Over 8.5 million people have shared their perspectives on the new agenda on MY World. This would not be possible without the hundreds of partners who enabled the UN to listen to millions of people’s voices, including those of many who don’t often get any say in global debates.
A bold new global agenda to end poverty by 2030 and pursue a sustainable future was unanimously adopted on September 25th 2015 by the 193 Member States of the United Nations. On that historic day, the UN Millennium Campaign, in collaboration with the UN Volunteers (UNV) programme and other strategic partners, presented the Peoples’ Voices Awards to 9 organizations.
And the winners are…
BEST HUMAN STORY:
Building Bridges is a project led by UN Youth Delegate Jilt Van Schayik and Teun Meulepas which involved cycling from Amsterdam to Cape Town through 20 countries. The aim of the project was hearing what people – and youth in particular – have to say about the development of the new United Nations Sustainable Development Goals through MY World, Humans of MY World, HeforShe Campaign, and Building Bridges Youth consultations. Armed only with the gear that fit on their bicycles, a computer and a camera, they worked with young ambassadors in each country to organize forums and consultations discussing gender issues as well as results from the MY World Survey so as to understand the specific development priorities of young people in each country. They also visited community initiatives, and involved people they met along the way from rural and urban settings through the Humans of MY World photo blog.
BEST MULTISTAKEHOLDER COLLABORATION
Corporativa de Fundaciones, A.C., Jalisco (Mexico) is a community foundation from the state of Jalisco which promotes partnerships between social investors and philanthropic organizations to empower the most vulnerable. Corporativa de Fundaciones successfully promoted the MY World survey using the brand “MI Jalisco 2015” and reached out to 280,000 people in over 35 districts in the state of Jalisco. They managed to gather a team of 400 people to work on this project and at least 17 institutions became strategic partners of the implementation process. They also partnered with the Undersecretary of Planning to ensure MY World results are fed into the reform the State’s Development Plan and other public policies.
MOST INNOVATIVE VISUALIZATION
Popily is a data science and visualization company. The Popily team used the millions of MY World survey results and thousands of Humans of MY World Facebook page posts to generate hundreds of interactive visualizations. The public can explore these visualizations on our website, so every citizen can discover the stories in the data that they find most meaningful.
LONGSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO THE ACHIEVEMENT OF THE MDGs THROUGH CAMPAIGNING
Junior Chamber International (JCI) is a non-profit organization of young active citizens age 18 to 40 who are engaged and committed to creating impact in their communities. As a result of the 2004 JCI-UN Leadership Summit held at the UN Headquarters in New York City, JCI members worldwide accepted responsibility to contribute their efforts to address the MDGs. Examples of this work include: JCI Germany partnered with entrepreneurs and businesses to support disadvantaged youth, impacting 77+ local communities and 1800 young people; JCI members in Mexico helped rebuild school on land donated by Ministry of Education; 400+ JCI members in Taiwan participated in “Women Can Do What Men Do,” reaching 2,500+ stakeholders supporting gender equality.
BEST COMMUNICATIONS CAMPAIGN
Procter & Gamble Thailand P&G is a multinational consumer goods company. P&G and UN in Thailand co-hosted the launch of MY World campaign in 2013 and subsequently rolled out the communications campaign “Have Your Say at the United Nations” in 2014, which showcased the MY World podium and has been a key feature of the company’s CSR programmes; reaching out to people with challenges e.g. orphanage children, people with disability, elderly and people living in remote areas. P&G Thailand has also targeted influential figures such as key women leaders who are influential role models in Thai society, as well as the Princess Pa Foundation, Thai Society of Red Cross and volunteers.
BEST SOCIAL MEDIA INITIATIVE
Youthink Center, China Youthink center is a Chinese nonprofit organization which has developed the Chinese official website for ‘MY World’ (www.myworld2015.cn) and hosted the launching event of MY World in China at the occasion of the World Youth Forum 2014. More than 3000 volunteers all over China including 27 provinces and four municipalities were recruited by Youthink Center to support MY World promotion in China. Youthink Center and the leading Chinese online media NETEASE (http://www.163.com/) released the mobile client page for ‘MY World’ survey using HTML5 Mobile page and promote this in Chinese mobile social networking platform. Leading websites in China like Xinhuanet and Youth.cn have reported ‘MY World’ actions completed by Youthink Center in front pages.
MOST CREATIVE HANDOVER EVENT
Community Prevention Networks, Dominican Republic CPN is a coalition of local partners in the Dominican Republic which has promoted the MY World survey across the country. CPN has worked together with the UN Country Team and trained more than 1,500 volunteers from more than other 60 local associations and local organizations. They engaged local authorities in each of the provinces where the survey was rolled out and targeted vulnerable groups. The results have been handed over to the President and Vice-president of the Dominican Republic in order to use all this data for the municipal development council’s local plans, and for them to take these priorities as part of the presentation card of the country at the SDGs Summit.
LONGSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO THE ACHIEVEMENT OF THE MDGs THROUGH VOLUNTEER ACTION
Community Health Volunteers of Karakalpakstan, Uzbekistan The community health volunteers’ project in the Aral Sea environmental disaster area was originally initiated by the UN Volunteers. The volunteers have been working for tuberculosis prevention in the area since 2009; and are now under supervision of the Health Institution of the Ministry of Health of Karakalpakstan. The majority of the volunteers are teachers, nurses and pensioned people, 86% of them women. 2,000 people have been working as health messengers in five most affected districts. The volunteers do not have an association of their own, but the Nurses Association played significant role in carrying out the initiative.
LONGSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO THE ACHIEVEMENT OF THE MDGs THROUGH VOLUNTEER ACTION
Soy Voluntari@ Network, Peru Soy Voluntari@ Network is a cross sector collaboration model represented by volunteering entities from various sectors including government, private sector and civil society in Peru. This effort made possible to “catalyze and multiply volunteer work” in the contribution to the Millennium Development Goals. An example of the work of Soy Voluntari@ is the celebration of the Global Youth Service Day in 2013; “Soy Voluntari@” organized the forum “The contribution of youth volunteering service in the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals in Peru (MDGs)” at the National University of San Marcos.
Photos: Joel Sheakoski / UN Volunteers