Rapporteur for a Virtual Side Event to HLPF 2026

AlterContacts is the Think Tank for Sustainable Development based in the Netherlands. Its network includes partner organizations, experts and volunteers in countries of the European Union and abroad. Due to its international reach, the main languages of operations are English, Spanish and Italian. Since its founding in 2019, AlterContacts has grown to be a highly-regarded organization in the field of sustainability. In 2022, it was granted the Special Consultative Status by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). The main goal of AlterContacts is to contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2030. With the expertise domains in entrepreneurship, youth education, schools-to-work transition, rural and coastal development. The Think Tank addresses pressing socio-economic and environmental challenges by implementing four key pillars of activities: 1) Building action partnerships for SDGs; 2) Research; 3) Training and capacity building; 4) Informing policy-making. In practical terms, to date, we have trained 860 students and 120 corporate professionals, launched collaboration with 52 universities, supported 510 entrepreneurs, mobilized 340 volunteers, and reached more than 85 000 views of our findings.

On 10 July 2026, AlterContacts will host a Virtual Side Event to the United Nations High-Level Political Forum 2026. The event titled "Closing the Skills Gap for the 2030 Agenda: Lessons from EU Transnational Partnerships" will showcase five Erasmus+ projects funded by the European Union as concrete, replicable models of how education, skills, and multi-stakeholder partnerships can directly accelerate progress on the Sustainable Development Goals under in-depth review at HLPF 2026. This interactive online event will bring together participants across different languages, geographies, and sectors, including youth, civil society, academia, private sector, NGOs, and local and regional authorities. We hope for balanced participation of women and men, with special focus on youth and students. The invited speakers and facilitators are all women, representing education, science, research, and entrepreneurship. Read the full concept note here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Nie6tJHBwC6F-wx8qZJ2SRmxYe0N3y3u/view?usp=sharing

We are looking for 10 Online Volunteers to support the Virtual Side Event to the High-Level Political Forum 2026, hosted by AlterContacts, an NGO in Special Consultative Status with ECOSOC. The event will take place in Zoom on July 10, 2026, between 17:00 to 21:00 CEST. Attendance of the event is required for this task. During the event, there will be five breakout rooms, each dedicated to a specific case-study. Unlike the main plenary, the breakouts will not be recorded on video. Therefore we need Online Volunteers to be present in each breakout room and produce a structured written record of what has been said there. The task of the Online Volunteer will include: 1) Preparing for the task by familiarizing themselves with the assigned case-study; 2) Attending the event (virtually) and actively listening to the discussions in the assigned breakout room; 3) Taking detailed, organized notes throughout the proceedings; 4) Identifying and capturing key points, decisions, recommendations, and outcomes; 5) Drafting a clear, accurate, and neutral summary/report after the event. 6) Submitting it to our team. We will provide general guidance and templates that will help in completing this task. IMPORTANT: The content produced has to be authentic. So the use of generative AI in accomplishing this task is not permitted. Each volunteer will be working individually. But we always encourage the volunteers to get in touch and exchange ideas on how to fulfil the assignment better. The guidance and support will be provided remotely by AlterContacts.