The world has come up with a plan for how to improve everyone’s lives - the UN’s sustainable development goals - but how are we actually going to do it? September’s event, Maintaining the Momentum for the SDGs , discussed how to accelerate progress towards the global goals

A year after the UN set the sustainable development goals, two hundred development professionals came together at an event in New York to talk about how we are going to meet the 17 goals, including ending poverty and achieving gender equality.

The first discussion, Getting practical: how to implement 17 goals and 169 targets, was chaired by Guardian journalist Eliza Anyangwe with panelists:

Arancha Gonzalez, executive director, International Trade Centre

Naoko Ishii, chief executive, Global Environment Facility

Kate James, chief corporate affairs and global marketing officer, Pearson

James Mwangi, executive director, Dalberg

Hiba Nabulsi, refugee youth activist

Ray Offenheiser, president, Oxfam America



The second discussion, From rhetoric to reality: delivering on the promises of the SDGs for women and children, was chaired by Unicef’s Pia Rebello Britto with:



Gary Barker, president, Promundo

Julia Gillard, chair, Global Partnership for Education

Arunachalam Muruganantham, social entrepreneur, Jayaashree Industries

Archana Patkar, programme manager, Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council

Marni Sommer, associate professor, Columbia University

Theo Sowa, chief executive, African Women’s Development Fund



The two panel discussions were followed by lightening talks from Stefan Schweinfest, director, United Nations Statistics Division and Rebeca Grynspan, secretary general, Secretaría General Iberoamericana (Segib) and former vice president of Costa Rica.

And the closing address was a vision for 2030 from teenage refugee activists Natasha Esther Maimba and Minahil Sarfraz.

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