A decision to proclaim 21 March as World Poetry Day was adopted during UNESCO’s 30th session held in Paris in 1999 with the objective to support linguistic diversity through poetic expression and to offer endangered languages the opportunity to be heard within their communities.
Since 1999, every year on 21 March, the World Poetry Day celebrates one of humanity’s most treasured forms of cultural and linguistic expression and identity. Poetry is a driver of common humanity and shared values, a powerful catalyst for dialogue and peace. The World Poetry Day serves also to honour poets, revive oral traditions, promote poetry and especially, bring people together across continents.
Since 1911, annually on March 8th, the International Women’s Day (IWD) is marked to celebrate globally the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women, raise awareness about women’s equality and fundraise for female-focused charities. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. Significant activity is witnessed worldwide as groups come together to celebrate women’s achievements or rally for women’s equality.
According to the World Economic Forum, sadly none of us will see gender parity in our lifetimes, and nor likely will many of our children. Gender parity will not be attained for almost a century.
The focus of IWD in 2021 is about choice, the choice of challenging our thoughts and actions every day with the aim of creating, collectively, an inclusive world, a better world for all of us.
From challenge comes change, so let’s all choose to challenge.
Creative hubs represent a tool for innovation and a guide to entrepreneurs to bring social value to societies and communities through their creativity on local and global scale.
As the UNCTAD report (2010) states, creative economy has the potential to generate wealth and jobs while promoting social inclusion and human development. They facilitate the creative process of entrepreneurs by providing space, consultation, training, funding. Moreover, creative hubs represent a place where young entrepreneurs and start-ups from different backgrounds can meet, discuss, develop and implement new ideas, to building up a new environment able to empower different social groups and support their inclusion.
On the other hand, entrepreneurs and makers bring new ideas and dreams to explore within creative hubs, enhancing the heritage and knowledge of those spaces. In COVID-19 times, where entrepreneurs and makers need to be more resilient and creative hubs pursue innovation more than ever, spaces and opportunities to share knowledge, jointly analyse challenges and approach solutions will be excellent ways to surpass the negative impact the pandemic will bring at the social and economic level.
How has the COVID-19 affected entrepreneurs and makers?
According to your knowledge and experience, in which sense creative hubs can provide new opportunities to entrepreneurs and makers?
How to promote innovation and resilience at the entrepreneurial level in the new era?
Working together is essential to recover from this global crisis. From entrepreneurs and makers, to creative hubs, authorities and other third sector organisations to the private sector, we all have a role in building a post-COVID world that is better for present and future generations. Kindly share your opinion and views on how better encourage collaboration and co-creation within creative hubs among entrepreneurs and makers. Share your opinion, experience and knowledge.
By United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) mandate, the International Volunteer Day (IVD)[1] is celebrated annually on 5 December with the aim of celebrating volunteers and organisations efforts, promote their values and disseminate their work.
The focus of the IVD 2020 is “Together We Can Through Volunteering” in order to highlight the role of volunteers in raising awareness, inspiring others and achieving the SDGs.
“the efforts of 1 billion volunteers is an important foundation at a pivotal moment for development to enable us to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic”
(UN Deputy Secretary General Amina J. Mohammed)
During the COVID 19 pandemic, volunteers have been at the forefront of medical, community and societal responses. Community volunteers are recognised by the World Health Organisation as key stakeholders for risk communication and community engagement. Their effort during the covid-19 pandemic has been huge and should be further recognised. IVD2020 is dedicated to volunteers worldwide and aims at recognising their valuable contribution.
Some of the questions to be raised during the debate are:
According to your experience, how the Covid-19 pandemic has affected volunteering?
What are the most important challenges faced by volunteers in the new era Covid-19?
How social distancing and restrictions imposed has affected your work as volunteer?
What about digital technology? Kindly let us know how the Covid-19 pandemic has affected the use of digital technology in your work as volunteer?
Every crisis brings challenges, but also opportunities. Please identify new opportunities of volunteering brought by the new reality Covid-19 pandemic.
How do you see volunteering in the near future?
Share your best volunteering experience.
Check out the provisional programme and keep posted to know more!
Entrepreneurship is an important driver of economic growth and it provides economic opportunities everywhere.
Despite women entrepreneurs are to make a greater impact across economies, only 34.4 % of the European Union (EU) self-employed and 30 % of start-up entrepreneurs are women. In order to increase women´s participation in economy and entrepreneurship, special policy attention is needed on matters including but not limited to education, and non-discrimination, in areas such as access to finance and property rights.The OECD Recommendation on Gender Equality calls on governments to reduce the gender gap in entrepreneurship activity and support women entrepreneurs in confronting issues and strengthening the necessary skills to their success. Women´s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decisionmaking, including the economic, as well as to give women equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to ownership and control over financial services are some of the targets established by the Sustainable Development Agenda 2030.
The session, which will take place on 25th November from 3pm to 5pm London time, aims at sharing businesswomen knowledge, supporting women´s entrepreneurs and promoting networking within the Women’s Entrepreneurship Day (WEDO) global movement.
Businesswomen and women´s entrepreneurs invited to the online discussion will share experiences, views and testimonials as well as will address the following questions as well as other raised during the session:
What led you to follow your own project?
Why do you think there is still such a big difference in the gender of entrepreneurs?
What were the main difficulties you have faced as entrepreneur, as women entrepreneur? If you have come across some.
What are the major challenges that women face in micro and medium business?;
What are the business skills all women entrepreneurs need to develop to achieve success?;
Share a tip about entrepreneurship
Best business models;
The role of cooperation and networking in business development.
The COVID-19 pandemic marked a disrupting point for the world, compounded by an unprecedented global health crisis with severe economic and social impacts that highlighted existing inequalities and differences. Low income neighbourhoods are more likely to be hit by coronavirus cases and its negative impact. and impact as most of them may lack access to health care, lost their jobs and became unemployed.
At the beginning of 2020, the path towards the achievement 2030 SDG Agenda was on track and the global community committed to accelerate efforts and sustainable solutions to the world’s biggest challenges, ranging from eradicating poverty and reducing gender inequality to addressing climate change. However, in only some months, the COVID-19 pandemic brought an unprecedented situation and threatens to reverse years of progress on the global goals, on poverty, hunger, health care and education. While the virus has impacted everyone, it is especially affecting the most vulnerable people.
Urgent and innovative responses are needed to surpass this period of crisis but people should be at the centre of these solutions to achieve more equitable and sustainable outcomes for all. Against this backdrop, the community has played an exceptional role in the social response to the global pandemic by providing care and attention to the most vulnerable and affected.
