Within the framework of the 70th General Assembly of the United Nations, there were a number of parallel events that complemented the main event in late September in New York. One of them, perhaps the one that attracted most celebrities, was the held in Y92 in Manhattan. The Social Good Summit is an event that takes place periodically and that has been present in over 65 countries. “The Social Good Summit brings together a dynamic community of global leaders and activists to discuss solutions to the great challenges of our time” can be read on the Mashable website, one of the organizers of the event.
The former US Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, the actress Charlize Theron, the artist Victoria Beckham, the Nobel Peace Prize, Kailash Satyarthi, Queen Rania of Jordan… a multitude of relevant people who wanted to make a contribution to the question that was flying around the venue for the two days of the event: What kind of world do I want by 2030?
Based on this premise, a number of speeches, lasting a maximum time of 10 minutes each, were made. The event had such a media impact – especially in the networks – that it became one of the recurrent themes on Twitter in the US, with the hashtag #2030NOW.
In that sense, the Social Good Summit played an important role in the dissemination of the 17 Global Goals approved by the United Nations in late September, as was acknowledged by Amina J. Mohammed (special adviser to the Secretary-General of the UN on SDGs).
Many topics were brought up on stage during the two day event. All were important and related to the 17 Global Goals. One of the common elements in all the discussions was the role of youth as a force for change with a view to achieving the sustainable development goals.
Here are some of the most important issues and the people who appeared in the conferences:
Women in crisis
Savannah Guthrie (journalist and moderator), Sienna Miller (actress and goodwill ambassador for the NGO International Medical Corps), Rebecca Milner (vice president of the NGO International Medical Corps)
Refugees: The path to the resettlement
Lara Logan (journalist), Antonio Guterres (High Commissioner of the UN refugee agency), Ger Duany (model and actor)
Music as a global movement: past and present
Brian Hernandez (editor of the music section of Mashable), Martin Jakobsen (musician of the band Turning Tables), Jesse Paris Smith (musician), Patti Smith (musician)
The generation that will end aids
Charlize Theron (actress and goodwill ambassador for UNAIDS), Kweku Mandela (film director and co-founder of Africa Rising)
Climate change and the struggle for justice
Kumi Naidoo, executive director of Greenpeace International
You can watch the event in full on the following videos:
http://livestream.com/Mashable/english2015