Circular
29/2023
Barcelona, 25 August 2023
 
To the members of the World Council
To the Secretaries General
To the Vice-Presidents of United Cities and Local Governments
To the Chairs of UCLG Committees, Working Groups, Communities of Practice and Fora

For information: To the Presidency


SDG Summit
SDG Action Weekend: Registration now open
16-17 September 2023, New York City

 

Dear members,

We are writing to you to provide you with up-dates on the SDG Action Weekend, which will mark the start of the 2023 SDG Summit, to be held from 16-19 September in New York City at the United Nations Headquarters. As you know, the Summit’s SDG Action Weekend will feature special events and initiatives on Saturday 16 September, in the Mobilization Day, and Sunday 17 September, in the Acceleration Day.
 
 
REGISTRATION
 
Please note that the registration for the SDG Action Weekend (16 and 17 September) is now open. As is usually the case, UCLG will act as an umbrella organization for the constituency for the registration to the SDG Summit.
 
Please note that if you would like to access the United Nations for the entirety of the SDG Action Weekend, you must either be accredited through your national government (recommended) or register through this link.
 
Registration will be closing on 8 September at 17:30 CEST.
 
This registration is for accessing the UN during the SDG Action Weekend only. A separated, more restrictive register will be put in place by the UN for the SDG Summit.
 
Please also note that these registrations will be approved by the United Nations and that we have limited influence on who is accepted and who is not.
 
When registering, you must choose "NGOs accredited MGoS constituencies" and then choose "United Cities and Local Governments". Please note that, during the registration process, you will be asked to provide a letter confirming affiliation with an organization with relevant contribution to the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs. This letter can come from your organization and should include an official letterhead and be signed at the principal level. You can mention that you are a member of UCLG in it. Please click on the following link to see a template for your use or reference.
 
Once your registration is complete, you will receive a notification email with a confirmation letter from the United Nations and further instructions to complete your registration and obtain your United Nations Special Events Ticket. You may use the confirmation letter to apply for a visa with your local US embassy/consulate, as appropriate.
 
 
SDG ACTION WEEKEND FULL PROGRAMME
 
Please also note that the full programme of the SDG Action Weekend is now available here. As you will see, the official programme of Saturday 16 September, the Mobilization Day, features the Local and Regional Governments Forum (LRGF), which will take place from 11:00–13:00 & 15:00–16:45 fully in person at the UN Headquarters, Conference Room 1.
 
The selection of speakers for the LRGF from the nominations received by the UCLG World Secretariat on behalf of the Global Taskforce is currently under discussion with the UN co-organizers of the LRGF and will be announced soon. In the meantime, you can find the concept note and programme here.
 
As we shared in a previous communication, an event organized by the Local2030 Coalition focusing on High-Impact Initiatives will be held on Sunday 17 September, the Acceleration Day. The session will take place from 11:45–13:15 at the UN Headquarters, Conference Room 2. Within this context, we reiterate our invitation for you to collaborate with us and feed into the High-Impact Localization Platform to make sure that the commitments of our constituency feed our global strategies towards the SDG Summit by presenting forward-looking and transformative public policies advancing the SDGs.
 
In parallel to the main programme of the weekend, a limited number of high-level side-events, organized by UN Member States, UN entities, relevant international organizations and stakeholder networks working in partnership, will also take place. A draft programme of the joint activities of the constituency throughout the SDG Summit will be made available soon.
 
You will find more information on the SDG Action Weekend, including registration process and the program here.
 

COMMUNICATION CAMPAIGN #ACT4SDGs
 
We encourage you to join the campaign #Act4SDGs. We have worked on a Trello board that you can access here, where you can produce communication materials with an identity that articulates #Listen2Cities with #Act4SDGs.
 
 
FOR ACTION
 
If you are planning to attend the SDG Action Weekend, please start registering through the link provided above.
 
Once again, we would like to remind you that accommodation and hotels in New York will be very complicated during these dates and, for this reason, it will not be possible to offer group bookings. We therefore suggest that you make your hotel reservations as soon as possible.
 
 
We remain at your disposal for any questions you might have. Do not hesitate to write to us at policy@uclg.org.

Sincerely,

The UCLG World Secretariat