Message from the IPRA President: Setting daily goals to reach the SDGs October 2023
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7 months ago
The 25th September 2023 was the seventh anniversary of the adoption of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The original ambition was that they would be fully implemented by 2030. Unfortunately, we are far from achieving the goals. And we have already reached the halfway point. We need to step up our efforts. We need to join forces (which is incidentally what SDG 17 is all about) so that by 2030 we don’t have to say – oh dear, the goals were too ambitious. Because, frankly, they are not.
The goals are profoundly human
All of us have family, maybe children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews. And for them we want each and every family member to be able to live a full and healthy life, in decent circumstances, and on a level playing field. We all want a clean environment both on land and water, in cities and in the countryside. We want purpose in what we do, we want fulfilling connections that create a network that allows us to grow and prosper.
An October of Days
Interestingly, there are a number of days in October that remind us to work towards achieving the SDG targets. I list them below.
1 October International Day of Older Persons
2 October International Day of Non-Violence
4 October World Habitat Day
5 October World Teachers’ Day
8 October World Migratory Bird Day
10 October World Mental Health Day
11 October International Day of the Girl Child
13 October International Day for Natural Disaster Reduction
15 October International Day of Rural Women
16 October World Food Day
17 October International Day for the Eradication of Poverty
24 October United Nations Day
31 October World Cities Day
A promise for every day
Now, why don’t each of us pick one of the days and as communicators make a difference? I'm sure that each and every one of you reading this message is active in a field of work that touches on one of these international days. Ask yourself: How can I use my gift as a communications professional to make the world a better place? Set yourself a personal goal by making a daily promise. And if you start by understanding yourself it makes it much easier to understand and influence others.
Celebrating excellence
This is my promise. I will be present at the Gala Awards Ceremony and Dinner of the IPRA Golden World Awards for Excellence in PR on 20 October 2023 in Barcelona, Spain. If you are reading this, you are invited too. Details and tickets are here. I will enjoy every minute of it, meeting all of the wonderful people who excelled in PR. And I look forward to hearing about the particular pride our winners may have in the recognition granted to their winning campaigns as meeting international standards of excellence in public relations. At the Gala, we will also reveal the winner of The Global Contribution Award, recognising a campaign with an objective of meeting one of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, and the winner of the overall IPRA Grand Prix for Excellence, judged as representing the highest standard of 2023. While there are many national and regional PR awards, there is only one truly global scheme: the GWA. Looking forward to seeing you in Barcelona!
Best regards,
Anne-Gret Iturriaga Abarzua PhD
President 2023
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