The United Nations Regional Forum on Sustainable Development (RFSD) for the UNECE Region is organized every year by the UN Economic Commission for Europe, in close cooperation with the regional UN agencies, including ITU. The forum takes place on 6 and 7 April 2022 in a hybrid format (Virtual – Geneva, Palais des Nations) and will be preceded by virtual peer learning round tables from 1 to 5 April. This yearly forum is meant to follow up on, and review the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals – SDGs – across Europe, Central Asia, and beyond. As the UN Agency for Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and the digital, ITU continues to advocate for the enabling role of ICTs in achieving SDGs.
This year, ITU will co-lead and contribute to a series of side events and roundtables as follows:
Cross-cutting session on 'Digital transformation beyond the COVID-19 Pandemic' - 1 April 2022, 10:00-13:00 CEST, virtual.
This session is organized by the UN Digital Transformation Group for Europe and Central Asia, with the coordination of ITU and UNECE and the contribution of FAO, UNIDO, UNICEF, UNFPA, and UN Women. This session will aim to unravel the challenges, opportunities, and policy actions related to the digital dimensions of each Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of focus during the 2022 RFSD, namely: SDG4 “Quality of Education", SDG5 “Gender Equality", SDG14 “Life below water", and SDG15 “Life on land", all while highlighting the importance of partnerships, with the SDG 17 'Partnerships for the goals', as per necessity to undertake multistakeholder approaches to address digital development. This session will put a special emphasis on recovering from the COVID-19 Pandemic, lessons learned from it, and adaption to a new normal. This session also contributes to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Forum.
Learn more about this session on the dedicated webpage here.
High-level peer-learning roundtable on 'Accelerating digital development through multistakeholder partnerships' - 6 April 2022, 15:00-17:30 CEST, virtual.
This session is organized by the UN Digital Transformation Group for Europe and Central Asia, with the coordination of ITU and UNECE and contribution of UNDP, UNIDO and WMO. This session will focus on reviewing the achievement of the SDG 17 targets related to Internet connectivity (17.6) and technology, including ICTs (17.7, 17.8). It will provide a platform to high-level national and regional stakeholders across sectors in Europe and Central Asia to discuss and promote the importance of multistakeholder partnerships to develop digital societies and economies, through focusing on four pillars as follow: connecting people everywhere, empowering communities, building digital ecosystems, and incentivizing investments. This session also contributes to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Forum.
Learn more about this session on the dedicated webpage here.
Peer-learning roundtable on 'Enhancing ocean literacy and the sustainable development of regional seas', 6 April 2022, 15:00-17:00 CEST, hybrid.
This roundtable will aim to stimulate exchanges between governments, scientists, and other relevant stakeholders to discuss policy actions, progress and challenges faced with regard to ocean literacy, the sustainable development of regional seas, and the related use of information and communication technologies.
Learn more about this session on the dedicated webpage here.
Peer-learning roundtable on 'Quality education and life-long learning in the context of COVID-19', 6 April 2022, 15:00-17:00 CEST, hybrid.
The roundtable will address the learning crisis, deepened by COVID-19 measures, throughout the learning cycle, and the role of education, including Education for Sustainable Development, to enhance inclusion, equality and social cohesion to achieve SDG 4. It will allow to discuss successful strategies and exchange policy actions and knowledge on inclusive education, digital skills and education for sustainable development.
Learn more about this session on the dedicated webpage here.
Business roundtable on 'Advancing gender equality and women's leadership in selected industries' - 7 April 2022, 13:00-14:30 CEST, hybrid.
Some of the fastest growing industries are also the most male-dominated ones. And even when gender equality is prioritized, progress often tends to not be evenly spread, with barriers for women persisting in certain corporate functions. During this session, leaders from various industries will address how they are advancing gender equality in the workplace and marketplace and share their solutions to questions like: How can you set realistic but ambitious targets for women's leadership when female workforce participation is low? How do you ensure flexibility and support working parents when simply working from home is not an option? How can you anticipate backlash, tackle stereotypes and engage male leadership and colleagues in meaningful ways?
Learn more about the session on the dedicated concept note here and dedicated webpage here.
