4th GEEF Preparatory Meeting Held in New York City at the Margins of the UNGA

September 29, 2019
This past September, the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens hosted the 4th and final preparatory meeting for its annual landmark forum, the Global Engagement and Empowerment Forum (GEEF). Ban Ki-moon Centre CEO Monika Froehler, accompanied by Board member Andrea Pfanzelter and Program Officer Julia Zimmerman, travelled to New York for the UNGA high-level week to promote the upcoming GEEF (February 26-27, 2020) and to meet with colleagues from IGEE as well as other stakeholders. Professor Joonhong Park and Professor Taein Park from IGEE joined the Ban Ki-moon Centre team in promoting the Forum at diverse meetings held at the margins of the UNGA. Among these meetings, the delegation met with the SDSN’s SDG Academy team including Chandrika Bahadur, President of the SDSN Association. The Director of SDSN, Professor Jeffrey Sachs, is also a Board member of the Ban Ki-moon Centre. During the meeting, the group discussed the role of education for the sustainable development and global citizenship and how it can be promoted. The delegation also attended the International Conference on Sustainable Development (ICSD) hosted at Columbia University, met with Ban Ki-moon Centre Co-chair Ban Ki-moon at a high-level event hosted by the Elders and the International Rescue Committee, had a meeting with Ban Ki-moon Centre Board member Michael Sheldrick at the headquarters of Global Citizen, and met with the Secretary-General of Club de Madrid Maria Elena Agüero. This year, as with the past two years, the GEEF will be held at Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea and will be co-hosted by the IGEE and the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens. The forum will take place on February 26-27 2020 and the guiding-theme is “Planet, Peace and Partnerships.” We hope to see you there!

The Third Regional Preparatory Meeting for the GEEF 2020 Took Place at the Margins of the 4th Board Meeting

August 31, 2019
The third regional preparatory meeting for the upcoming Global Engagement and Empowerment Forum (GEEF) on Sustainable Development took place at the margins of the 4th Board meeting of the Ban Ki-moon Centre in Vienna on August 28th, 2019. Manager Gyeongseok Yang and Dr. Taein Park from the Ban Ki-moon Center for Sustainable Development of the Institute for Global Engagement and Empowerment (IGEE) at Yonsei University joined the Board meeting during which they had a presentation. The presentation included the outcomes of the previous GEEFs and specific plans for plenary and parallel sessions as well as inviting speakers. Having the previous two preparatory meetings, the GEEF Secretariat together with the Ban Ki-moon Centre came to more concrete ideas and strategic logistics for the upcoming Forum. On behalf of the IGEE, Manager Yang expressed his deepest appreciation for the participation of the BKMC Board members in the previous Forums.
“The first two GEEFs could be successful thanks to the commitment and contribution of the Ban Ki-moon Centre Board members,” said Yang.
Following up on the presentation, the representatives from the IGEE came to the Ban Ki-moon Centre’s office and discussed further details of the objectives and logistics for the Forum with BKMC CEO Monika Froehler and Program Officer Julia Zimmerman. Under the theme of “Planet and Partnership,” GEEF 2020 will focus on some of the most pressing global challenges such as climate change, sustainable cities, youth activism, and more. The next regional preparatory meeting will be held at the margins of the UNGA meeting in September 2019 in New York, USA. GEEF 2020 will be held on February 26-27th next year at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea.

