ABOUT

In 2019, the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens (BKMC) launched a project in cooperation with the Austrian Federal Chancellery to promote the SDGs in Austria. The objective of the project is to improve SDG implementation efforts in Austria and subsequently improve the ranking of Austria in international SDG indexes.

Over the course of 2019, the BKMC organized multi-stakeholder consultations while working on a set of concrete recommendations for the Austrian government. By the end of 2019, the BKMC had produced a recommendation paper distilling 14 recommendations for Austria and the improvement of SDG implementation. The paper was issued to the coalition government negotiators in Fall 2019 to find reflection in the overall governmental coalition agreement.  At the beginning of the cooperation with the BKMC, Austria was still ranked 9th in the overall index; it now ranks 5th.

High Level Advising For The Sdgs

The BKMC coordinated a high-level SDG retreat at the margins of European Forum Alpbach 2019. The retreat gathered high-level Austrian stakeholders at the governmental level along with international experts and youth representatives for an exchange of ideas and recommendations with reference to the main themes for Austria’s upcoming Voluntary National Review (VNR): Women/Youth/leaving no one behind, Climate Change and Digitalization.

Multi-Stakeholder Engagement

Over the course of 2019, the BKMC worked with the Austrian Federal Chancellery to conduct a multi-stakeholder process for the SDGs, including a brainstorming workshop in preparation for the high-level retreat at European Forum Alpbach and several meetings with NGOs, CSOs, the private sector and Austrian ministries where inputs could be gathered.

High Level Sessions

The BKMC organized a Breakout Session at European Forum Alpbach featuring both Co-chairs of the Centre, H.E. Ban Ki-moon and H.E. Heinz Fischer, as well as the Austrian Federal Chancellor and Minister for Sustainability and Tourism and international experts on the SDGs. The session was open to all attendees of the forum and featured an interactive component to engage audience members, many of which were young scholarship holders at the forum.

Peer Learning and Best Practices

In order to facilitate peer-to-peer exchange, the BKMC organized an event in cooperation with the Swedish Permanent Mission in Vienna featuring best practice examples for the SDGs in Europe with speakers from both the governmental level and the private sector. The Centre also hosted a peer-learning round table on the topic of SDG implementation and reporting to the High Level Political Forum (HLPF), which featured interventions from government representatives from the Netherlands, Finland, Slovakia, and Estonia.

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