In the middle of the summer, this year's high-level meeting on Agenda 2030 will take place. The IOGT-NTO movement has been given a place in the official Swedish delegation.
Every year, the High Level Political Forum (HLPF) is held, a high-level meeting within the UN to manage the work with 2030 Agenda. This year's meeting will of course take place digitally. Between 6 and 15 July, the member countries will meet to discuss how the work is going and how to achieve the goals by 2030.
This year, the IOGT-NTO movement is represented in the official Swedish delegation through Maik Dünnbier, who otherwise works with policy issues at Movendi International. We have asked him some questions:
Hi Maik, you will represent the IOGT-NTO and the IOGT-NTO movement in the Swedish Government's delegation to the UN High Level Meeting on Agenda 2030 starting next week. How does it feel?
- It feels honoring and fun, a little challenging and very exciting to be able to represent IOGT-NTO in the Swedish delegation to HLPF. This year, Sweden presents its second report to the UN on how the implementation of Agenda 2030 is going in Sweden. It is thus an important meeting for the Swedish government. They talk a lot about the delegation being "Team Sweden", the Swedish national team in sustainable development.
- And it is fun to be part of a team work and collaborate with many others around HLPF. This year, there is a large delegation that includes representatives from the government, from the business community, such as Spotify, from municipalities and cities, as well as from civil society. This is of course an exciting mix where we can learn a lot and it is a fun challenge to find ways to contribute our knowledge.
What will happen at the meeting? What role will you play?
- This HLPF is very important. We, the whole world and Sweden, are in the so-called decade of action for sustainable development. 2030 is not far off and much more is needed for us to achieve the 17 sustainability goals. At the same time, we are in a global pandemic that has already destroyed many of the progress we have seen in working towards global goals. HLPF is therefore important for creating new momentum for sustainable development and strong policy measures.
Because Sweden will present its second so-called VNR - voluntary national review - there will also be a focus with several events with Swedish participation to highlight what Sweden is already doing well. From the perspective of the IOGT-NTO movement, this HLPF is particularly important because goal 3, which is about good health for all and where the reduction of alcohol consumption is included, is one of the global goals that is in special focus this year. It is important to monitor the discussions and contribute our knowledge and expertise on how we can use alcohol policy solutions to promote sustainable development.
What significance does it have that the IOGT-NTO movement is represented in this context?
- The IOGT-NTO movement has done an important job to ensure that SDG 3 looks as it does today and that alcohol as an obstacle to development is actually included in Agenda 2030. Unfortunately, this is somewhat forgotten. Since Agenda 2030 was created in 2015, IOGT-NTO has always been represented at HLPF at the UN in New York, through Movendi International, where for example Mona Örjes and Lucas Nilsson were involved. Therefore, I think it is a good recognition of our knowledge, credibility and leadership in these matters that IOGT-NTO may be included in Team Sweden this year. There are very few Swedish organizations that have made the investment in working with sustainable development in this way, globally, regionally and nationally.
