, the unequal distribution of unpaid work and caregiving responsibilities remains intractable, all supported by conservative social expectations. This situation has significant implications for women’s ability to participate actively in labour market processes, to move into male-dominated sectors of employment, to achieve career goals and to accumulate higher pensions.
On average, Belarusian women spend twice as much time as men working at home and taking care of children or elderly people. “What is more important – to be a good mother and wife or a successful leader? That is the question many women may ask in today’s world. Therefore, it is important to create such conditions for the realization of women, such a level of culture and behavior in society that would not force this choice in favor of one, and to the detriment of the other”, summed up Irina Kostevich.
About a year ago, Minsk Gymnasium № 19 decided to give up plastics as much as possible. This environmental innovation is not a surprise for local schoolchildren. Here they are used to saving resources, many of them get to school by bicycle, sort garbage, develop and implement ecoprojects – in short, do everything to reduce the impact on the environment. People call this gymnasium ecological. The original article has been published on ecoidea.by.
The bell rings. The open doors of the classrooms release dozens of children into the corridor. The first results of the project “School without Plastic” can already be seen: schoolchildren carry sports uniform in green rag bags with the gymnasium logo, which means minus dozens of disposable bags.
We meet Larisa Peskova, an English teacher, but we get acquainted with her in another capacity – as the head of the project “School without Plastic”.
Larisa Peskova, head of the project “School without Plastic”. Photo by Yulia Semenchenko
– Every day there is more and more plastic in our lives: it overflows dumps, disintegrates into micro-particles, gets into all living organisms on the planet and does it not without harm. It is important to know this not only for environmentalists, but for everyone else, including children from early age, says Larisa Nikolayevna. – And the school can become the place where they will be taught to reduce their plastic footprints. Or maybe it won’t. After all, often in order to simplify their lives, educational institutions close their eyes to simple environmental solutions. For example, parents are often encouraged to buy disposable glasses.
– One of the tasks of our project is to organize drinking conditions at school without using plastic dishes, says Larisa.
In the new school year, coolers with drinking water connected to the central water supply system have appeared in the gymnasium. This is how bottled water was abandoned here. Servicing the cooler does not require plastic containers; you just need to change the filters periodically. In total, 11 coolers with drinking water were supplied to the gymnasium, which is enough for 730 pupils and 70 teachers. Buying coolers requires considerable initial investment, but hopefully in the gymnasium the system will pay off quickly, and most importantly it is an environmentally friendly alternative to bottled water.
Places for drinking. Photo by Yulia Semenchenko
We see that the transition to school life without plastics is happening, but not all at once. There are disposable plastic cups in the urns next to each cooler. Immediately a primary school student runs up, grabs a cup from the holder, pours water, drinks and runs back to class. And that’s 15 seconds.
Older kids come out of the next class, fourth graders. But they have reusable water bottles. Turns out there are about ten people in their class with their own bottles. They confess: it is even more comfortable to be with your own containers, you do not need to run for a cup every time.
Children find their own bottles more comfortable. Photo by Yulia Semenchenko
We ask the guys from 9B if they know why they had installed coolers in the gymnasium. They know: We’re for giving up disposable plastic. On information hours, high school and high school students show the youngest bottles of water, tell us why they carry them and are encouraged to do the same.
– There were no categorical refusals to disposable bottles among parents, said the teacher. – The problem of plastic lies on the surface, and nobody denies it anymore. Most of the reusable bottles that children carry are also plastic, but they are durable. You can use it for several years and not only on school grounds.
Meanwhile plastic is still available in the gymnasium. Like other types of potential recyclable materials, it has been collected here separately for ten years. The car of the Belvtorresursy enterprise comes to get the recycled garbage.
– It’s better to make sure there’s no plastic in your bins at all. If the car takes it away for recycling, it does not mean that it will be recycled at all, – says Maria Suma, an employee of the Center for Environmental Solutions, to the students. – In Belarus, there is still a problem with processing of plastic dishes because they are too small to collect, and it is not clear what kind of plastic they are made of. Therefore, the glasses from the bin under the coolers will most likely just get to the dump.
If students bring recycled materials to school, they receive special leaflets and then prizes. Photo by Yulia Semenchenko
An alternative to plastics in this gymnasium can be seen in other subjects. For example, instead of PVC covers for textbooks, some children have fabric covers.
Linen cover for a book. Photo by Yulia Semenchenko
There is a group of proactive parents in the gymnasium who make plywood bookends for their children. When organizing school events balloons were abandoned in favor of homemade decorations.
