Welcome to the United Nations
The United Nations Civil Society Conference is the premier event on the civil society calendar at the United Nations. The Conference offers civil society organizations an opportunity to put a global perspective on a specific issue and brings together senior UN System officials, prominent international civil society organizations, youth changemakers, academia, public opinion makers, and international media to discuss issues of global concern. This international forum, expected to host some 1500 participants, will provide preliminary discussions and data ahead of the Summit of the Future in September 2024 at the UN Headquarters in New York.
Civil Society and the Summit of the Future
Civil society plays a fundamental role in shaping a future that, today more than ever, needs multilateral approaches to ensure an inclusive, sustainable, and safe society for all. Since 1947, sixty-eight UN-supported civil society conferences have resulted in successful outcomes. As a result of previous interactions with civil society organizations, we now look forward to the 2024 UN Civil Society Conference in Support of the Summit of the Future to be held in Nairobi on 9-10 May.
The Summit of the Future will take place 22-23 September in UNHQ New York, resulting in an intergovernmental Pact for the Future, annexed with a Global Digital Compact and Declaration on Future Generations, which all hope to deliver a UN for people and planet in the 21st century and beyond. The convergence of these processes represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to strategize the path forward for the United Nations and the global community, to advance the work marked by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and build a world where no one is left behind. Civil society is an essential partner in a global endeavor that must come up with solutions and approaches from all sectors in society, in a spirit of collaboration and true networked and inclusive multilateralism.
Objectives
We hope that the 2024 UN Civil Society Conference in Support of the Summit of the Future, set to take place 9-10 May in Nairobi can achieve three main objectives.
- INCLUSIVE. Increase awareness, ambition, and accountability for the Summit of the Future beyond New York and support the amplification of diverse voices and initiatives to inform an inclusive Pact for the Future.
- IMPACTFUL. Keeping in mind that by May, we will have more clarity on the likely substance of the Pact for the Future, use the Nairobi moment to build multi-stakeholder ImPACT Coalitions constituting Member States, civil society, academia, think tanks, foundations, and the private sector, to champion, act on, and push forward specific issue areas or big-ticket reforms proposed in the consensus language of the Pact. These coalitions seek to both raise the ambition of the Pact for the Future, and see through its implementation and action. The civil society-hosted, multistakeholder “ImPACT for the Future Package'' seeks to be a contribution by diverse stakeholders to enhance the implementation of key reforms and issues across the Pact for the Future.
- INNOVATIVE. Seize the conference itself as an opportunity to innovate the way civil society interacts with intergovernmental processes. To showcase an effective model of intergenerational cooperation and solidarity, championing diverse expertise, and doing something new in a civil society-hosted multi-stakeholder forum.
For more information, please visit 2024 UNCSC.
Source: UN DGC