Calling all visionaries, artists, inventors, innovators, musicians, storytellers, visionaries – calling them all help our leaders, our communities, our UN to master the challenges of our time

Organizer:

• International Association for the Advancement of Innovative Approaches to Global Challenges IAAI GloCha in partnership with UN Habitat Youth Programme, UN Environment Early Warning and Data Analytics branch, and other partners

Dates:

• launch press conf 10th June (https://unfccc.int/event/iaai-call-for-music-and-art-glocha-cocreation-digitalart4climate)
• submissions page opens July 1st 2024 – link will be available here
• submissions page closes: 20th August 2024
• public voting period: 1st August – 1st September 2024
• Jury voting 3rd – 8th Sept 2024 at the GloCha convention/festival in Austria
• announcement of winners at a GloCha & UN Habitat & UNEP conference and exhibit at UN HQ NY with live broadcasting on UN WebTV on 19th September 2024
• celebration of winners at the UN Climate conference COP 29 in November 2024 in Baku/Azerbaijan (event at IAAI’s COP29 Digital Innovation Pavilion, official side event, official COP29 press conference)

Why

Our artists, our musicians, our storytellers are our visionaries who hold the magic ingredient to move humankind into creating positive change, building a thriving future for all life on earth.

Aims

Inspiring and mobilizing, with the power of culture, people everywhere for collaborative action for the common good in the context of UN Sustainable Development Goals, the UN Summit of the Future 2024 and the UN Climate Change Conference COP29.

Building with the Global Challenges Action network GloCha a global partnership and ecosystem of various stakeholders, who join forces for local, citizens/youth focused, global goals action empowerment with culture, technology and organizational innovation.

Awards – 3 Main Awards

Future Creator Visual Art Award  (2500 USD prize money + participation in events in NY, Carinthia/Austria or Baku/ Azerbaijan, depending on availability of funds and environmental footprint considerations)

Future Creator Music Award (2500 USD prize money + participation in events in NY,  Carinthia/Austria or Baku/ Azerbaijan, depending on availability of funds and environmental footprint considerations)

DigitalArt4Climate 2024 Award (2500 USD prize money + participation in events in NY,  Carinthia/Austria or Baku/ Azerbaijan, depending on availability of funds and environmental footprint considerations)

Additional Awards & Opportunities for Partnerships

The GloCha (Global Challenges) Music and Art contest design offers the opportunity to create multiple categories, sub-categories and individual galleries, based on thematic, geographic or other criteria, which enables the introduction of additional awards.

IAAI GloCha is inviting potential partners like e.g. cities, NGOs, thematic networks, universities et al. to get in contact with us (email to contest@glocha.org) to explore potential additional award categories, resources for awards, procedures for identification of winners and other potential collaboration towards local global goals action empowerment.

Tentative list of additional awards:

• DigitalArt4Climate Japan Award – in partnership with Earth Day Network Japan and the Music4SDGs initiative
• AI generated content award – in partnership with the ITU AI for Good programme
• Indigenous Futures Award
• City Challenge Award (award name tbd) – in partnership with UN Habitat youth programme, stakeholders from the “EU Mission for Climate Neutral and Smart Cities” member city Klagenfurt/Austria, Climate KIC / the NetZeroCities network https://netzerocities.eu/ (to be confirmed)
• GloCha festival audience award – based on voting of on-site and online audience of edutainment show at the GloCha festival 2024 on 6th Sept.
• Science into storytelling award – in partnership with UN Environment Early Warning and Data Analytics branch

Link for Expression of Interest for Partnerships / Additional Awards

https://bit.ly/EoIGloChaContest2024

Identification of Winners through a combination of public voting and jury voting

• Public voting: 20 – 31st of August 2024
• Jury voting 3rd – 8th Sept 2024 at the GloCha convention/festival in Austria
• announcement of winners at a GloCha & UN Habitat & UNEP conference at UN HQ NY with live broadcasting on UN WebTV on 19th September 2024

Digital Art / Web3 technology / Resource Mobilization Innovation

Web 3 technology (blockchain, Distributed Ledger Technology) enables the creation of uniquely identifiable digital assets (Non-Fungible Tokens / NFTs) based on creative assets (images, videos et al.). IAAI GloCha has developed in the context of the Action for Climate Empowerment Project ACE_AT the DigitalArt4Climate programme as a creative economy and climate philanthropy framework to harness the potentials of Web3 /NFT technology to mobilize resources for youth and local communities focused climate action empowerment. 

IAAI GloCha will work with those GloCha Music and Art Contest 2024 participating artists and award partners, who are interested to develop with us Web3 technology based resource mobilization programs, but this will not be a prerequisite for participation in the GloCha Music and Art Contest 2024.

Community/Partnership Building and Jury Voting at the GloCha Festival/Convention

IAAI GloCha is inviting partners and creators to a series of workshops, games, edutainment activities and community/partnership building at the 1st GloCha CoCreation Festival, which will take place 3-8 Sept 2024 (venue: Youth Camp Kinderland / Turnersee (map) & Cultural center DANICA (map).

