About the Campaign

Around the world, the 2030 Agenda has helped catalyze and support a wide range of innovative, grassroots-led work around SDG16+ with a variety of civil society actors. While the actions and commitments of civil society at the national level are often overlooked in global-level discussions, the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) provides a unique opportunity to bring civil society from a wide range of contexts together to showcase best practices and innovative initiatives supporting SDG16+ implementation, and a chance to explore opportunities for further civil society collaboration at all levels around SDG16+ going forward.

An agenda that promises to ‘leave no-one behind,’ needs to be inclusive of all voices, particularly those working at the national or local levels. With growing momentum to mobilize actions and commitments to achieve peaceful, just and inclusive societies, particularly amongst civil society actors, the HLPF presents to showcase national and local-level work to implement SDG16+ that must be seized.

What is "Voices of SDG16+"?

  • A video-campaign to showcase civil society SDG16+ work from around the world
  • An event at HLPF featuring activists working to advance SDG16+ in their communities
  • A social media presence throughout 2019-2026 to raise the profile of SDG16+

Voices of SDG16+: Stories of Global Action

is a collaborative campaign to bring the work of civil society on SDG16+ to the global level of discussions at the United Nations. Individuals and partners from around the world will have the opportunity to submit short videos telling their “stories” of best practices and extraordinary efforts being undertaken towards SDG16+ at the national and local levels. The campaign intends to provide a unique and dynamic opportunity for an interactive dialogue between civil society partners working to take forward SDG16+ in their own national contexts around the world, and to showcase their stories – featuring both challenges and successes – and their concrete commitments to advancing SDG16+.

Stories will showcase examples of how SDG16+ is being implemented and is helping to positively impact people’s lives. Finalist stories will have the opportunity to be exposed in a hybrid side-event at the 2024 HLPF. They will also be featured on a dedicated web platform and be promoted widely via social media.

Background

In 2019, a group of organisations joined forces in launching a campaign dedicated to showcase civil society SDG16+ work and to call for global action. Individuals and partner organisations from around the world were invited to submit video stories that were to demonstrate compelling examples of how SDG16+ is being implemented globally and how it is helping to positively impact people’s lives. The Voices of SDG16+: Stories for Global Action campaign was initiated to generate a collection of stories to be used to present best practices from civil society around SDG16+ by enabling peacebuilders across the globe to spread their voices and local experiences and by involving the producers in discussion around practices documented. 

Since the initial launch of the campaign in 2019, yearly campaigns have proved to be a resounding success, as included in the Voices SDG16+ Alumni Booklet. Over the years, selected videos have been showcased during the High-level Political Forum in New York, both during in-person meetings and through official online side events. Through this, the campaign provided an opportunity to showcase best practices and insert localised experiences into policy discussions at the HLPF.

The 2026 Voices of SDG16+ Campaign

  • A new video-campaign to showcase civil society SDG16+ work from around the world around the theme “Evolving, Scaling, and Flourishing Amidst Crisis: Local Voices Transforming SDG16+"
  • A side-event during HLPF 2026 showcasing stellar contributions from civil society and opportunity to engage in a community of local voices of SDG16+.
  • A social media presence throughout #HLPF2026 to highlight the critical role of civil society in the global SDG16+ space and calling for action.
Submit now to the 2026 Voices of SDG16+ Campaign

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