5th UN Summer Academy: “Shaping a Sustainable Future”

The 5th UN Summer Academy was held at the UN Campus in Bonn, Germany from 22-26 August 2016. More than 50 participants and speakers from over 30 countries across the globe attended the event and discussed various aspects and dimensions of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

“The world has enough for everyone’s need, but not enough for everyone’s greed.” Mahatma Gandhi’s words greeted participants of the UN Summer Academy at the entrance of the Naturgut Ophoven in Leverkusen where they conducted a field visit to discover concrete local community practices in the area of sustainable development. Back on their UN Bonn Campus, they discussed ways to transfer and adapt what they saw to their own contexts, analysed difficulties and discussed possible solutions.

The UN Summer Academy’s theme “Shaping a Sustainable Future” echoed the motto and work of the United Nations in Bonn (UN Bonn), which comprises 18 different UN entities. For its 5th edition, the Summer Academy was held at the UN Campus’ historic Haus Carstanjen, where the UNSSC Knowledge Centre for Sustainable Development is located. The five-day learning and sharing event gathered representatives from governments and different public authorities, UN staff, sustainability practitioners, researchers, as well as participants from civil society and the private sector.

“This year’s UN Summer Academy represents the new spirit of openness and integration of the new agenda and models the need for countries, as well as the UN system, to work in a more integrated way with stakeholders from all sectors of society,” said Ambassador Ingrid Jung, Head of the Liaison Office of the Federal Foreign Office to the United Nations in Bonn during her opening speech on the first day of the academy. “The motto of this year’s UN Summer Academy is particularly pertinent here in Bonn, which is an outstanding model for sustainability,” said Patrick van Weerelt, Head of Office of the UNSSC Knowledge Centre for Sustainable Development.

The Federal Foreign Office Germany and the state North Rhine-Westphalia extended their support to the UN Summer Academy by providing a total of 13 scholarships to the participants of the UN Summer Academy, which made it possible for people from different regions of the world to participate in the five-day event. Some of the recipients of the scholarships included government representatives from Ukraine and Egypt, as well as PhD students from Brazil and Germany who are conducting in-depth research on sustainability topics.

The UN Summer Academy also showcased participants’ work on sustainable development through a “Share Fair”, which provided a networking platform to the participants to interact with the UN staff in Bonn. “This year’s UN Summer Academy provided us with an opportunity to explore ideas and learn from each other as well as a chance to meet experts in the field of sustainable development,” said Dwiti Vikramaditya, representative of Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) India, an NGO educating 25,000 deprived indigenous children across the Indian subcontinent. He further added, “We go back to our countries inspired and with many new connections, which will help us to make a difference back home”. Jenny Darroch of the Drucker School of Management shared on The Huffington Post that “the UN Summer Academy was action packed and we were fortunate to hear from many speakers covering a vast range of topics. I personally came away with a few other insights that will shape my work in this space.”

During the five-day event, participants also had the chance to experience some of the biggest global challenges that the UN addresses today via UN Virtual Reality. Virtual reality films like “Clouds over Sidra”, “My Mothers Wing” and “Waves of Grace” enabled participants to explore the effects of displacement and conflict as well as Ebola through an immersive experience.

Participants of the academy also had the opportunity to visit Project Open Rail City Opladen to learn about concrete approaches to scaling sustainability projects.

Having become a permanent feature of the UNSSC Knowledge Centre’s annual programme, the UN Summer Academy has opened the Bonn UN Campus to a wider audience along with providing a unique space for reflection and discussion in a different setting.

This article was based on the Press Release on UN Summer Academy found at the UN Bonn website.