We connect creative community and youth with UN programs and goals – References:

• GloCha DigitalArt4Climate COP26 edition (in partnership with UN Habitat youth programme) https://digitalart4climate.space/#rec374020001 – https://digitalart4climate.gallery
• COP21 Global Challenges Youth Music Contest (in partnership with UN Climate Change and UNESCO Management of Social Transformation Program) https://unfccc.int/news/2015-global-challenges-youth-music-contest – UN CC video report: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJ4pObZWg5A
• Rio+20 Global Youth Music Contest 2012 – in support of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development  https://www.academia.edu/2401920/The_Rio_20_Global_Youth_Music_Contest_Journey_Towards_The_Future_We_Want_Photo_documentary_presented_in_the_context_of_International_Day_of_Youth_12_August_2012

To learn about GloCha, watch our GloCha Bonn Climate Conf 2024 press conference video:

https://unfccc-events.azureedge.net/SB60_99755/agenda

Citizen Science & Web3 Technology enabled Governance Innovation: Challenges Mapping and Local Pacts for the Future

A hybrid event, held in the context of the UN STI Forum 2024, the UN Civil Society Conference 2024 and preparations for the EU Sparks for Climate Citizens Hackathon Championship Klagenfurt. https://www.youtube.com/embed/8aliVPe-ZGU?feature=oembed

Date and time:

8th May 10 AM EDT (New York) / 4 PM CEST (Klagenfurt) / 5 PM EAT (Nairobi)

Venue:

hybrid event with speakers joining from Nairobi/Kenya (UN Environment Early Warning and Data Analytics Branch meeting room at UN Office Nairobi ) – Klagenfurt/Austria (IAAI Office) 

with live and on-demand broadcast on UN WebTV and on IAAI GloCha Youtube channel

At the side event the organizers will present programs and tools,like e.g. the Challenges Mapping methodology and Web3 Technology enabled Local Pacts for the Future as concrete examples on how science, technology and innovation can be harnessed to accelerate progress towards Sustainable Development Goals implementation, climate action empowerment and multilevel multi-stakeholder governance innovation.

The solutions have been developed by the UN accredited civil society organization IAAI and its partners in the context of the GloCha Global Challenges Action Empowerment partnership in the context of preparations for the UN Summit of the Future 2024. The program will include also presentations on deployment of digital innovation solutions for Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE) in Kenya, an outlook on the 9^th edition of the International Youth Conference (IYC) and IYC’s „informal Youth Summit of the Future“ initiative, citizen/youth engagement in the context of the One UN Map programme of the UN Environment Early Warning and Data Analytics branch, the DeclarActions and mapping capacity building of the UN Habitat Youth programme and the EU Sparks for Climate Citizens Hackathon Championship.    

The side event will be held as a hybrid event.

Welcome session:

• Miroslav Polzer, IAAI GloCha Office in Klagenfurt (moderator)
• Shurabe Mercado Guido, International Youth Conference (IYC) and Member of the Intergenerational and Youth Subcommittee of the UN Civil Society Conference 2024
• Alex Caldas, UN Environment Early Warning and Data Analytics Branch, UN Office Nairobi
• Doug Ragan, UN Habitat Youth Programme – UN Office Nairobi
• Caroline Ouko, Centre for Training and integrated Research in ASAL Development (CETRAD), Kenya
• Ali Sayed Mustafa, International Youth Conference – virtual (to be confirmed)

Presentation of the Challenges Mapping Framework and Local Pacts for the Future:

Miroslav Polzer – intro (UN STI Forum, Summit of the Future, GloCha solutions for systemic change: CMT & Local Pacts for the Future, EU Sparks for Climate Citizens hackathon

Hossein Hassani – Presentation of the Challenges Mapping Tool & INTERREG Central Europe project JETforCE context

Achieving more through collaboration:

Alex Caldas, UN Environment Early Warning and Data Analytics Branch

1. Dr Richard Munang upscaling the citizen science for Global Environmental Monitoring and Early Warning for the Environment (10 min)
2. Me Yigang Li, Upscaling One Map for One Humanity through data, impact and resources focused citizens / youth engagement

Joao Pita Costa, International Research Center for Artificial Intelligence IRCAI, Ljubljana/Slovenia

Nena Dokuzov, Ministry of the Economy, Tourism and Sport, Slovenia

Domenico Vito, HubZine Italy – Trash2Treasure Digital Innovation and Citizens‘ Engagement for a Sustainable World

Miguel Ángel García Fuentes, Barrabes (to be confirmed) – EU Sparks for Climate Citizens Hackathon Championship https://eusparks.eu/

Christina Stevens, REvolution Love / GloCha

Context info: Challenges Mapping paper (work in progress) for the GLOBALGOALS2024 conference in Utrecht/NL, August 2024 „Dynamization of SDGs Implementation with Citizen Science, Challenges Mapping and Local Pacts for the Future„

Our GloCha transformative idea for the GLOBALGOALS2024 conference is, to build a global conceptual framework and reporting standard for the identification, localization and specification of challenges with citizen science and web3 technology tools. We (IAAI GloCha) have developed a first MVP (minimum viable product) digital tool in the context of the EU INTERREG Central Europe project JETforCE (Just Energy Transition for Central Europe) and we are working with the UNEP Early Warning and Data Analytics department as well as other partners on the next generation of the tool, which will include self-sovereign digital identity (Global Challenges Action ID for individuals and private and public organisations), taxonomy and ontology for global challenges data management and analytics, a framework for unique identification of challenges, ChallengesID based challenges community building, a global challenges action registry for the documentation, verification and certification of actions and created impact and an individual SDGs and climate action app on which contributions to global challenges are being managed as digital badges/certificates/Web3 tokens. Based on this challenges mapping citizen science and knowledge collaboration platform, members of challenges communities (including public authorities on different levels of governance) can enter into web3 technology supported give-and-get relations – „local pacts for the future“, a governance innovation that IAAI has submitted to the UN in the context of consultations for the UN Summit of the Future 2024 and preparations for a „Global Pact for the Future“  and which will also be made available as a digital tool in support of citizens‘ engagement programs of the EU Climate Pact.

Position filled!

DigitalArt4Climate 🎨 🎼 program manager

on-site in #Klagenfurt or/and remote work
Join the winning team!

Culture & Digital Innovation Program Manager

About the job

Company Description

The International Association for the Advancement of Innovative Approaches to Global Challenges (IAAI) is a youth-focused entrepreneurial civil society organization. Our mission is to build the intellectual, technical, and organizational infrastructure for multi-stakeholder climate action and sustainable development goals implementation on the local and global level. We achieve this through our multi-stakeholder partnership, #GloCha.

