UNGA78 Recap Part 1: Flashbacks and Reunions at UN General Assembly Week
September 20, 2023 |
| Le Siblings wanted to see the NBA Store in New York, so I did a live video tour |
Good afternoon beautiful people,
It is UNGA Week and all roads are leading to New York. I was there on Monday for a roundtable and reunion, and will be going back tomorrow to speak on a mental health panel. Today's post (Part 1) is a quick one that provides background information on UNGA, my previous UNGA experiences and a photo dump. A recap of the roundtable and panel will be in the next post (Part 2).
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| Screen grabbed this from the UN Web TV - On a mental health panel at UN HQ, 2018 |
The UN is an intergovernmental body that, among other things, holds an annual convening called the General Assembly (popularly known as UNGA). This assembly is responsible for 'collaborative' global policy making/legislation and produces things like the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and various global resolutions.
At the beginning of every year, an agenda is set and the UN's 193 member countries start preparing for the annual convening which takes place at the UN Headquarters in New York. This convening happens around the third week of September and this year is the 78th time it is happening (#UNGA78)
There are two main 'levels' to this convening.
There is the intergovernmental part that sees Presidents/Heads of the 193 member countries share their priority areas and comment on the agenda. This is called the High Level Meeting (HLM) and proceedings are live streamed on the UN Web TV. There are also Ministerial meetings for various Ministers and/or Cabinet Secretaries. And UN agencies like UN Women, UNDP, UNICEF also host additional events inside the UN Headquarters that involve dialogue with various government officials/agencies. Most of these events are usually included in the UNGA itinerary and can be viewed via the UN Web TV livestream.
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| At Concordia Summit 2018 |
Because everyone in the global advocacy space is in New York, the events - and receptions/dinners - run for a week (UNGA Week). This year will be my third time participating in UNGA Week.
The first time was in 2017, when I was a storyteller at The MOTH's Global Stories by Women and Girls. This was a side event by The MOTH sponsored by UN Women (hence the focus on Women and Girls).
The second time was the year after that, in 2018, and I spoke at;
1. Social Good Summit (watch the conversation here and read this blog by a Fordham University student as published on UN Association of the United States of America site),
2. Concordia Summit (Read about the Summit here - I am on Page 56)
3. A Mental Health Reception that brought together funders and agencies supporting mental health.
4. A mental health panel at the UN Headquarters
After this series of events, I decided to take a Sabbatical and you know what happened after that...if you do not know, read this post.
Being back in these advocacy spaces feels amazing, and I cannot wait for my panel session on Thursday - 'Responding to the Mental Health Epidemic: Local Heroes of Mental Health'. I will share how it goes as I give a recap of Monday’s Funders' Roundtable that looked at Health Equity, and had representatives from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, McNulty Foundation and Crown Family Philanthropy.
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| Lola Adedokun, Executive Director of Aspen Global Innovators Group introducing the Panel Session |
I will leave things here for now and get to the photo dump part of this post - I am using the ’go to work with me’ format (normally people do this on their social media pages but those of us who are not on those streets get to do it on our blogs). I will, however say, that I loved the reception that followed Monday’s roundtable. I got to reconnect with a lot of people from a fellowship I am a Senior Fellow at.
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| Early morning - waiting for the bus to school |
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| Grabbed an uber immediately after class and got to the train station 15 minutes before my train was scheduled to depart - Grateful for technology and the fact that we can buy tickets online and do not need to line up at the booth to get them |
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| Reading for my Tuesday exam on the train ride to New York - I have already started wearing my Fall/Holiday spirit sweaters |
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| Headed to the Public Library (you all know by now that I have a thing for public libraries) to read after a briefing call for Thursday's session |
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| Reception Venue - 230 Fifty Rooftop |
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| Reunion time at 230 Fifty Rooftop - Photo Credit: My Kenyan Sister Dr. Stella Bosire (bad ass doctor/lawyer/feminist/worst person to sit next to during serious conversations - she will make you laugh alot) |
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| Reunion time at 230 Fifty Rooftop (with Empire State Building in the background) - Photo Credit: My Ugandan Brother James Kassaga |
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| Goodbye New York, See you on Thursday - Empire State Building all her glory - view from 230 Fifty Rooftop |
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| On the train back to home...reminiscing on the laughter, reunions and new connections...got to the train station exactly one minute before the train was due to leave...GRATEFUL!!! |
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| Got to Lancaster at 11.23pm - had enough time to grab some shut eye and be back at the bus stop (where this photo dump started) very early on Tuesday morning for a full day of classes...followed by a much needed sleep in. |
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