Ekurhuleni, South Africa — Today is an exciting day at the Birchwood, because — thanks to a former colleague of mine — I’ve finally gotten my hands on the calendar of Social Summit side events. It was unknown to me (and I guess all other journalists?) during the first day of the summit, so while I’m all thumbs up on civil society engagement, I’m a hard thumbs down on press access here in Boksburg.
Grudges aside, there are 20 side events on deck for today, and they cover everything from using spirituality to inspire climate justice to regulating artificial intelligence in mental health tools. There are also several sessions meant to feed into the G20 Social Summit Leaders’ Declaration, a consensus document that will be negotiated on by civil society delegates throughout the week.
As part of that process, attendees will discuss five core themes: digital inclusion; trade and resilient value chains; just energy transitions; sustainable financing; and work to achieve both the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2063, the African Union’s 50-year blueprint to transform the continent.
About the author
Elissa Miolene
Elissa Miolene reports on USAID and the U.S. government at Devex. She previously covered education at The San Jose Mercury News, and has written for outlets like The Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, Washingtonian magazine, among others. Before shifting to journalism, Elissa led communications for humanitarian agencies in the United States, East Africa, and South Asia.