Not only plastic
The topic of ecofriendliness is included here in almost every lesson, and each of the classes is responsible for its own environmental direction. For example, students of 9B are working to reduce emissions and are campaigning for using bicycles. The conditions in the gymnasium are as comfortable as possible: a bicycle lane approaches the gymnasium and there is a bicycle parking lot.
Bicycle infrastructure of the gymnasium. Photo by Yulia Semenchenko
On the Day without a car, which is annually held in Belarus on September 22, pupils and students tell minskers why they should choose bicycles. On the Health Day, all children are invited to come to the gymnasium by bike and take part in competitions.
– All parents know that children have the opportunity to come by bike. We show that it is not only possible, it is normal, – says Larisa Peskova.
There is a bookcrossing shelf in the corridor that allows you to update your personal library.
Bookcrossing shelf. Photo by Yulia Semenchenko
There is a garden in one of the classrooms, where pupils can take care of plants and animals.
During handcraft classes pupils use upcycling techniques for the decorations.
How to make your “School without Plastic”
If your school wants to join the “School without Plastic” initiative, think about what you can change today. It can be both simple solutions and more complex. If you need advice, contact Centre for Environmental Solutions. Maria Suma, an employee of the organization, is ready to make a “plastic” audit in your educational institution and, together with a school initiative group, develop scenarios on the first changes (as it was in Gymnasium 19 in Minsk).
On November 25-28, 2019 the third international seminar on the implementation of the Integrated Geospatial Information Framework was held in Minsk.
The seminar was aimed at increasing and improving the awareness, knowledge and understanding of the UN Integrated Geospatial Information Framework (IGFI) and the integration role of geospatial information. The workshop addressed the availability and accessibility of geospatial information and its integration with statistics and other data, in particular the data needs to support national development priorities and national implementation of the Sustainable Development Agenda-2030.
The workshop considered the Global Geospatial Statistics Framework as an important link to integrate a range of data from both statistical and geospatial communities and to produce standardized and integrated statistics using geospatial data; the development of national spatial data infrastructures; and the orientation of data-based policy and decision-making.
Tim Traynor (International Cartographic Association), Inna Medvedeva (National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus), Alexandra Solovyova (Permanent Representative of the United Nations Development Programme in the Republic of Belarus), Carol Agius (UN Regional Committee on Global Geospatial Information Management for Europe) addressed the participants of the seminar with welcoming speeches.
The workshop highlighted the successes and leadership of Belarus in promoting sustainable development goals and integrating geospatial information into statistics.
During the first session Chi-Hai Theo (UN Secretariat, Global Geospatial Information Office) discussed the objectives of the seminar. Geospatial information reflects the physical world, where all human actions take place. It is important to create a digital display of this information – for government, citizens and businesses alike. This allows us to track what changes are happening now, to predict and model the challenges we will face in the future. The 21st century requires us to collect, process and interpret data of high quality and from different sources in order to make decisions based on reliable information. This is confirmed by the Sustainable Development Goals Report 2019, which states that to achieve social transformation, we will need to respond more quickly. The integration of geospatial and statistical information will help fill the data gaps for monitoring the SDGs.
Volker Taube (EACT Statistical Office) presented EACT’s activities to promote the availability of modern, reliable and quality data for indicator production. The availability of geospatial data is important for statistical cooperation, integration into various statistical systems, training programmes and technical partnerships.
Steven Vale (UNECE Statistical Division) presented the UNECE activities in support of the Sustainable Development Agenda to 2030. The sustainable development goals offer us the opportunity to look at data from a new perspective, to build new partnerships around it, and thus help our communities develop. One of the priorities for the Eastern European region is to promote the use of statistics for the Sustainable Development Goals. The use of geospatial data produces disaggregated data and embodies the principle of sustainable development “leave no one behind”. More information can be found in the Statistical Roadmap for the SDG and on the Statistics Division website.
Carol Agius (UN-GGIM: Europe Secretariat) presented UN-GGIM: Europe’s activities to promote the availability and accessibility of up-to-date, reliable and quality geospatial information for national sustainable development priorities. She stressed that data integration is very important for identifying activities and evidence-based decision-making, as well as for analyzing indicators of sustainable development goals and the obstacles that arise before the achievement of sustainable development goals. To that end, a new plan would be developed until 2022, taking into account the sustainable development goals.
Chi-Hai Theo also presented an integrated geospatial information framework as a mechanism for integrated national management of geospatial information – the fundamental principles, goals and strategic directions for translating high-level strategic concepts into practical guidelines and implementation measures.
Other sessions were devoted to the following themes:
SITE MAP
