17 Rooms started as an experiment to stimulate new forms of action on the SDGs. It is an adaptable convening methodology used by organizations and local governments around the world to organize stakeholders to identify areas for collaboration, commit to cooperative actions, and spark new ideas and pathways to action towards SDG achievement. 

The 17 Rooms home page provides information about the 17 Rooms’ annual event, podcast, and research. It also offers summaries and outcomes from previous 17 Rooms exercises and updates on the initiative. 

The SDG Academy is a training and education platform for SDG-relevant content. It offers 48+ Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs), reaching a worldwide community of learners.  

Many courses are self-paced, while a few are time-bound with opportunities for instructor engagement. Some courses cover specific SDGs and topic areas, while others address the entire Global Goals framework. Course instructors include world-class leaders across sustainable development fields. 

The SDG Academy also offers degree programs and professional certificates and hosts a library of over 1,800 videos related to the SDGs. 

Cities around the world are using the Voluntary Local Review (VLR) to report on SDG progress and activity to a global community. Through its VLR website, UN-Habitat offers resources and technical support for cities embarking on VLRs.  

The resources hosted on this site include a March 2022 VLR Toolbox for local governments interested in SDG monitoring and reporting; analysis on VLR-related topics such as the connections between Voluntary National Reviews and VLRs and VLRs as a driver for SDG localization; Voluntary Review guidelines for specific regions and countries – though as of June 2024 there are none that apply specifically to the U.S.; and more resources developed in partnership with United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), United Nations Development Programme, and other organizations. 

The site also contains information related to UN-Habitat’s role in developing a set of indicators to track local SDG progress and advance SDG localization.

This High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) event will demonstrate the United States’ strategic support for United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 16 as a critical foundation to strengthen democracy and economic prosperity at home and abroad. The event will explore issues at the heart of SDG 16: How to promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all, and build effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions at all levels. 

The 79th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA 79) will open on Tuesday, 10 September 2024. The first day of the high-level General Debate will be Tuesday, 24 September 2024.

On a sunny day in June 2024, Virgil Parker climbed the steps of the nation’s Capitol Building. He was there to speak truth to power, and he wasn’t alone.  

Virgil was among hundreds of other grassroots advocates who had trekked to Washington, D.C. for the annual event. Hosted by the United Nations Association for the USA (UNA-USA), the annual lobby day brings people from across the country to Capitol Hill to voice their support for the UN’s mission — and the SDGs.  

“The idea was how do we get more people invested in what’s happening, not just within our country, but in the global society, especially people of color,” Virgil says. “Most people are probably familiar with the United Nations, of course, but there are still so many everyday people who don’t know what the SDGs are.” 

As a Global Goals Ambassador for UNA-USA, Virgil is focused on elevating SDG 4: Quality Education by elevating the needs of underrepresented communities and emphasizing education as a crucial pathway out of poverty and inequality.  

Virgil believes rallying youth around the SDGs now will be pivotal in the long run. “You’re looking at future professionals, public servants, leaders, and executives who can continue on the path of whichever one or more of the SDGs they decide to support or feel most passionate about,” Virgil says.  

“It sounds grandiose, but we can all do our part in our community to ensure that America is achieving these global objectives.”  

By M.J. Altman, United Nations Foundation

The Summit of the Future is a high-level event that will look at the “how” — how do we cooperate better to deliver on the Summit’s aspirations and goals? How do we better meet the needs of the present while also preparing for the challenges of the future?

Even after nearly 20 years of teaching, Alicia Powers is still stunned by how many of her students are unaware of the extent of hunger in the U.S. 

As Managing Director of the Hunger Solutions Institute (HSI) in the College of Human Sciences at Auburn University in Alabama, Alicia has dedicated her career to examining the root causes of hunger in this country — and encouraging collaboration and innovation to solve it. 

Alicia will tell you that she had her own learning to do too. When she first got started in the field, she wanted to help children struggling with obesity choose healthy foods. “As I learned more about nutrition, I very clearly saw how inequities caused dramatic differences in what people consumed and their health outcomes as a result.” Today, she has a better understanding of the ways that food intersects with broader social issues and knows that real change comes from smarter policies and better systems, not just individual behavior. “Now I help communities that have challenges with access to healthy foods,” she says. 

As Alicia sees it, food security is a golden thread running through all the SDGs. Achieving any — or all — of the Global Goals will require rethinking our approach to food: How we grow it, how we distribute it, and how we dispose of it.  

In addition to educating young people on campus about hunger and food security, Alicia devotes significant effort to bringing unlikely partners together. One of the innovative projects that HSI supports, for example, connects the academic sector, the retail sector, and the federal government to enhance the viability and sustainability of small grocers in rural communities. 

“One central tenet of the SDGs is that all parts need to come together to push us forward. That is the mantra of HSI. No matter if you’re a civil engineer, or a healthcare professional, or a K-12 educator, we all have a role to play in achieving zero hunger,” Alicia says. “And that marries exactly with the SDGs.” 

By M.J. Altman, United Nations Foundation

For America’s young people, the SDGs are a galvanizing framework for action and collaboration. By using their creativity and fresh perspectives, these emerging leaders are taking steps to create a more prosperous and equitable future for all.

By Caroline Kleinfox 

This collection of how-to-briefs, written for city government officials, documents case studies on advancing sustainable development and social progress at the local level. 

The “how” of innovations from Los Angeles, to Hawai’i, New York, and a range of global cities participating in the Brooking SDG Leadership Cities community of practice, is captured in case studies across four themes: (1) governance and partnerships; (2) data and measuring progress; (3) SDG priorities; and (4) budgeting and finance.