KM & SDGs Update #4: Pact for the Future released, phase 2 of RealKM-KM4Dev-K4DP initiative set to begin!
This update is part of the RealKM-KM4Dev-K4DP knowledge management (KM) and UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) initiative.
Following last weekend’s Summit of the Future – the most important global event for sustainable development this decade – the Pact for the Future1 has been released. The Pact for the Future is the blueprint for the reinvigorated United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the next six years, after last year’s SDG Progress Report: Special Edition2 highlighted lack of progress towards the SDGs. The Pact includes the Global Digital Compact and Declaration on Future Generations.
11 months ago, as representative of RealKM Cooperative Limited (RealKM) and the Knowledge Management for Development Community (KM4Dev), I launched the knowledge management (KM) and SDGs campaign after discussions at KMGN HacKMthon 2023 highlighted how knowledge was still missing from the SDGs. This was despite research by Sarah Cummings and colleagues3 which had led to the preparation of the Agenda Knowledge for Development4. The Knowledge for Development Partnership (K4DP) also later joined the campaign.
Although we didn’t achieve our final calls for further changes to the Pact for the Future and Declaration on Future Generations, we were successful in influencing important changes to earlier versions of the Pact for the Future through our open letter and submission, journal editorial5, multiple knowledges explainer, and libraries and archives paper. The word “knowledge” had appeared only twice in the original January 2024 zero draft of the Pact for the Future, but now appears 18 times in the final Pact. Significantly, the final Pact includes the following action reflecting our calls for the SDGs to protect and build on Indigenous, traditional and local knowledge, which had been completely missing from the zero draft.
56. We recognize the need for science, technology and innovation to be adapted and made relevant to local needs and circumstances, including for local communities, traditional Afrodescendent populations, and Indigenous Peoples, in line with the principle of free, prior and informed consent, as appropriate. We decide to:
(a) Foster synergies between science and technology and traditional, local, Afrodescendent and Indigenous knowledge, systems, practices and capacities.
A big thank you to everyone who has helped to make this possible!
Phase 2 of the initiative set to begin – please join us!
With the Pact for the Future now in place, the RealKM-KM4Dev-K4DP KM & SDGs initiative (renamed from campaign) is now turning it’s attention to how we can influence the implementation of the Pact.
We’ll begin by looking at influencing the implementation of the new UN localization strategy and new UN 2.0 reforms, both of which will be very important to achieving Action 32 above.
Please join us in advancing phase 2. The next meeting of the KM & SDGs initiative group will be on Tuesday 1 October – please contact me for details.
References:
- United Nations. (2024). Pact for the Future, Global Digital Compact, and Declaration on Future Generations. Summit of the Future Outcome Documents. ↩
- United Nations. (2023). The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2023: Special edition. ↩
- Cummings, S., Regeer, B., De Haan, L., Zweekhorst, M., & Bunders, J. (2018). Critical discourse analysis of perspectives on knowledge and the knowledge society within the Sustainable Development Goals. Development Policy Review, 36(6), 727-742. ↩
- Brandner, A. & Cummings, S. (Eds.) (2018). Agenda knowledge for development: Strengthening Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals. Third edition. ↩
- Al-Shorbaji, N., Atsu, P., Boyes, B., Brandner, A., Camacho Jiménez, K., Cummings, S.J.R., Dewah, P., Dhillon, R., Habtemariam, F., Kemboi, G., Kenga, M., Kiplang’at, J., Mchombu, K., Prom, C., Ribiere, V., Sanz, R., Senaji, T., Senmartin, D., Tarus, I., Young, S. & Zielinski, C. (2024). Editorial. We urgently need multiple knowledges to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Knowledge Management for Development Journal, 18(1): 1-12. ↩