Role Description

This is a part-time hybrid role as a Culture & Digital Innovation Program Manager – Paid Internship at IAAI. As a Program Manager, you will be responsible for managing and implementing culture and digital innovation programs. This includes developing program strategies, coordinating with stakeholders, organizing events, managing social media platforms, and supporting program evaluation and reporting. This role is based in Klagenfurt, with flexibility for some remote work.

Qualifications

• Experience in program management and coordination
• Excellent organizational and project management skills
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Knowledge of sustainable development goals and climate action
• Proficiency in digital media platforms and social media management
• Creative thinking and problem-solving abilities
• Ability to work independently and in a team
• Attention to detail and strong analytical skills
• Experience with event planning and coordination
• Knowledge of cultural innovation and youth engagement
• Fluency in English (required) and German (welcome)
• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field (such as International Relations, Sustainability, or Communications)

Duration

June – September 2024

Remuneration

500 €/month plus a potential premium at the end of the internship, when program goals will be achieved (details to be specified at the hearing with candidates)

Application process

To apply, please send an email to polzer@glocha.info attaching

– a motivation letter (including your view on what #GloCha is and the potentials of #DigitalArt and #DigitalCollectibles for youth climate and SDGs action empowerment)

– a CV (highlighting your activities and accomplishments that you regard as particularly important for yourself and the world)

Background info about GloCha and its programs DigitalArt4Climate, Digital Collectibles and Challenges Mapping:

• DigitalArt4Climate homepage: https://digitalart4climate.space/art_competition
• ACE_AT project and DigitalArt4Climate presentation: „Resource Mobilization Innovation for Action for Climate Empowerment, UNFCCC Capacity Building Hub presentation at COP26 https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/BEP_Day_Presentation_2-IAAI.pdf
• GloCha and Global Challenges Mapping and Local Pacts for the Future presentation at UN STI Forum 2024: https://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1k/k1k139ki7g?kalturaStartTime=1825

No deadline: call for applications is open till the position will be filled

GloCha – Building a better world 🌍 with #Culture, #Knowledge and #Technology

IYC – GloCha – UN Habitat – UN Environment – AFS Side Event

Informal Youth Summit of the Future and Local Pacts for the Future –Pathways towards youth led transformative change

„Informal Youth Summit of the Future and Local Pacts for the Future –Pathways towards youth led transformative change„

Date and Time

17th of April 2024, 1:30 pm to 2:45 pm

Venue

Hybrid event: UN DGC Civil Society Resource Center, 801 First Avenue, UNITAR Building, 2nd Floor & Youtube IAAI GloCha Channel & IYC Channel & on UN WebTV https://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1n/k1np0c66dh

Registration

Event registration required for on-site participation: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScGecjgi5zU-QHyS8YoW84OwGocCKATtZX3sTmXpu7FG1aa3w/viewform

Organized by

• International Association for the Advancement of Innovative Approaches to Global Challenges IAAI https://glocha.info/
• International Youth Conference (IYC) https://www.internationalyouthconference.org/
• UN Habitat Youth Programme https://www.unhabitatyouth.org/en/
• UNEP Early Warning and Data Analytics Branch https://wesr.unep.org/earlywarning
• AFS Intercultural Programs https://afs.org/
• NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-NY https://www.ngocsd-ny.org/

Background

IAAI’s youth led partner organization IYC – International Youth Conference has developed at a side event to the UN Commission on Social Development CSocD62 (link to event report on the homepage of UN DESA: https://social.desa.un.org/sdn/creating-the-future-with-youth) the proposal to organize an informal Youth Summit of the Future ahead of the official UN Summit of the Future in September 2024 as a forum for effective and inclusive youth participation in the work of the UN system, in line with SDG 16 – “.. build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels”.

At the proposed side event the organizers aim to discuss the feasibility of this idea and organizational details with youth leaders from around the world which will participate in the ECOSOC Youth Forum 2024, with member states representatives and other stakeholders.

The plan for the informal Youth Summit of the Future is, to have a set of non-state actors’ led programs and events, clustered around the UN Summit of the Future, which shall lead to an action plan for transformative global governance innovation towards inclusive and action and impact oriented citizens’ and youth engagement and empowerment in global goals implementation:

1. Youth capacity building, strategy and action plan development sessions in relation to the UN Summit of the Future and the UN Global Pact for the Future in the context of the 9^th and 10^th edition of the International Youth Conference www.internationalyouthconference.org
2. Call for visual art, music videos and documentary videos about youth focused challenges, challenges communities and solutions, to be launched by IAAI GloCha early June 2024 (in the context of the World Environment Day 2024) and selection of winners at the GloCha CoCreation Festival at Lake Turnersee in Austria 3-9 September 2024
3. Presentation of the IYC Youth Pact for the Future Action Plan, the GloCha CoCreation Festival Music and Art highlights and the Challenges Mapping and Local Pacts for the Future tool-set at the annual Youth, SDGs Localization and Digital Innovation conference of IAAI GloCha and UN Habitat at the UN HQ (planned for 19^th of September 2024, to be confirmed) (link to past events: 2022, 2023)
4. Ongoing collection and dissemination of user generated edutainment content and citizen science knowledge collaboration on local and global challenges and youth led challenges action through the GloCha Streaming TV platform

Info about “Local Pacts for the Future”:

“Local Pacts for the Future” are a multilevel governance innovation for multistakeholder SDGs action mobilization, developed by IAAI GloCha, which has been communicated to the UN Member States in the context of the Pact for the Future consultation (https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/sof-internation-association-input-zero-draft-pact-for-future.pdf). lPoFs build on UN Habitat’s DeclarAction initiative. Link to the presentation on 𝗟𝗼𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗣𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 & 𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗱𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝗗𝗚𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗽𝗽: https://lnkd.in/d2kwtxMZ (slides) – https://lnkd.in/dmBVCZJw (video)

Objectives of the side event, including relation with the SDGs identified in the Guidelines

With our side event we aim to provide concrete solutions for an inclusive and successful summit of the future and youth focused multilevel governance innovation, in line with SDG 16

With the “informal Youth Summit of the Future” and “Local Pacts for the Future” we aim to open up innovative communication channels and develop innovative engagement platforms and tools for young people from difficult-to-reach backgrounds and places, so that their creativity, ingenuity and passion can be harnessed for global goals implementation.

