Please note that you are not limited to participate in only one track. All sessions will be available on demand. 

 

3 – 3:45 p.m.

Opening Plenary

  • Rachel Pittman, Executive Director, UNA-USA
  • Elizabeth Cousens, President and CEO, United Nations Foundation
  • Hon. John F. Kerry, U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate
  • His Excellency Mr. António Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General
  • Farah Eck, Senior Director, UNA-USA
  • Akash Patel, UNA-USA National Council Member and Global Engagement Summit Planning Committee Chair
  • Bettina Hausmann, UNA-USA National Council Member and Global Engagement Summit Planning Committee Vice-Chair

 

3:45 – 4:30 p.m. | Breakout Sessions

UNHCR Field Visit to Kenya

Inspire Track

Take a virtual trip to the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya, where the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) provides critical services to more than 196,666 registered refugees and asylum-seekers. Through the UNA-USA Adopt-a-Future program, which ended in 2020, UNA-USA chapters raised more than $319,782 with match $639,564 for schools based in the Kakuma refugee camp as well as the Dadaab Camp. UNHCR subject matter experts and staffers will offer additional perspective on the plight of refugees in Kenya.

  • Joshua Cooper, UNA-USA National Council Member
  • Hon. Bob Jalang’o, Former Kenya Ambassador & UNA Member
  • Jana Mason, Senior External Relations Advisor, UNHCR
  • Micah Spangler, Director of Advocacy and Humanitarian Affairs, Better World Campaign

 

Building a U.S. SDG Coalition

Educate Track

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) offer a foundation for building a resilient, inclusive recovery that ensures no one is left behind and are more critical today than ever. From students to CEOs, in city halls to state capitals, local leaders from diverse sectors, geographies, and communities ​in the United States are embracing the SDGs as a framework to drive recovery and ​accelerate sustainable and equitable progress. The discussion will feature changemakers from different sectors who have first-hand experience implementing the SDGs in their communities. Learn how you can be part of ​the effort through supporting commitments, partnerships, and action on the SDGs in communities across the country. Together, we will explore what has been done in the United States to date, what the U.S. SDG Coalition is planning, and ways to get involved.

  • Meera Dasgupta, Global Goals Ambassador for SDG 15: Life on Land, UNA-USA
  • Kaysie Brown, Vice President for Policy and Strategic Initiatives, United Nations Foundation
  • Tony Pipa, Senior Fellow – Global Economy and Development, Center for Sustainable Development at Brookings Institution
  • Amb. Nina Hachigian, Deputy Mayor of International Affairs, City of Los Angeles
  • Amb. Sarah Mendelson, Professor of Public Policy and Head of Heinz College in Washington, D.C.
  • Sarah Owen, President and CEO of Southwest Florida Community Foundation
  • Scott Seu, President and CEO of Hawaiian Electric Company

 

Connecting Changemakers with Lawmakers

Mobilize Track

Featuring prominent changemakers and lawmakers, the moderated discussion around America’s role within the UN International Human Rights Treaty System will reopen the debate on adopting vital treaties not signed and ratified by the United States. Attendees will be inspired to advocate for the United States to join these human rights treaties to further advance inclusion and equality here at home.

  • London Bell, UNA-USA National Council Secretary
  • Rep. Ilhan Omar, Congresswoman for Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District
  • Muzoon Almellehan, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador
  • Sen. Mark Kirk, Former Senator for Illinois
  • Kristin Duquette, U.S. Disability Rights Advocate

 

4:30 – 4:45 p.m.

UN HQ Tour with UNA-USA History as a Tour Guide

Interlude; Sponsored by UNFCU

 

4:45 – 5:30 p.m. | Breakout Sessions

UNFPA Field Visit in Venezuela

Inspire Track

The Venezuelan Constitution guarantees sexual and reproductive rights. Maternal mortality in the country however remains in the medium range. Active in Venezuela since 2003, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) backs government investments in the systematic procurement and distribution of contraceptives, and promotes young people’s access to services and comprehensive education given high teenage pregnancy rates. During this virtual field visit to Venezuela, attendees will learn more about the critical services that the UNFPA offers to improve reproductive and maternal health.

  • Karen Mulhauser, Former UNA-USA National Council Chair
  • Seema Jalan, Universal Access Project and Policy, Executive Director
  • Rafael Cuestas, Coordinator for the Humanitarian Response

 

Ensuring Education for All

Educate Track

This session will feature proponents of ensuring education for all, including both educators and advocates. It will focus on education as a way to empower individuals to change the world and champion the Sustainable Development Goals. Session attendees will hear first hand the importance of education and its connection to inspire, activate and instill hope in young changemakers around the world.