The 4th Board meeting of the Ban Ki-moon Centre takes place in Vienna

August 30, 2019
“Half of my heart lies in Vienna,”
said Co-chair Ban Ki-moon at the beginning of the 4th Board meeting held on August 27-28th. Following the first Board meeting hosted in Seoul, the second in Alpbach, and the third in Kuwait, the fourth was hosted at the City Hall of Vienna in Austria. Mayor of Vienna Michael Ludwig welcomed the BKMC Board members and expressed his appreciation for having the Ban Ki-moon Centre based in Vienna as well as its contributions to the city’s development in the field of multilateralism and its leading role in international affairs. The participants included:
  • Ban Ki-moon, BKMC Co-chair & 8th Secretary-General of the United Nations
  • Heinz Fischer, BKMC Co-chair & 11th President of Austria
  • Márcia Balisciano, Director of RELX Corporate Responsibility
  • Irina Bokova, Former Director-General of UNESCO
  • Maurice Lévy, Chairman of Publicis Groupe
  • Ed Futa, Former General-Secretary of Rotary International
  • Ambassador Kim Won-soo, former UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs
  • Ambassador Sadiq Marafi, Permanent Representative of Kuwait to the United Nations in Vienna
  • Andrea Pfanzelter, Senior Advisor of the KAICIID International Dialogue Centre
  • Michael Sheldrick, Co-founder and Vice President, Global Policy and Government Affairs at Global Citizen
  • Ambassador Shin Chae-hyun, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Korea to the United Nations in Vienna
  • Jean Todt, President of the FIA and United Nations Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Road Safety
  • Dimitri de Vreeze, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of DSM Netherlands
  • Monika Froehler, Chief Executive Officer of the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens
  • Ambassador Choi Sung-ju, Ban Ki-moon Foundation for a Better Future
CEO Monika Froehler moderated the meeting, briefing the Board on the Centre’s past engagements and development. The Board discussed strategic methods for promoting the activities and projects of the Centre as well as effective ways to amplify the messages through the Centre’s various partnerships and affiliated offices. Ambassador Choi from the Ban Ki-moon Foundation for a Better Future based in Seoul also presented the Foundation’s vision and mission to the BKMC Board and discussed possible collaborations.
 
© BKMC & Eugenie Berger

2nd GEEF Preparatory Meeting Held at Yonsei University in Seoul

June 26, 2019
Last week, the Ban Ki-moon Centre hosted the second GEEF Preparatory Meeting in Seoul at Yonsei University. The Centre’s partners at the Institute for Global Engagement and Empowerment (IGEE) helped in preparing the meeting and led the discussions on the upcoming Forum. GEEF 2020 will take place on February 26-27, 2020 in Seoul, South Korea. This year’s theme for the Forum will be “Planet and Partnership.” The meeting at Yonsei brought together members of the Ban Ki-moon Centre, including Board member Ambassador Kim Won-soo along with the team at IGEE and a representative of the Yeosijae Future Consensus Institute in South Korea. Additionally, Al-Farabi University in Almaty, Kazakhstan and Bordeaux University in France joined remotely for the discussions. During the meeting, the attendees discussed the proposed panel sessions as well as upcoming steps in organizing the Forum. The Ban Ki-moon Centre looks forward to contributing meaningful sessions to the Forum and to engaging youth and women for the SDGs!  

GEEF 2020 Preview “We will harvest what we plan!”

June 4, 2019
The ‘GEEF 2020 Preview’ event took place at the Yonsei University on May 31th, 2019 in Seoul, South Korea.
 
BKMC Co-chair Ban Ki-moon, who also serves as Honorary Chair of the IGEE, and President Kim Yong-Hak of the Yonsei University invited Ambassadors from the Embassies and representatives of international organizations in Korea to brief them on the mission and the plans of the upcoming GEEF 2020.
GEEF is an annual international forum that the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens has co-organized with the Institute for Global Engagement & Empowerment (IGEE) and the Yonsei University. Having successfully organized the first two Forums with more than 2,000 participants respectively coming from all over the world, the co-organizers together with supporters are putting synergized efforts to hold another successful Forum in the year 2020.
Co-chair Ban also  that all global citizens should “work together to make this world better for all” by achieving the SDGs.
BKMC Co-chair Heinz Fischer added that by co-organizing the GEEF and creating synergies, “we will harvest what we plan.”
At the reception, the European Chamber of Commerce in Korea (ECCK) and Samsonite Korea received a letter of appreciation from Co-chair Ban Ki-moon and President Kim Yong-Hak for their great support for the success of the past GEEF 2019.
 
Learn more about the Global Engagement & Empowerment Forum on Sustainable Development (GEEF) and check out the newly released report of the GEEF 2019: http://geef-sd.org/
Interview videos of the GEEF participants are also available on the Centre’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC61cQFoAgNM8iLbbMpfY3NQ
 
Pictures by IGEE