Remarks by the President of the General Assembly,
H.E. Ms Annalena Baerbock,
Civil Society Forum at the Second World Summit for Social Development
5 November, Doha, Qatar
[As Delivered]
Ms Deputy Secretary General,
President of ECOSOC,
Excellencies,
Minister,
But most of all, representatives of the civil society Roberto Bissio and Gillian D¡¯Souza Nazareth,
In Morocco, local women¡¯s cooperatives are working hand-in-hand with the Government and Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵDP to harvest, produce, and sell argan oil ¡ª a surging commodity that has transformed communities and created lasting livelihoods.
In Cameroon, an academic institution from India has partnered with the Government and the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ to train rural women to install and operate solar panels.
They now proudly call them the ¡°Solar Mamas.¡±
Across every region, in every country, there are thousands of such transformational initiatives ¡ª spanning women¡¯s economic empowerment, green energy, inclusive digitalization, and so much more.
The common thread?
They are locally driven and community-led.
There are so many, in fact, that even keeping track is a challenge.
Thankfully, innovation is also rising to meet this need.
On Monday, here at the same theater, at the Solutions Forum here in Doha, one project stood out: the Global Action Mosaic.
Led by Humanitarian Tracker ¡ª a network of volunteers and grassroots organizations ¡ª this initiative is using crowdsourcing and artificial intelligence to map and amplify SDG breakthroughs worldwide, especially those led by civil society.
Their aim is bold: within five years, to connect more than one million citizen-led initiatives across at least 75 countries ¡ª building shared data, shared learning, and shared visibility.
A true mosaic of local action ¡ª from youth empowerment to gender equality ¡ª powered by people, grounded in communities, and driven by data.
And living up to the theme of the 80th session that we are indeed ¡®Better Together¡¯.
If we learn from each other. If we work with each other.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Excellencies,
It is therefore an honour to join you in opening the Civil Society Forum at this Second World Social Summit.
As the examples illustrate, when we work together ¡ª when we trust communities and invest in their ingenuity ¡ª extraordinary things happen.
And across the world, the record tells that story.
In the three decades since Copenhagen:
- Extreme poverty has fallen from 2 billion people to about 800 million.
- Access to education, health care, and social protection has expanded.
- Life expectancy has reached approximately 73 years.
- And global unemployment, at around 5 percent, is at historic lows.
These are not small victories.
They are proof ¡ª tangible and profound ¡ª that collective action works.
Behind each number are lives changed. Families lifted.
Futures widened.
And at the heart of so many efforts stand civil society organizations ¡ª volunteers, advocates, organizers, and experts ¡ª often operating on shoestring budgets, far from the spotlight, yet shaping progress every day.
Yet, as I said as my opening, we have to be honest with ourselves. 1 percent unemployment is totally hiding that there is a big big divide – between 1 percent for example here in Qatar, and 30 percent in other countries.
You see the divides everywhere.
And those of you who have been at the opening, I was using this example of a race.
That people around the world can all prove that they can do the same.
But if you ask some to step backwards because they are born just in a family where they have to care everyday on what to eat, you do not have the same chances.
So facing the inequality is a dear and true question we have to tackle today.
And we as international actors, as the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ, as politicians, as governments, we should know that that this is not the task of civil society alone.
We should know that this is the task of responsible leadership.? This is the task of all of us. To ensure that in the future truly no one is being left behind.
I thank you.