The future proof UN needs to reach the people’s hearts and minds, and IYC, GloCha and UN Habitat youth are here to help achieving this goal.

Programme and names of speakers/panelists

• Ali Sayed Mustafa, IYC – Welcome and Presentation of the Informal Youth SoF proposal
• Member States representatives
• Aishu Narasimhadevara, Member of DGC Youth Representatives Steering Committee – Global South Youth Participation in SoF Preparations – the role of the UN Civil Society Conference in May 2024 in Nairobi
• Doug Ragan, Yosuke Nagai, Milagros Costabel Bionda, UN-Habitat Youth programme – DeclarActions as a framework for action oriented youth engagement
• Miroslav Polzer, GloCha – Presentation of the GloCha CoCreation Call for Music and Art 2024, GloCha TV, the GloCha CoCreation festival and Local Pacts for the Future as a multilevel governance innovations for the SoF
• Alexandre Caldas, Yigang Li and Candice Chung, UNEP Early Warning and Data Analytics Branch – Youth as Key Actors on Early Warning and ‚Foresighting‘ the Future
• Alina Karimamusama, NGOCSD-NY Youth Rep. & Founder of AfriHER, Zambia
• youth delegates

Guiding Questions for discussion/s

• What do young people care about?
• How can the creativity, ingenuity and knowledge of young people be harnessed for local and global action for the common good (= SDGs implementation)?
• How can we set up governance innovations that facilitate future, action and impact oriented engagement of citizens and especially youth in SDGs localization
• How can we use the momentum of the UN Summit of the Future for the deployment of innovative citizens/youth engagement mechanisms in the context of the UN?

If you would like to join GloCha please fill in this form:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe5iex1lq4SMZAblPbahS_B02FW_P-LXogmyLsf8JPeKc-RyQ/viewform

CoCreating the Future with New Thinking, Culture & Digital Innovation

Date and time: 30th January 2024, 1.15 – 2.30 PM

Venue: Conference Room B, UN Headquarters, New York City, with web-broadcasting on UN WebTV (to be confirmed) and on https://www.youtube.com/iaaiglocha

More info: https://sdgs.un.org/2024ECOSOCPartnershipForum#side_events_

Organizers:

• International Association for the Advancement of Innovative Approaches to Global Challenges IAAI https://glocha.info
• GloCha Global Challenges Foundation New York www.glocha.org
• Climate Chain Coalition https://climatechaincoalition.org/
• UN Habitat Youth Programme https://www.unhabitatyouth.org/en/
• International Youth Conference https://www.internationalyouthconference.org/
• NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-NY https://www.ngocsd-ny.org/

About the event:

The event focuses on the role of culture, digital innovation, and multi-stakeholder partnerships for all of society engagement in the localization and implementation of global goals in the context of preparations for the UN Summit of the Future 2024.

The multistakeholder partnership for global challenges action empowerment GloCha www.glocha.org will present its:

• DigitalArt4Climate music and visual art contest, festival and edutainment programs and
• Local Pacts for the Future as a governance innovationfor non-state actors’ engagement in global goals implementation – a new generation of Web3 technology enabled decentralized multi-stakeholder partnerships that solve grassroots challenges in a global context

Program (as of 24 January 2024):

Time	Speaker	Topic
1.15 – 1.25	Miroslav Polzer, IAAI GloCha	Welcome & Intro to GloCha and its solutions portfolio
1.25 – 1.35	Representative from PM of Austria (tbc)	Welcome by Government representatives
1.35 – 2.00	GloCha partners: – Christina Stevens, Revolution Love – Mack Okubo, Music for SDGs – Fernando Garibay, The Garibay Institute – Oscar Wendel, Wendel Institute – Ethan Kring, Herefor.earth LA – Gail Davis – ArtsHelp	Music & Art in support of the UN Summit of the Future: – DigitalArt4Climate Contest, Festival & Edutainment  – Call for Content Creator Partners – Presentation of Partners and associated initiatives
2.00 – 2.15	– Miroslav Polzer, IAAI GloCha & CCC – Doug Ragan, UN Habitat Youth Program – Ali Mustafa, International Youth Conference (IYC) – Hossein Hassani, IAAI GloCha	Local Pacts for the Future & Technology enabled Youth Engagement
2.15 – 2.22	– Nena Dokuzov, Ministry of Economy, Tourism and Sport, Republic of Slovenia – Samer Bishay, KarrierOne	Data & Digital Innovation Infrastructure for Global Goals
2.22 – 2.25	Margo LaZaro, NGO Committe for Sustainable Development NY	NGO perspectives
2.25 – 2.30		Discussion & Closing

GloCha is a multi-stakeholder partnership for global challenges action empowerment, which has been developed to complement the UN led inter-governmental efforts for global goals implementation. GloCha has been initiated by the Austria based, UN accredited civil society organization IAAI. GloCha is an open and participatory institutional ecosystem, for the cooperation of solution and resources providers. GloCha partners are going to develop the knowledge base and the digital tools for the delivery of the solutions listed below and for the mobilization of the necessary financial and intellectual resources.

