Compassion and connection needed to achieve gender equality and advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals

    NEW YORK, NY, September 15, 2023 /24-7PressRelease/ -- New York based global non-governmental organization Footage Foundation will be sharing its work on the role of compassion and connection in advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to coincide with two weeks of events focused on progress towards achieving the goals.

The campaign starts with Footage's co-founder and Executive Director, Dr. Kristen Ali Eglinton attending Clinton Global Initiative (CGI)* meeting in New York on the 18th and 19th September.

At the same time the organization will launch an online campaign aiming to bring awareness and raise the voices of the most marginalized, refugee and asylum-seekers and the LBGTQIA+ community to Global Goals Week – the annual event that mobilizes communities to make good on a global promise to secure the rights and well-being of everyone on a healthy planet, leaving no one behind.

Backed by rigorous research, Footage's methods and programs advance the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), notably gender equality, by targeting Footage's Drivers of Change. These drivers are objectives for Footage's programs, and catalyze SDG-aligned sustainable transformations within individuals and their communities.

Footage's recently published report, Compassion, Connection and Forced Displacement, shows that feminist interventions prioritizing compassion and connection have a demonstrably positive impact on mental wellbeing and help to empower women and girls to serve their communities. The report comes at a time when it's clear that the world is not on track to meet the 2030 deadline for the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. A new United Nations gender snapshot report on progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals shows that despite global efforts the world is falling short of achieving gender equality. In 2022, 614 million women and girls were living in conflict-affected contexts, 50% more than in 2017.

"A discussion about the role of compassion and connection as drivers for change must be part of the focus for improving the lives of women and girls and especially those who experience gender-based violence and forced displacement, if we are to make the progress needed to achieve the SDGs by 2030," says Dr. Eglinton.

Footage programs and methods use feminist principles of voice, radical inclusion, compassion and collaboration to inspire real tangible social action. The methods used are participatory, and break down hierarchies between researchers and communities, between organizations and those they serve.

"Our research shows how compassion and connection catalyze targets within 7 out of 17 of the SDGs. By acknowledging the profound significance of compassion and connection, while championing the voices and agency of young women, we can pave the path towards a world where compassion guides our collective journey," says Dr. Eglinton.

Based on the report findings Footage Foundation is calling for policy makers to incorporate its methodologies into programs working with displaced and marginalized communities. Footage makes recommendations for five key strategies to bring about a significant and sustainable impact especially among the most marginalized communities, towards achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls.

The Footage team will be sharing its work in a Dialogue Room at 777 United Nations Plaza (10th Floor) from 9.30am to 11am on 22nd September and demonstrating compassion in action in the Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza from 11.15am to 1pm on that day. Participants are invited to join in, ask questions and learn more about Footage's work. – ends –

*Footage is grateful to Kokoro Change and Natasha Muller Impact for all they do for us including sponsoring our attendance at the Clinton Global Initiative 2023 meeting. Kokoro is a not-for-profit that champions mental health as the foundation for a safer, kinder and more productive world. By 2035, they want to see global momentum behind a shared understanding of what a mentally healthy world looks like. Leaders will have the evidence for how positive mental health contributes to our individual, collective and planetary health, and will be taking action against agreed targets and milestones.

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NOTES TO EDITORS:
The Footage team will be hosting a dialogue about the role of compassion and connection in achieving gender equality on the morning of September 22nd, 2023 from 9.30am to 11am in Conference Room 10H at 777 United Nations Plaza, New York, New York. To join the discussion and learn more about Footage's work please contact: [email protected] or [email protected]

About Footage Foundation: Footage is a U.S. based feminist organization raising voices to elevate lives through creative research, wellbeing interventions, and advocacy—all advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Footage has received nine Public Diplomacy awards from the U.S. Department of State to design and implement programs focusing on women and violence primarily in the Post-Soviet region. A nonprofit organization founded by PhD colleagues at Cambridge University, Footage uses narrative and expressive approaches empowering young women around the world to connect as agents of social change. Our programs provide connection — a community for young women on the frontlines of gender inequality where their ideas matter and their voices count. We have a particular focus on forced displacement and gender-based violence. We believe compassion and connection are as important to sustainable development as food and water.

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