GWI United Nation Representative
Advocacy Report
2023
GWI advocacy goals•

100% of United Nations Member States commit to policy, legislation, budget and infrastructure tofacilitate transition of girls from primary to secondary school and ensure gender parity and genderequality throughout secondary education by 2030.

•By 2030 100% of United Nations low-income Member States have increased access to tertiary education
for girls and women by 50%.

•100% of United Nations Member States commit to and implement policies for continuing education toempower women throughout the life course, within the formal and informal economies.
Influence the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4.
All 17 SDGs will include girls’ education targets.

••Please bear in mind these five overarching, long-term goals during any United Nations intervention that you
make on behalf of GWI. Any intervention should push these five goals further.
NB: Although these goals represent GWI’s mission, UN Reps are also invited to promote GWI key messages onareas where especially relevant e.g., women in STEM, securing investment in women teachers, addressing barriers
to girls’ education such as child marriage.
________________________________________________________________________________UN Announces High Impact Initiatives for SDG Transformations
Achievement of the 2030 SDGs is at risk. To address this, and in anticipation of the upcoming SDG Summit 2023,
the UN issued a report on High Impact Initiatvies (23-267 – UN SDG Summit 2023 High Impact Initiatives; United
Nations Decade of Action SDG Summit 2023; 7-7-2023) that provided information for this summary. The intent
was to demonstrate that transformative SDG progress is possible and to mobilize further leadership, investment,
and support for impact at scale. The selected initatives address 6 transitions, 1 cross-cutting topic, and 5 enablers
key to driving progress on the SDGs. In addition, member states were encouraged to put forward commitmentson two levels – national and global*
EnergyCompacts

SDG Stimulus

Biodiversity &Nature

Trade

Six Transitions
Transforming
Social Protection
Food
Education& Jobs
Systems
Cross-Cutting Topic
Violence Against WomenEnablers
SDG Localization
Public Sector Capabilities

Digital PublicInfrastructure

Data Dividend* SDG Summit National and Global Commitments to SDG Transformation: Pathways, Investments, and Means of Implemmentation – Guidance Notes for States (5-2023)

Goals for the Six Transitions are as follows:
Energy Compacts – Go from billions to trillions to ensure the urgency and scale needed to achieve SDG7
and just, inclusive, and equitable energy transitions towards net zero. (Point of contact: takada@un.org.
UN Leads/Co-Leads: UNEnergy)
Biodiversity & Nature – Launch a coalition of leading countries to drive game-changing economic policy
reform that puts nature and biodiversity at the heart of sustainable development and economic decisionmaking. (Point of contact: mmurillo@un.org. UN Leads/Co-Leads: UNEP with key UN entities)
Transforming Education – Catalyze a global push for transforming education ahead of the 2024
Transforming Education Summit Stocktake (TESS) and the 2024 Summit of the Future. (Point of contact:asif.memon@un.org. UN Leads/Co-Leads: Special Adviser to Secretary General; EOSG with UNESCO andUNICEF)
Social Protection & Jobs – Create 400 million jobs and extend social protection to 4 billion people throughintegrated policy solutions backed by adequate financing and whole-of-government approach. (Point ofcontact: barth@ilo.org. UN Leads/Co-Leads: Key UN entities)
Food Systems –Integrate decision-making in the water, energy, food and environment sectors to ensure
good nutrition, strengthen food and water security and sanitation, support climate action, and maintainbiodiversity and forests. Invest in green infrastructure for water management. Source: SDG Summit
National and Global Commitments to SDG Transformation: Pathways, Investments, and Means ofImplemmentation – Guidance Notes for States 5-2023. (TBD)Digital Public Infrastructure – Strengthen local digital ecosystems in 75 countries with new data andtechnology capacities and innovative financing. (Point of contact: keyzom.ngodup@undp.org. UN
Leads/Co-Leads: UNDP & ITU)
The Cross-Cutting Topic is Violence against women. Demonstrate that transformative progress and accelerationis possible on the SDGs through investment in gender equality and the elimination of all forms of violence against
women and girls. This includes, but is not limited to, passing laws and putting in place emergency response plansthat prevent and eliminate violence against women and girls, both on and offline, by 2025. (Point of contact:philippe.lustbianchi@un.org. UN Leads/Co-Leads: Spotlight Initiative Seretariat and participating UN entities)

The Enablers set the following goals:
SDG stimulus – Offset challenging market conditions faced by developing countries, address
short-term crises, establish long-term sustainable development finance, and increase SDG
financing to $500 billion per year, (Point of contact: schwnk@un.org. UN Leads/Co-Leads: DESA,UNCTAD, UNDP)
Trade – Foster productive capabilities and structural economic transformation. Drive inclusive
growth and sustainable development through clear identification of gaps, comparativeadvantages, and key binding constraints at the national level leveraging National Productive2

Capabilities Gap Assessments – NPCGAs. (Point of contact: mussie.delelegn@un.org. UNLeads/Co-Leads: UNCTAD)
SDG Localization - Exemplify and strengthen socio-economic and environmental transitions
central to the achievement of the SDGs taking root at local and sub-national levels. (Point ofcontact: shipra.narang-suri@un,org. UN Leads/Co-Leads: Local 2030 Coalition)
Public Sector Capabilities – Develop future public sector capabilities by upskilling, reskilling, andmulti-skilling, support countries in data-driven policy making, and budget for the SDGs as well as
public sector innovation labs that support them. (Point of contact: kwok@un.org. UN Leads/CoLeads: DESA & UNDP)
Data Dividend – Unleash the data dividend for the SDGs by increasing financial and politicalsupport for improved data production, management, analysis, and utilization. (Point of contact:
fedgina@data4sdgs.org. UN Leads/Co-Leads: GPSDD, DESA, WHO on behalf of CCS-UN,UNFPA)
Nations are encouraged to include in their National Commitment to SDG Transformation their prioritytransitions and areas they will invest in to maximize progress across the SDGs, a national benchmark forpoverty and inequality by 2027, and steps towards strengthened national planning and institutionalframeworks to support progress in these areas.
Organizations such as GWI and its NFAs should be informed on the transitions, cross-cutting topic, andenablers that the UN has determined witll help us meet the 2030 SDGs. General queries regarding theabove information can be found on decadeofaction@un.org.
Submitted by:Maureen E. Byrne, Ph.D., United Nations (UN) Representative/NY; Graduate Women International(GWI)
Transformative Actions (/en/sdg-summit-2023/page/transformative-action)

Empowering women and girls through lifelong, quality education and training. GWI, formerlyInternational Federation of University Women (IFUW), in special consultative status with ECOSOC since1947 and an NGO maintaining official relations with UNESCO and ILO.

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