‘Local Pacts for the Future’ – Pathways to All of Society SDGs and Climate Action The side event organizers propose the development of an information system in which citizens can localize and specify challenges in their neighbourhood in combination with SDGs led action and impact trajectories and stakeholder mapping. With local pacts for the future, collaboration of individuals, private sector stakeholders as well representatives of public authorities can be organized with concrete give and get relations. Local Pacts for the Future shall complement the main UN Summit of the Future 2024 outcome, the ‘Global Pact for the Future’, with (1) a data/evidence, impact and incentives focused socio- ecological contracts of individuals and local communities conceptual framework and (2) digital tools (incl. self-sovereign digital identities, global challenges action reporting and impact assessment standards, global challenges action registries, ..). The “Local Pacts for the Future”systemic innovation for non-state actors’ engagement in global goals implementation – a new generation of technology enabled and challenges focused multi-stakeholder partnerships – could be launched at the UN Summit of the Future 2024 as a symbol for the people round the world that the UN system is relevant in the collaborative response to the concrete challenges that people are facing in their lives and neighbourhoods.

Reference: Presentation of GloCha and the DigitalArt4Climate initiative at an official side event to the UN Climate Conference COP28, 6th of December 2023 in Dubai/UAE

Reference 2 – UNFCCC Video report about the COP21 Global Challenges Music Contest:

Co-Creating the Future through Localization of the SDGs, Youth Engagement & Digital Innovation

13 September, 2 – 5 PM & 14 September 2023, 10 AM – 1 PM ET 

United Nations Headquarters New York, Conference Room 11

With live and on-demand web-broadcast on UN WebTV

11th to 15th September 2023, Exhibit at the Curved wall exhibit space, 1^st floor, UN Conference Building, NYC

Registration: link (please note: deadline for on-site participation registration: Monday 11th September noon EDT for UN security procedures)

This event serves as a space to spotlight the unique and innovative ways for youth led creativity and entrepreneurship to spur global and local change and to highlight the enabling role of digital innovation for the localization of the SDGs.   The Conference will include a Youth Empowerment exhibition, a 2-day conference, and a reception.

Organizers

Partners

Event Objectives: 

The primary objective of the sessions are to contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through localization and climate action at the UN SDG Summit 2023, the UN Climate Summit COP28 and to the UN Summit of the Future 2024. (hashtags:   #GloCha   #Youth2030Cities   #Digital4Youth) 

Specific aims are, 

1. to present examples of youth localization of the SDGs globally, building on programmes such as Youth 2030 Cities, Climate Changemaker and  the One Stop and Integr-Habitat Centres. 
2. to present, in the context of the SDG Summit 2023, the open-source, white labelled, citizens and youth focused, web3 technology powered Individual SDGs and climate action app (which is being developed in the framework of the #GloCha #Digital4Youth partnership), as a systemic solution for accelerated SDGs implementation, which is going to be adjustable to specific global goals programs and local circumstances and can be used and individually branded by UN agencies, local authorities as well as civil society organisations for the measurement, reporting, verification, certification and incentivization/gamification of individual SDG action and impact (more info in the box below)
3. to present the  Global Youth DeclarAction on Urban Sustainability adopted at the UN-Habitat World Urban Youth Assembly in June of 2022,  and create “Local Pacts for the Future”, which will empower global citizens, especially young people, and articulate their vision of a sustainable urban . Such “Local pacts for the future” will add a citizens engagement avenue to the UN Summit of the Future 2024, which has as its main planned outcome a heads of states level Pact for the Future.

Agenda / Session Overview (as of 9th September 2023)

Session	Date/time	Topic	Speakers
Welcome Session and Thematic Introduction	13 Sept 14.00-14.45	Welcome by the organizers and partners & Thematic introduction	Moderator: Esther Muiruri, Local2030 Coalition Steering Committee Welcome: Miroslav Polzer, IAAI GloCha  Doug Ragan, UN Habitat  Ali Mustafa, International Youth Conference  Thematic introductions: Leah Namugerwa, Climate Changemaker, Leah Initiative Representatives of missions Jerry Glenn, The Millennium Project – The future of global governance (virtual) Alexandre Caldas, Balikesir Environmental Centre, UN Environment (virtual)
Session 1	13 Sept 14.45-15.30	Youth and SDGs localization Session	Moderator: Gwendolyn Myers, Founder and Executive Director, Messengers of Peace (MOP)-Liberia Speakers: – Roi Chiti, UN Habitat Andean Countries Hub – Daniel Obst – AFS Intercultural Program – youth representative – ICLEI US – Hossein Hassani, IAAI GloCha, Challenges Mapping App for citizens engagement in just energy transition (virtual) – Edward Darling, The Life Map (virtual) – Ljubljana Forum on the Future of Cities (virtual)
Session 2	13 Sept 15.30-17.0	Digital Innovation /  Blockchain4Climate / DigitalArt4Climate session Presentation of Web3 Technologies and Digital Tools for the Empowerment of Youth Focused Local SDG action & Presentation of the COP28 Digital Innovation Pavilion &  Launch of the Call for Submissions for the DigitalArt4Climate COP28 Art Competition  & Launch of the CCC & GYDI COP28 Digital Innovation youth delegate program Call for applications	Moderator: – Miroslav Polzer, IAAI GloCha & CCC – Mat Yarger, Web3 Technology and its potentials for citizens’ and youth climate action empowerment – Nena Dokuzov, Ministry of the Economy, Tourism and Sport (virtual) – Oscar Wendel, Dubai World Trade Center, Future Blockchain Summit – Tadej Slapnik, World Metaverse Council – Alexey Shadrin, Climate Chain Coalition & Evercity – Tim Damon, Global Youth Development Institute – CCC & GYDI COP28 Digital Innovation youth delegate program (virtual) – Trang Fernandez Leenknecht – Sol Moran Broza, Be1 – Mack Okubo, Music4SDGs & DigitalArt4Climate  – Mo Ghoneim, ArtsHelp (tbc) – Sandra Ro, Global Blockchain Business Council BC100+ Initiative https://bc100plus.org/ (tbc)
Exhibition event &  Reception	13 Sept18.15 – 20.00	Reception & Exhibition Presentation venue: UN Conference Building, 1st floor, Curved Wall space
Session 3	14 Sept 10.00-11.30	Youth, Sports, Creativity, and Innovation Session	Moderator: UN Habitat Speakers: – UN Environment – World Environment Situation Room Youth engagement program  – UN Habitat Andean Countries Hub – Climate Changemakers Program Partners – Ministry of Youth and Sport, Government of Türkiye (tbc) – Christina Stevens, IAAI: GloCha CoCreation Festival 2024  – Amy Seidman, Noble Profit & BFlo Technology, SDG Action Heroes
Session 4	14 Sept 11.30-12.30	DeclarActions – Local Pacts for the Future session (How can we bring local/youth voices to the UN Summit of the Future 2024?)	Speakers: – UN Habitat DeclarActions initiative – IAAI: UNFCCC Global Climate Action Data platform aligned coordinates system and global reporting framework for individual climate action & and local level global challenges pacts  – youth perspectives
Session 5	12.30 – 13.00	Closing session

