United Nations 10-Member Group to support the Technology Facilitation Mechanism

Mirna Cunningham's membership and role here is very important, since she is the only IP representative in this new technology mechanism which is another significant opportunity under the SD 2030 Agenda to highlight the contributions of Indigenous Peoples thru their Traditional Knowledge, Innovations and Technology in the achievement and monitoring of implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.

As mentioned on the TOR (also in the mentioned link above), member States agreed that the “technology facilitation mechanism will be based on a multistakeholder collaboration between Member States, civil society, the private sector, the scientific community, United Nations entities and other stakeholders and will be composed of a United Nations inter-agency task team on science, technology and innovation for the sustainable development goals (IATT), a collaborative multi-stakeholder forum on science, technology and innovation for the sustainable development goals and an online platform.”

This 10-Member Group shall thus work with the UN Inter-agency Task Team on Science, Technology and Innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals – henceforth referred to as “IATT” 2 , to which it will provide ideas, guidance and recommendations. In particular, it is engaged in supporting the development and operations of the Technology Facilitation Mechanism, notably:

a) To “…prepare the meetings of the multi-stakeholder forum on science, technology and innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals…”;

b) To support “…the development and operationalization of the online platform…”; and

c) To prepare “…proposals for the modalities for the forum and the online platform…”;

d) To assist - upon request by the co-facilitators of the forum - in the preparation of the summary of the forum, and in this context provide recommendations and advice on science, technology and innovation issues for the SDGs; and

e) To provide briefings and other inputs to the high-level political forum on sustainable development, or other relevant UN fora, as requested.

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