24 Oct 2018   

World Development Information Day, United Nations Day – 24 October 2018

For the last 45 years, the 24th October has marked the UN’s World Development Information Day. The purpose of this observance is to draw the attention of people around the world to development problems and address the need to strengthen international cooperation to solve them.

According to the UN, the General Assembly deemed that improving the dissemination of information and the mobilization of public opinion, particularly among young people, would lead to greater awareness of the problems of development, thus, promoting efforts in the sphere of international cooperation for development.

In a statement from the General Assembly, the importance of World Development Information Day is highlighted:

"Information and communications technologies have the potential to provide new solutions to development challenges, particularly in the context of globalisation, and can foster economic growth, competitiveness, access to information and knowledge, poverty eradication and social inclusion."

When the Assembly created this observance in 1973, they decided that it should coincide with United Nations Day, which is also today. UN Day marks the anniversary of the entry into force in 1945 of the UN Charter and was first observed in 1946.

United Nations Day highlights, celebrates, and reflects on the work of the United Nations and its family of specialized agencies. Many events will take place in the cities of the UN’s major offices, such as New York, Vienna, Geneva, Hague, and Nairobi. 

The AIDF Global Summit will return to Washington D.C, in 2019. 

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Photo Credit: iStockphoto.com/Michael Palis