The Global Alliance at the UN: Reflections and Considerations following the Summit of the Future

Every fall, New York City is abuzz when the international community meets during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) High-level week.  This convening includes numerous high level meetings and side events for world leaders.  It is an honour to represent the Global Alliance in this process, by participating (both in person and/or virtually) in the events leading up to and during the important international action. 

In September 2024, the Global Alliance participated in:

• Summit of the Future Action Days, which brought  together representatives from Member States, civil society, private sector, academia, local and regional authorities and youth.  The Action Days aimed to provide an opportunity for broader engagement and inclusion of diverse stakeholders. The focus, was specifically on multistakeholder partnership and action, including the ongoing push for more voices to be welcomed in discussions, and showcasing a path to get back on track for achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs). The SDGs are a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity.  There are 17 integrated SDGs, that were adopted by Member States in 2015. 
• During these days, our participation centered on three sessions:
  • A Digital Future for All  which brought forward-looking commitments from all stakeholders to harness innovation, science and data in a more inclusive, safe and sustainable manner. The intention was to further demonstrate how digital technologies and game-changing solutions can lay the groundwork for a more sustainable, inclusive, and responsible future.
  • The Road through the Summit of the Future: Generating ImPact from the Pact for the Future aimed to promote networked and inclusive multistakeholder action toward the follow up from the Summit of the Future, including exploring Pact for the Future commitments, new global agreements, future investment and action, opportunities for collaboration, and advancing the global agenda for a sustainable future. The ‘Pact’ was developed through a multi year process, intended to adapt international cooperation to today’s environments and the challenges of the future. 
  • The Critical Role of Human Rights in Realizing the Pact for the Future focused on how the United Nations, Member States, civil society organisations and other relevant stakeholders, could collaborate to implement the Pact, with human rights at its centre, producing tangible, positive change in the lives of people everywhere.

• The Summit of the Future concentrated on how our global community can work together, respond to emerging threats, and identify new opportunities so that all can thrive.  The Summit focused on forging a new international consensus on delivering better outcomes for all and safeguarding the future. The Pact for the Future (the Pact),  which includes the Global Digital Compact and the Declaration on Future Generations was adopted, providing a pathway for Member States to get back on course for achieving the SDGs is possible.
• Side Events:
  • Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities: Achieving UN SDG 11 Together, was held by the Business Council for International Understanding (BCIU) and Nuveen.  This session brought interdisciplinary stakeholders together to discuss affordable housing, given that approximately 3 billion people, 40% of the global population, will need access to housing by 2030 according to data from  UN-Habitat.  This in turn equates to a demand for 96 000 new accessible and affordable housing units every day.  The special session was heavily focussed on opportunities for financially focussed stakeholders that explored opportunities such as incentivizing land acquisition; expanding opportunities for land deeds (particularly in low-middle income countries); credit enhancing structures, and alerting large investment and pension portfolios of the opportunities available in this sphere.
  • The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health (PMNCH) Accountability Breakfast 2024: Accelerating Action and Accountability to End Preventable Maternal, Newborn and Child Mortality co-hosted by PMNCH, UNFPA, UNICEF WHO, Global Financing Facility, AlignMNH, and White Ribbon Alliance, had an incredible line up of action-oriented representatives, of which many were identified fondly as ‘rebel-rousers’.  They spoke about what is next following the recent resolution from World Health Assembly 77.  It highlighs the is committmentto accelerated action, understanding that without acceleration and action, more than 44 million lives of women, children under 5 and newborns will be lost by 2030.
  • Youth Power Summit, provided an opportunity to connect, listen and learn from an expert panel about local action and solutions. The session also included small group work to discuss key questions such as exploring the links between youth advocacy and policy.

Key Takeaways:

1. Volker Turk, the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights, emphasized that human rights allow us to take action and provide a road map to do better, by providing tools, shared in Human Rights: A Path for Solutions.  Recognizing human rights encompass our past, present and future and offer a chronicle of the world, they are a framework for:  justice; ensuring development is truly sustainable, and ensuring no one is left behind. Yet, despite being central to achieving the best outcomes for all, they are often overlooked.
2. The Summit’s intention was to reaffirm and reorient global commitment to multilateralism, and it was achieved.  While honoring successes of the past under the existing global framework, the sobering sentiment that a fundamental shift is required in the approach to global governance, was paramount.  With the Pact as new guidance, the question that remains is if it will be one that results in positive action. 
3. Solutions to community challenges require the involvement of civil society.   Our collective energy and action are notable, yet non-traditional stakeholders and their voices, remain largely unwelcomed during many international events of significance.
4. With regard to affordable housing, a focus on financing and related opportunities were at the forefront, and little to no attention to housing as a human right, prevention to homelessness, deeper discussion on the intersection of migration and housing, and solutions to root causes of precarious housing  and homelessness were discussed.  It is a stark reminder, that the challenge for interdisciplinary responses is to adequately recognize the entire challenge and move toward comprehensive and holistic solutions.  
5. Sessions exemplified that those who are responsible for developing policies have an incredible power, in that policies save lives.  Raised as an ongoing question and reality, decision makers and policy makers need the information from stakeholders who are often not in the room.  The challenge to answer and act on how evidence reaches the right decision makers.

In reflecting on this critical time for international advocacy it is important to consider the Global Alliance’s unique position and purpose.  Sadly, mental health and a broader understanding of well-being remain largely under discussed and underrepresented in these meetings.  Nor is the actualization of strategies focused on young people, with young people present in the process for policy decision-making.  So, what does this all mean for the Global Alliance?

1. As an organization that has received approval to participate in these spaces, it is imperative that we continue to advocate and amplify efforts that center human rights as a solution to the enduring challenges that individuals, families and their communities face.  Standing up to anti- human rights rhetoric, is in itself, a pathway to navigating the current environments that challenge the achievement of well-being.
2. The opportunity to continue to advocate for centering mental health and well-being within and across systems and settings is important work for improving the lives of individuals, families and communities.
3. As a member of civil society, we have an opportunity to advocate to political leaders what translating the Pact actually means in the lives of individuals. Policy, whether intended or unintended impacts lives, and therefore policy makers, need to listen, learn and include the experience and recommendations of all stakeholders in communities.
4. The Global Alliance, is uniquely situated in its ability to consider key issues facing individuals, families and their communities from an interdisciplinary, human rights and prevention-focussed lens that is grounded in science.  This unique understanding is crucial for sustainable person-centred responses.
5. It is clear that bridging the silos of policy, practice and research require international commitment.  International gatherings, provide opportunities to disseminate key messages to policy makers, as well as to work synergistically with like-minded organizations and further develop networks that amplify these important calls.