UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

Key Initiative 4.1:

Promoting libraries within the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

We will work with the library sector and other partners to raise awareness of the role of libraries within the global Sustainable Development Agenda.

Key Actions:

• IFLA President Donna Scheeder promotes UN SDGs during Bulgaria’s 12th National Library Week (23 May 2017)
• Jamaica’s Library and Information Week 2016 “Libraries Matter: Harnessing information for national development" (31 October 2016)
• Libraries, Development and the United Nations 2030 Agenda [Resources for librarians] (November 2016)
• Libraries make an essential contribution to development (June 2016)
• Toolkit Libraries and National Development Plans (April 2016)
• Free webinar: Libraries, Advocacy and the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda (December 2015)
• IFLA launches new toolkit to support immediate advocacy for access to information in national development plans (December 2015)
• #next4billion – IFLA’s roundup of the United Nations Summit for the 2030 Agenda (November 2015)
• Call for examples: Libraries and the UN 2030 Agenda (August  2015)
• Sessions at IFLA Congress in Cape Town to focus on the post-2015 development agenda (2030 Agenda) (August 2015)
• IFLA Welcomes the UN 2030 Agenda (August 2015)
• What has happened with the UN post-2015 Development Agenda and how is access to information progressing? (June 2015)

We will build a communication strategy aimed at convincing policy makers, funders and community of the value of library and information services as critical community assets.

We will support the strategy with stories and evidence about the benefits that effective library and information services bring to communities.

We will assist the library sector to create strong links within their communities and become their own advocates, supported by our advocacy and capacity building activities.

We will continue the campaign to position library and information services and cultural heritage within the UN 2030 Development Agenda. We will support the library and information services sector at regional and national levels on advocacy, policy and practical implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), within the United Nations Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.  

We will use the support from hundreds of signatories to the Lyon Declaration on Access to Information and Development to highlight the importance of information access and libraries as a vital means to sustainable development.

We will produce a ‘Development and Access to Information’ report that will measure the progress of the SDGs and access to information, and support IFLA's activities to provide a sustainable long term information environment.

Key Actions

• Open, Inclusive Access to Information: IFLA Speaks at UN High Level Political Forum (16 July 2017)
• No Truly Sustainable Development Without Access to Information, and No Meaningful, Inclusive Access Without Libraries (15 July 2017)
• Mind the (Information) Gap: IFLA Makes the Case for Action by Governments (13 July 2017)
• Libraries included in the recently published Finnish National Development Plan (22 February 2017)
• IFLA brief on the HABITAT III New Urban Agenda (21 October 2016)

Activity 4.1.4 Develop evidence to demonstrate how access to information (A2I) and libraries contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) outlined in the United Nations 2030 Development Agenda

We will produce a ‘Development and Access to Information’ report that will measure the progress of the SDGs and access to information, and support IFLA's activities to provide a sustainable long term information environment.

Key Actions

• Meaningful Access to Information To Leave No One Behind: Launch of the 2017 DA2I Report (17 July 2017)
• Making Development Smart and Inclusive: Launch of the Development and Access to Information (DA2I) Report 2017 (7 July 2017)

Last update: 17 August 2017