On November 3rd, 8th UN Secretary-General & Chair Ban Ki-moon formerly launched the Foundation of the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens in New York after an inspiring Fireside Chat on “Climate and Leadership” hosted by Columbia Business School.
Together with Dean Costis Maglaras, H.E. Ban Ki-moon spoke to Columbia faculty and students, BKMC Board Members and stakeholders about his tenure and legacy at the United Nations, coming of age during the Korean War, the importance of US leadership to advance the SDGs and the Paris Climate Agreement and empowering women and youth to lead for the SDGs. The subsequent reception marked the official launch of the Foundation of the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens in New York.
“Today ladies and gentlemen we are officially opening another office in the US, here in New York to foster leadership for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate Agreement. (…)
Our goal is to inspire current decision makers and empower the next generation of leaders to step up to the biggest challenges of humankind.” – 8th UN Secretary-General and Chair of the Foundation of the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens in the US Ban Ki-moon
“Special thanks for this effort goes to supporter Daniele Bodini, whose dedication to the mission allowed us to launch this office in New York, located on the Upper East Side. We will focus on four issues in the US, collaborating with global partners: climate and sustainability; gender equity in all sectors; public health to advance issues such as post-COVID adaptations; and peace, security, and justice.”, said the Foundation´s CEO Monika Froehler.
The Foundation is aiming to make this work happen by significantly increasing financial and political commitments toward the implementation of SDGs and the Paris Climate Agreement on key issues at the intersection of gender, racial and economic justice. Furthermore, the Foundation is aiming to make this work by creating a larger and more diverse “bench” of leaders and movements ready to advance SDGs by 2030. The goal is to train 1,000 emerging leaders from historically excluded communities over the next three years. The Foundation will make this work by catalyzing, developing and scaling real-life examples of grassroots and local, cross-sector leadership for the SDGs and Paris Agreement through platforms for learning and collaboration.
During his mission trip to New York Ban Ki-moon met with high-level officials at the United Nations, including UN General Assembly President Csaba Kőrösi, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed and members of the UN Security Council as a member of the Elders. They discussed their shared concern about global crises, such as the war in Ukraine, strong political commitments to tackle climate adaptation and more.
On 4th November Ban Ki- moon’s selected papers from his tenure as UN Secretary-General were launched at the UN Library Dag Hammarskjöld. Access the archive HERE.
Access our Flickr Album from the Launch of the Foundation HERE
Access our Flickr Album from the UN Library HERE
