We are delighted to have this opportunity to present the report of the consultations held in Washington, D.C., on October 29th at the George Washington University campus to consider and discuss the UN High-Level Panel’s report to the Secretary General of the United Nations.
Our plans for the meeting began with a small group brought together from the Advisory Council of the United Nations Association of the National Capital Area (UNA-NCA), and our two past UNA-NCA presidents, Karen Mulhauser and A. Edward Elmendorf. Together, this group discussed the need for both local and globally oriented participants and formulated a suggested list of several hundred invitees.
The 100 conference participants represented about 70 organizations, including local organizations concerned with alleviating poverty in the greater Washington Area, and leaders from organizations based in our community that primarily address poverty, climate and economic development needs globally.
Participants came from universities, including academic leaders and graduate students; local and internationally oriented civil society organizations (CSOs); businesses; city, state and national agencies; philanthropies; public schools; and associations of organizations. A number of UN Agency personnel and United Nations Foundation (UNF) staff also attended. Nearly one-half of the participants had no previous engagement with UNA-NCA, and UNA-NCA plans to continue and deepen its cooperation with these and other invitees to the meeting.
This collaboration was made possible by, and is part of the nationwide consultation being sponsored by the United Nations Association of the USA, of which we are one of more than 120 chapters, and by the United Nations Foundation.
We thank very much the participants who attended and shared their expertise and experience, reported out their findings and contributed to this report. Many have offered to pursue their interests in further round table discussions and meetings in the months ahead. Our report findings and comments have been sent to UNA-USA to be integrated with results of 11 other consultations across the country to be presented to the UN Secretary General in January 2014.
We would like to thank Paula Boland, Executive Director of UNA-NCA and UNA-NCA staff and volunteers for their extraordinary work in organizing this consultation. Event staff included Ashlee Ryan, Charlotte Taylor, Mwika Kankwenda, Phil Kim, Veronica Marchant and Allie Drexler.
We would also especially like to thank A. Edward Elmendorf, general facilitation coordinator, who summarized many of the discussions at the round tables, and the facilitators and rapporteurs (see Appendix D) for their insightful work.
UNA-NCA’s programs for 2014 and 2015 will address the UN development goals within the framework of this excellent report. We look forward to further engaging and collaborating with those who participated in the meeting and to opening new conversations with other leaders and organizations in our community, both local and global, to address this critical agenda for the years 2015-2030. In Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia, we will forge partnerships among local and global leaders as we work together, among other goals, to eradicate poverty, promote gender equality, protect our natural environment, provide quality education, stimulate jobs and economic growth, work for efficient and effective government and ensure the opportunity that all people, in all economic circumstances, have their voices heard and have full and equal opportunity and access to participate in, and benefit from, economic growth.
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