Exhibition:

The “Localization of SDGs, Youth and Digital Innovation” exhibition will be on display in the curved-wall exhibition space at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, from September 7th to the 15th,  preceding the UN General Assembly High Level Week 2023. 

Background:

The Localization of the SDGs, Youth & Digital Innovation UN HQ NY Conference and Exhibit 2023 is a joint initiative of the UN-Habitat, UNEP, theMunicipality of Balikesir and the UN accredited civil society organisation IAAI GloCha.

With this event the organizers bring to the UN community a number of programmes and initiatives (especially the Climate Changemakers initiative, the One Stop Youth and Integr-Habitat Centres, DigitalArt4Climate and GloCha) that collectively advance the implementation of SDGs on local level and fight against climate change by and for yout. 

The Young Climate Changemaker initiative joins forces with the Balıkesir Environmental Centre, formerly known as the World Environmental Situation Centre (WESC), to foster a generation of environmentally conscious leaders. This collaboration leverages the Balıkesir Environmental Centre’s expertise as a data, information, and knowledge hub to emphasize the significance of early warning systems, as exemplified by the recent tragic Turkish earthquake, in safeguarding vulnerable communities from disasters induced by climate change. By learning from the lessons of the Turkish earthquake, this partnership underscores the pivotal role of early warning systems in advancing sustainable development and resilience, equipping young climate changemakers with crucial insights and tools to address climate-related challenges effectively and protect both lives and livelihoods.

UN-Habitat’s One Stop Youth and Integr-Habitat Centres play critical roles in UN-Habitat’s mission to address urbanization challenges and promote sustainable development. The One Stop Youth Resource Centres empower urban youth through education, vocational training, and community engagement, fostering a sense of belonging. Integr-Habitat Centres, on the other hand, focus on collaborative urban development planning involving multiple stakeholders. By linking these initiatives, UN-Habitat can harness the energy of young people to actively participate in sustainable urban development efforts, ensuring their voices are heard and integrated into comprehensive urban development plans. This synergy leads to more inclusive and effective urban development strategies, creating a stronger sense of community and shared responsibility for the future of cities.

IAAI is a youth focused entrepreneurial civil society organisation, based in Austria, which aims to build the intellectual, technical and organisational infrastructure for multi-stakeholder climate action and sustainable development goals implementation on local and global level with the multi-stakeholder partnership GloCha. 

In addition to the GloCha Challenges Mapping tool/app for citizens engagement in Just Energy Transition, which is being developed by IAAI in the context of the EU INTERREG Central Europe project JETforCE, a leading initiative in the #Digital4Youth partnership is the DigitalArt4Climate initiative, which has been presented recently at the SDGs learning special event of the UN HLPF 2023 (slides, video). At the event, the “DigitalArt4Climate COP28 Edition Call for Submissions” will be launched and inspiring artwork and stories of artists will be exhibited at the exhibit at the Curved Wall space of UN HQ NY Conference building ground floor. 

IAAI GloCha, together with its #Digital4Youth lead partner, the Climate Chain Coalition, is is accredited also to the UNFCCC process and is going to convey the outcomes of the NY event to the UN Climate Conference COP28 in December 2023 in Dubai at the IAAI & CCC COP28 Blue Zone Digital innovation Pavilion and at the Slovenian EXPO City Dubai pavilion in the COP28 Green Zone. 

Link to our UN HQ NY conference & exhibit  in 2022: https://www.glocha.org/digitalinnovation4youth-unhqny/ 

The development of the Individual SDGs and climate action app meets a systemic need of the UN system in the field of all of society engagement for effective SDGs implementation. The initiative builds on the learnings of several UN agencies and global goals focused non-state actors (like e.g. the AWorld ActNow Campaign app and the UN Habitat SDGs Scorecard app), while harnessing new functionalities, enabled by Web3 technologies. The app is going to be developed by the #Digital4Youth consortium/partnership, led by IAAI GloCha, the Climate Chain Coalition and UN Habitat Youth program. ON 12th of September there will be a workshop for potential partners of the #Digital4Youth partnership where an action plan and terms of reference for the collaboration will be defined.The app is being developed as a global digital public infrastructure/ecosystem, a a key element of a set of next generation, interoperable digital tools, which are using Web3/blockchain technologies and advanced data science (digital identity management, youth climate action reporting framework, digital measurement-reporting-verification, crowd-evaluation, impact certification, global challenges action registry; (NFT) marketplace, participatory multilevel governance tools, digital finance, metaverse/VR/AR solutions, data collection/citizen science, education, gamification, ….) for effective and entertaining youth and citizens’ engagement and empowerment in local SDGs implementation. The initiative for the development of the Individual SDGs and climate action app is going to be registered on the SDG Summit Acceleration and Accountability Platform and put forward for recognition as a “Transformative Action” within the “Inclusive and Responsible Digital Public Infrastructure for SDGs” pillar of the High Impact initiatives of the UN SDGs Summit 2023 .

