India, with an actively growing influence on global platforms is one of the signatories of the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals. With a more focused approach in place towards attending the SDGs and the arrival of cheap, affordable Internet access in the country is initiating new narratives in how the development sector is engaging communication strategies to create an impact.
UN Global Compact Network India and Ranchi based non-profit Citizens Foundation on Friday released the second edition of Goalkeepers 2020: a table calendar designed for cross-sectoral advocacy of Sustainable Development Goals 2030.
The unveiling of the calendar, themed on India’s SDG Journey in 2020 marks major achievements of the country including India’s historic election into the chair of the World Health Organization’s executive committee, inclusion of Indian advocacy leaders Archana Soreng and Udit Singhal into international advisory panels and cohorts have been recognized in the compilation that links each of these achievements to the corresponding Sustainable Development Goal.
With the Internet becoming more and more relevant in communication for the SDGs, the launch, moved to a digital platform this year, saw presence of SDG advocates and supporters from national and international organizations of repute including SN Pradhan, DG, NDRF, Dr Bhaskar Chatterjee, Former IAS officer and Atul Sobti, Director General of SCOPE, Mathew Joseph, director, American India Foundation, along with corporate leaders like Nusrat Pathan, CSR Head, HDFC, Nandini Sarkar, Global Equity and Diversity Leader, Boeing, Vinod Pandey, Director, BMW and Sanil Namboodiripaad, MD, ONGC, Tripura among others. The session, hosted by life coach Richha Jain Kalra as the moderator also saw the entire team pay tribute to Late Kamal Singh, Former Executive Director, UNGCNI, who conceptualized the use of a basic tool like a table calendar for SDG advocacy.
“The idea behind starting this collaboration was to find a way to include SDGs in the daily life of people through an inseparable piece of communication material. As agencies across the world brainstorm into bringing new concepts and tools of SDG advocacy into the play with each passing year, this simple idea—to include SDGs as a part of a table calendar in form of ‘Goalkeepers’ has been received warmly across government, corporate and other sectors since last year. This year too, we have come up with a unique narrative, especially celebrating the landmarks in the year which the nation and world fought a major pandemic like COVID-19. The challenges posed to the community have been unprecedented and as a society, we have come back stronger than ever. This year, the second edition of Goalkeepers calendar recognizes those landmarks in times of adversities,” said Ganesh Reddy, secretary cum CEO, Citizens Foundation, outlining the cause and the efforts.
The contents have been put together by the Ranchi HO team of Citizens Foundation in collaborative guidance of the United Nations Global Compact Network India