Making sustainable development learning available, accessible, adaptable, and high-quality to all

On 25 November 2020, The United Nations System Staff College (UNSSC) hosted the annual virtual meeting of the UN SDG:Learn Steering Group, organized together with UNITAR.

Partners commended the contributions of the various working groups, and acknowledged considerable efforts to promote the platform, develop learning pathways and improve quality of content. Greater awareness was raised in 2020, and more people have gained access to courses and microlearning on the 2030 Agenda, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“Learning has played a pivotal role in managing challenges. It is more important now than ever to foster a learning environment that facilitates solutions to the biggest challenges the world faces today,” said Jafar Javan, UNSSC Director.

Einar Bjørgo, UNITAR’s Manager of UNOSAT and Capacity for the 2030 Agenda, highlighted that “we need to look forward and make sure that we are able to use new technologies in adapting our training and knowledge transfer, and we have to reach millions and millions of communities, together with all the partners.”

UN SDG:Learn has seen a 1000% increase in the number of its users from 2019 to 2020, with young people (aged 18 to 34) from across the world accessing the platform on their mobile devices. The platform now also features more than 400 courses and microlearning  from 59 UN SDG:Learn partner organizations.

“We need to move from a marketplace to a user-centric, one-stop-shop that makes learning available to all, accessible in different formats, adaptable to the needs of the users while maintaining the quality of offerings,” Patrick van Weerelt, Head of Office of the UNSSC Knowledge Centre for Sustainable Development emphasized.

UN SDG:Learn was launched last year at the High-Level Political Forum in New York as a United Nations initiative that aims to bring together curated learning on the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs. It is geared towards both individuals and organizations. In the Decade of Action to deliver the Global Goals, UN SDG:Learn contributes to accelerating sustainable development solutions and approaches by making learning and knowledge-sharing available to all. It inspires SDG learners to acquire the skillsets and mindsets needed to address our most pressing global challenges,  and become SDG leaders of tomorrow.

Visit UN SDG:Learn and register today to  ensure access to customized offerings based on your SDG learning needs.

Questions can be emailed to joint.secretariat@unsdglearn.org