Contact:

Miroslav Polzer, executive director of the International Association for the Advancement of Innovative Approaches to Global Challenges, polzer@glocha.info, tel. (WhatsApp): +43 664 4203648

Doug Ragan, UN Habitat Youth Programme, douglas.ragan@un.org

Research, Digital Innovation, Culture and Gamification for a better world

Klagenfurt am Wörthersee/Austria, 19^th of January 2023, 9.00 – 20.00h CET (virtual participation possible during workshop part of the program 10 AM – 1 PM)

Registration: link

Background:

The Klagenfurt based, UN accredited, international association IAAI (director: Miroslav Polzer) is planning to set up with partners in Austria, Slovenia and UAE a GloCha competence center on digital innovation and climate action empowerment in the context of its global challenges action empowerment ecosystem GloCha (link to draft concept note).

The center shall

• bring together research, technology development and educational competences in the field of emerging technologies (with a focus on Web 3.0 & blockchain technology) of the Alps-Adriatic region and beyond (starting with the membership of the Climate Chain Coalition)
• serve as a meeting place for youth from around the world working on knowledge-based solutions to global challenges in the context of United Nations programs and global goals/SDGs, and
• deliver digital solutions and services for energy transition, (micro) climate entrepreneurship and climate action gamification based on innovative multi-factor carbon credits schemes
• support local and subnational authorities in the implementation of their decarbonization goals (like e.g. the city of Klagenfurt as well as other EU Mission Cities and the state of Carinthia)
• support on a global level non-state actors (especially citizens/youth) climate action empowerment in the context of the EU Climate Pact and the UNFCCC Action for Climate Empowerment programme

Goals of the workshop

• Stakeholder mapping, presentation & discussion of functions/ programs and Consortium formation
• Designing the GloCha Center as an investment opportunity for cities, citizens, philanthropists and SDGs/ESG impact businesses/investors, with innovative funding instruments (e.g. tokenization of shares of GloCha TechGesmbH, first ideas, Climate Action NFTs Certification DAO, Future Carbon/SDG credits sales, Voluntary Carbon Footprint Compensation Cryptostamps, DigitalArt4Climate NFT sales)
• Preparations for an EU INTERREG Austria-Slovenia project “With Digital Innovation and Culture towards Climate neutral cities and citizens„
• Outreach and events in 2023 planning (GITEX Impact Dubai (10-12 May), GloChaMania June 2023), UNFCCC Bonn Climate conference (5 – 15 June), GloCha exhibit and conference at UN HQ NY (September, 2022 example), UN Climate Conference COP28 in Dubai (30 Nov – 13 Dec)

Agenda overview:

09.00 – 09.00 – Press conference

10.00 – 13.00 – Workshop

13.30 – 15.00 – Lunch (Villa Lido restaurant at Lake Wörthersee)

15.30 – 16.00 – Site visit I: potential location(s) of the center

16.00 – 16.30 – Site visit II Lakeside STI Park with Educational lab

18.00 – 20.00 – GloCha reception 2023 & Presentation of the DigitalArt4Climate exhibit

Agenda – Detailed plan:

10.00                    Workshop – The GloCha Research, technology development & Culture Center on Digital Innovation and Climate Action Empowerment, Klagenfurt (programs, partnerships, organization, funding and outreach)

10.00 – 10.05      Welcome by Miroslav Polzer, IAAI GloCha & Tom Baumann, Climate Chain Coalition (pre-recorded video) (2-3 min each)

10.05 – 10.15      Tour de table – brief personal introduction of workshop participants

10.15 – 10.30      Presentation dr. Wolfgang Hafner, City of Klagenfurt, The Climate action strategy of the City of Klagenfurt in the context of the EU Mission Cities programme + info about Innovation system in Carinthia (esp. Lakeside STI Park Klagenfurt) (10 min)

10.30 – 11.00      Presentation of initial ideas and programs for the “GloCha RTDI & Culture Center for Digital Innovation and Climate Action Empowerment Klagenfurt – Ljubljana – Dubai” (see Annex below) – 30 min

11.00 – 11.30      Project proposal preparation for an EU INTERREG Austria-Slovenia project “With Digital Innovation and Culture towards Climate neutral cities and citizens„

11.30 – 12.00      Funding options and taxation aspects

• public funding programs in Austria (COMET projects) & EU (Horizon, INTERREG, European Research Infrastructures, ..)
• Tokenization (GloCha Tech GesmbH) in addition to investment of public authorities, foundations and other institutional public good focused organizations, individuals can become fractional (micro share) co-owners by buying “Building stones” of the center
• DigitalArt4Climate NFTs sales (https://dafc.unique.network)
• Citizens Climate Action NFTs Certification DAO ICO
• Future Carbon/SDGs credits sales based on citizen/youth climate action enabled with GloCha programs
• DigitalArt4Climate/voluntary Carbon footprint compensation Cryptostamps
• blockchain based sustainability linked bonds,
• tax deductible donations

12.00 – 12.30      GloCha Center Consortium formation with a particular focus on the City of Klagenfurt, Slovenia (with its EXPO City Dubai pavilion, MetaCOP & IRCAI) and UAE (DWTC/GITEX,  WGEO, SUSTEX, Haqq Association)

12.30 – 13.00      Event timeline for 2023:

