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. Some individuals will be sponsored to attend the HLPF in person and share their work with the UN community and policymakers. 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. Stories will be featured on a dedicated web platform and be promoted widely via social media, as well as at the event and elsewhere during the 2023 HLPF.

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. 

Building on the success of previous campaigns we are now pleased to announce the 2023 Voices of SDG16+ Campaign! In the context of the 2023 United Nations High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development which takes place in July 2023. This fifth edition of the Voices of SDG16+ campaign will be centred around the theme “Accelerating Action on SDG16+ to support implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”.  This year’s 5th campaign anniversary will provide space to showcase the crucial work done by local actors in implementing SDG16 – entries are also called for that shed light on the interlinkages with the SDGs under review at HLPF2023. Given this year’s midpoint review of the 2030 Agenda we are also inviting entries that include this review element in their entry.