  • Akash Patel, UNA-USA National Council Member and Global Engagement Summit Planning Committee Chair
  • Dustin Liu, UNA-USA Youth Observer to the United Nations
  • Andrew Brennen, Education Fellow, National Geographic
  • Zoe Weil, President, Institute for Humane Education
  • Ramu Damodaran, Deputy Director, Partnerships and Public Engagement, United Nations Department of Public Information’s Outreach Division
  • Sister Rosemary Nyirumbe, Educator and CNN Hero

 

Get US Back

Mobilize Track

As the architect of the UN, the United States has long championed human rights, global health, democracy, good governance, nonproliferation, and global peace. Nevertheless, in recent years we have seen a sharp decline in U.S. leadership at the international body, leaving a void that countries like China have shown they are more than willing, and increasingly able, to fill. With a new U.S. Administration and a new Congress, comes a renewed opportunity to get the United States back on the global stage where we belong. Participants will hear from key leaders about ways to get us off the sidelines and #GetUSBack.

  • Paula Boland, UNA-USA National Council Chair
  • Peter Yeo, President, Better World Campaign; Senior Vice President, United Nations Foundation
  • Chairman Gregory W. Meeks, Congressman for New York’s 5th Congressional District; Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee
  • Major General Hugh Van Roosen, Deputy Military Adviser

 

5:30 – 5:45 p.m.

Performance by MILCK

Interlude; Sponsored by Duke Kunshan University

 

5:45 – 6:30 p.m. | Breakout Sessions

Field Visit to Yemen

Inspire Track

In this virtual field visit, participants will see the impact of the World Health Organization firsthand in Yemen. The country faces enormous levels of humanitarian needs stemming from years of poverty, under-development, environmental decline, intermittent conflict, and weak rule of law. The situation in Yemen has only worsened due to conflict escalation in March 2015 as well as recent famine and cholera. The health system is collapsing under conflict and violence is putting millions at risk.

  • Nikitha Vicas, Global Goals Ambassador for SDG 3, UNA-USA
  • Kate Dodson, Vice President for Global Health, United Nations Foundation
  • Rick Brennan, Regional Emergency Director for World Health Organization’s Eastern Mediterranean Region
  • Mike Beard, Global Health Director, Better World Campaign
  • Yesim Oruc, Deputy Director, UNDP, Washington Representation Office

 

From Paris and Beyond

Educate Track

The Paris Agreement marks a shift in global climate policy from a top-down, centralized legally binding response to a bottom-up decentralized and voluntary pledge and review of reduction targets by states. This session explores the outlook and prospects for climate change governance in the post-Paris era. Speakers will discuss what is at stake and look toward the future of climate action leadership. Reaching beyond policy recommendation, participants will gain insight into the myriad of connections between our planet, our ocean, and the effects of ongoing natural and human-caused changes.

  • Bettina Hausmann, UNA-USA National Council Member and Global Engagement Summit Planning Committee Vice Chair
  • Vien Truong, Senior Director, Global Sustainability Engagement, NIKE, Inc.
  • Jay’Len Boone, 2019-2020 U.S. Youth Observer to the UN
  • Satya Tripathi, Assistant Secretary-General, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
  • Dr. Erika Podest, Scientist (Applied Physicist), Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA
  • Sophia Kianni, Founder, Climate Cardinals; UN Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change

 

Creative Activism

Mobilize Track

Creativity enhances how activists inspire and engage people to spark movements. This session will answer the salient questions on creative activism: What is activism? Why be creative? What are the principles and tools for creative thinking? How is UNA-USA promoting activism to mobilize to stand up for the UN so the UN can keep standing up for the world?

  • Igho Ekakitie, UNA-USA National Council Member
  • Rajesh Mirchandani, Chief Communications Officer, United Nations Foundation
  • Richard Curtis, Writer, Director & SDG Advocate, Project Everyone
  • Nikki Patin, Community Engagement Director, Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation (CAASE); Founder/Executive Producer, Surviving the Mic (StM)
  • Michael Wasserman, CEO of Tiltify

 

6:30 – 7 p.m.

Plenary II

  • Akash Patel, UNA-USA National Council Member and Global Engagement Summit Planning Committee Chair
  • Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization
  • Rachel Pittman, Executive Director, UNA-USA
  • Peter Yeo, President, Better World Campaign; Senior Vice President, United Nations Foundation
  • AY Young, Young Leader of the SDGs; Battery Tour
  • Bettina Hausmann, UNA-USA National Council Member and Global Engagement Summit Planning Committee Vice-Chair

 

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