• GITEX Impact, Dubai May 2023
• GloChaMania festival 2023, June 2023
•  UNFCCC Bonn Climate conference (5 – 15 June)
• UN HQ NY Sept 2023 (similar to 2022 event)
• UN Climate Conference COP28 in Dubai, November 2023 with IAAI GloCha CCC  Digital Innovation Pavilion

Contact:

Dr. Miroslav Polzer, executive director IAAI, CEO GloCha Tech gesmbH, polzer@glocha.info,  tel: +436644203648, www.glocha.info, https://digitalart4climate.space/ https://action4climate.support/ 

Annex 1:  Initial ideas and programs for the “GloCha RTDI & Culture Center for Digital Innovation and Climate Action Empowerment Klagenfurt – Ljubljana – Dubai”

• identification, analysis and promotion of digital innovation solutions for climate action empowerment (focus on Web3.0/Blockchain) (GloCha product 1: Digital Innovation pavilion at COPs) and MetaCOP – COP in the metaverse
  • youth and citizens climate action engagement (open source) tools:
    • DigitalArt4Climate creative economy and social energy for a better world (COP28 edition with UAE Ministry of education and localization with (EU Mission) cities, …) (GloCha product 2: global art & music competition, GloCha product 2: local / city level art & music competition & NFT sales)
    • Global Challenges Mapping (note: IAAI has funding for this through the EU INTERREG Central Europe project JET4CE) (= foundation for a climate action impact information system, and blockchain based eco-social contracts based digital communities formation)
    • Global Challenges ID
    • Global Challenges Action Registry
    • Youth Climate Action Fund and Collaborative resource governance tools (United Citizens organization DAO / Decentralized Autonomous organization)
    • UNEP World Environment Situation Room Citizen Science cooperation (incl. SDG scorecard app) in the context of UN Habitat Climate Changemakers youth empowerment program
  • citizen / youth focused climate action certification (based on above mentioned tools: digital identities, digital measurement, reporting and verification (dMRV), global challenges action registry, Impact crowd-evaluation based on Challenges Mapping methodology and tools – research project proposal in the context of the 15^th Call of the Austrian Climate Action Research Programme and creation of multi-factor carbon credits/SDGs credits for voluntary carbon markets based on citizens’/youth climate action
  • (micro) climate entrepreneurship business models and tools (e.g. climate action and impact NFTs marketplace)
  • GloCha Games (knowledge and impact focused gamification of citizens’ climate action)
  • digital finance (blockchain based bonds et al.) for youth/citizens led climate action
• Collaborative Data science, Software Development and Impact Standards Work
  • Open Source Software development (linked with CAMDA, OS Climate,  Open Earth Foundation, Digital Democracy, ..)
  • Data science (Climate action reporting language with ontologies,taxonomies, etc.)

Climate/SDGs action impact standards development based on experimental research

United Citizens Organization – A Decentralised Solution for Youth Led Climate Action

On Wednesday 10th November 2021, GloCha (Global Challenges Action Empowerment Consortium) launched United Citizens Organization (UCO), a quasi-international organization aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) offering a decentralised and blockchain based solution to empower and deliver youth led climate action.

Launched at COP26, UCO is rooted in the Action for Climate Empowerment Innovation Project, or ACE_AT. The purpose of this organisation is to build a bridge between the public and private sector and allow more equitable and efficient resource mobilisation for young climate activists across the globe, empowering them and giving them a better opportunity to put their ideas into action.

Founded by Miroslav Polzer, CEO of IAAI, an organisation which is an accredited as Observer of the UNFCCC, UCO in the true spirit of SDG17 brings together a wide range of partners from both the public and private sectors including UN Habitat Youth, Climate Chain Coalition (CCC), Global Youth Development Institute (GYDI), Education Communication and Outreach Stakeholder (ECOS), PHGG, APCD Chad, Arts Help, Unique Network, The Oblique Life, CoinTelegraphThe UCO’s roadmap has set ambitious targets for 2022, including publication of a white paper in late February 2022, development of a blockchain based Decentralised Autonomous Organization (DAO) and marketplace and a series of climate action awareness events across the world with Digital Art for Climate.

https://unfccc-cop26.streamworld.de/webcast/iaai-glocha-united-citizens-organization-for-actio

01 iaai glocha_slides_cop26_unitedcitizensorganizationforace_pressconf10nov_ from Miroslav Polzer

https://www.glocha.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/01IAAI_GloCha_Slides_COP26_UnitedCitizensOrganizationforACE_pressconf10Nov_.pdf

https://cointelegraph-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/cointelegraph.com/news/united-citizens-organization-launches-as-a-blockchain-initiative-at-cop26/amp

The United Nations announced 2021 as the Year of Creative Economy for Sustainable Development to recognise the value of creativity as a powerful resource for sustainable development and climate action. DigitalArt4Climate in partnership with UN-Habitat is an initiative to accelerate that force. The DigitalArt4Climate is an unprecedented multi-stakeholder partnership initiative which uses blockchain technology to turn art into digital assets or NFTs, which can be collected and traded, thus opening up a socio-technological innovation space which helps to unlock extraordinary potential for resource mobilization and climate empowerment.

COP26 Collection „Humanity challenged by Climate Change“, exhibited in Glasgow, UK 2021.

Visit https://digitalart4climate.space/#rec374020001 to meet the finalists & winners & find yourself in the Metaverse by Artgence (https://digitalart4climate.gallery/).

Official video here. For press here.

For the Climate Chain Coalition the COP26 – UN Climate Change Conference has been a wonderful opportunity to present ourselves as the leading multi-stakeholder partnership in the field of #blockchain4climate.

IAAI GloCha is one of the co-founders of the Climate Chain Coalition and IAAI GloCha executive director Miroslav Polzer, who is also the strategic director of the CCC helped to organize an official CCC COP26 press conference and a session on Systemic Transformation with blockchain technology at the COP26 UNFCCC Global Innovation Hub