SDG Pioneers 2023

As part of the UN Global Compact’s Making Global Goals Local Business campaign, each year the UN Global Compact recognizes a class of SDG Pioneers — business leaders working at any level of their company who are using business as a force for good to advance the 17 SDGs. Through their own company or by mobilizing other businesses, they are helping to reach one or more of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) while also contributing to business success.

We welcome the leadership of companies participating in the UN Global Compact to nominate their employees to the programme. The UN Global Compact Network Lebanon will award the 2023 Global Compact Network Lebanon SDG Pioneer at the local level, announced on June 30th, 2023. The selected individuals will then have the opportunity to participate in the final search of global SDG Pioneers to be recognized during the 2023 UN General Assembly in September in New York.
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Applications close on May 3rd, 2023 at 11:59 PM.

Overview

Each year the UN Global Compact recognizes a class of SDG Pioneers — business leaders working at any level of a company, who are using business as a force for good to advance the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The SDG Pioneers play an important role to drum up interest in the Global Goals and in how the UN Global Compact is empowering businesses to advance them. In 2023, the UN Global Compact will again recognize professionals working at any level in a participating company of the UN Global Compact who are setting ambitious SDG targets, scale, and impact across their companies through a principles-based approach.

Why apply or nominate someone?

• Employee engagement and recognition – The program provides companies with an opportunity to highlight how their employees are advancing the SDGs and are indeed next generation leaders.

• Enable change agents for the SDGs – Leadership in the 2030 era requires change agents, and the SDG Pioneers Program provides a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for professionals to push their vision forward within their organizations and create change.

• National and global recognition – SDG Pioneers will receive visibility and be recognized for the great work that they have done to advance the SDGs. The Global SDG Pioneers will be announced at the 2023 UN General Assembly in September.

Who can apply?

Employees working at any level of a company participating in the UN Global Compact are eligible to apply or be nominated. Former SDG Pioneers can re-apply, but a thorough review of their application will be required to ensure it covers different activities/projects than the previous application.

The UN Global Compact reserves the right to remove the SDG Pioneer recognition if the company and/or individual is later deemed to be a reputational risk to the SDG Pioneer campaign and/or the UN Global Compact initiative.

Company Eligibility

‍For the 2023 SDG Pioneers, we are only considering companies who were participants of the UN Global Compact on 1 October 2022, have submitted at least 1 Communication on Progress (CoP), and have an active CoP status. If your company joined after this date, please consider applying for the 2024 SDG Pioneers programme.

Companies in the weapons, gambling, fossil fuels, and alcohol sectors are ineligible to apply.

Selection Process and Timeline

Applications be accepted from April 3rd to May 3rd, 2023. A multi-stakeholder SDG Pioneers Selection Group will vote on the candidates. Once the selections have been made, the applications will be sent to the UN Global Compact Headquarters for final screening and review by May 15th, 2023. Once confirmed, the SDG Pioneer will be notified and made public on June 30th, 2023.

The Lebanon SDG Pioneer will then be submitted to the Global SDG Pioneer round, where the Global SDG Pioneer will be announced at the 2023 Leaders Summit in New York City in September.

Previous Pioneers from Lebanon

For any additional questions, please reach out to [email protected] or our Programmes Coordinator Ms. Lynn Khatib at [email protected].