From 6 to 15 July 2021, the United Nations held the High Level Political Forum 2021. This event reviewed the progress toward the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This year the meeting was held under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Participants discussed ways to ensure a sustainable and resilient recovery from COVID-19 to realize the 2030 Agenda.
The session “Ensuring that no one is left behind” examined the challenges of empowering vulnerable groups towards increased resilience and recovery in the years ahead. It discussed lessons from the pandemic in adjusting social and economic policies to address the needs of these groups. Additionally, panelists discussed:
- How to resume the progress towards the SDGs,
- Pathways to formulate more inclusive economic and social policies for a post-pandemic world that also faces environmental challenges, and
- Ways to monitor social protection and digital inclusion measures for their effectiveness.
Jane Coffin, our Senior Vice President for Internet Growth, participated in the session and highlighted the importance of leveraging the Internet and digital technologies to realize the Sustainable Development Goals. She called for a joint effort to support innovative solutions towards universal Internet access.
Speakers
Learn more about our work to grow the Internet
Community Networks
Roughly half of the world is still not connected, and trends show that the growth in connection is slowing down. We need to address this challenge, and community networks are a way to get more people online and empower them to improve their lives. Because community networks are built by the community, with the community and for the community, they connect people taking into account their specific challenges and goals.
Infrastructure and Community Development
Without trust and collaboration between those who build and maintain the Internet, everyone’s Internet is weakened. This is why we are dedicated to supporting communities to build infrastructure, trust, and better local traffic exchange. By providing equipment, technical trainings, and strengthening trust and cooperation between the people who build the Internet, we work to bring faster and more affordable Internet to people.
Measuring the Internet
The global Internet is comprised of independent networks that connect to one another. Its distributed nature makes measuring any aspect of the Internet on a global scale difficult. There are many people, projects, and organizations that are collecting data on various facets of the Internet, but there’s no single site that provides a curated set of insights into its health, availability and evolution.
To help address this gap, we’ve launched the Pulse platform to help everyone gain deeper, data-driven insight into the Internet.
