Oct. 3rd - World Habitat Day
The 2016 World Habitat Day campaign aims to raise awareness about the need for affordable housing for all in urban areas, towns and cities. This year's theme is Housing at the Centre. Access to adequate housing is a global challenge growing fast with urbanization. Around one quarter of the world’s urban population continues to live in slums and informal settlements.

An increasing number of urban dwellers, especially the poor and vulnerable groups (women, migrants, persons with disabilities and HIV, elder, youth and LGBT) are living in precarious conditions, addressing their housing needs informally, lacking access to basic services and living space, isolated from livelihood opportunities and vulnerable to forced evictions or homelessness.

Every day, as people are born in or move to urban centres in search of opportunities, the demand for housing grows. Globally, a billion new houses are needed by 2025 to accommodate 50 million new urban dwellers per year.

Oct. 5th - World Teacher Day 
UNESCO proclaimed 5 October to be World Teachers’ Day in 1994, celebrating the great step made for teachers on 5 October 1966, when a special intergovernmental conference convened by UNESCO in Paris adopted the UNESCO/ILO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers, in cooperation with the ILO.

This recommendation sets forth the rights and responsibilities of teachers as well as international standards for their initial preparation and further education, recruitment, employment, teaching and learning conditions. Since its adoption, the Recommendation has been considered an important set of guidelines to promote teachers’ status in the interest of quality education.

World Teachers' Day 2016 at UNESCO HQ will also include the ceremony of the Hamdan Prize awards and a seminar with the Joint ILO/UNESCO Committee of Experts on the Application of the Recommendations concerning Teaching Personnel (CEART) experts.

Oct. 10th - World Mental Health Day 
The theme of this year’s World Mental Health Day, observed on 10 October, covers “psychological first aid”. Efforts in support of the day will focus on basic pragmatic psychological support by people who find themselves in a helping role whether they be health staff, teachers, firemen, community workers, or police officers.

Despite its name, psychological first aid covers both psychological and social support. Just like general health care never consists of physical first aid alone, similarly no mental health care system should consist of psychological first aid alone. Indeed, the investment in psychological first aid is part of a longer-term effort to ensure that anyone in acute distress due to a crisis is able to receive basic support, and that those who need more than psychological first aid will receive additional advanced support from health, mental health and social services.

Oct. 16th World Food Day 
The theme for this year is the global message “Climate is changing. Food and agriculture must too.” One of the biggest issues related to climate change is food security. The world’s poorest - many of whom are farmers, fishers and pastoralists - are being hit hardest by higher temperatures and an increasing frequency in weather-related disasters.

Growing food in a sustainable way means adopting practices that produce more with less in the same area of land and use natural resources wisely. It also means reducing food losses before the final product or retail stage through a number of initiatives including better harvesting, storage, packing, transport, infrastructure, market mechanisms, as well as institutional and legal frameworks. To learn more click here. 

Oct. 24th - UN Day 
UN Day marks the anniversary of the entry into force in 1945 of the UN Charter. With the ratification of this founding document by the majority of its signatories, including the five permanent members of the Security Council, the United Nations officially came into being.

This year’s UN Day theme is One Humanity, Shared Responsibility 
which brings awareness to the worst refugee crisis since World War II. UNA-USA Chapters across the nation will hold over 150 events celebrating the 71^st anniversary of the United Nations that will encourage community support for the work of the UN and its ability to find bold solutions to the world’s biggest problems. 

“Designing Tomorrow’s Campus: Resiliency, Vulnerability, and Adaptation", 
Written by: Robert Kruithoff

On September 14th-16th, 2016, the third ‘World Symposium on Sustainable Development at Universities’ was held at MIT, Massachusetts. Educators and administrators from 33 different countries converged to discuss the effectiveness of sustainability programs currently implemented at their respective universities. An emphasis was placed on the impact of the U.N. Sustainability Development Goals. Representatives from across the globe discussed ways in which they and their students were pioneering effective sustainability educational programs and courses. There was a consensus between many of the educational professionals that real change will not be achieved until the sustainability issue is viewed as multidimensional. This included, technical, social, economic, political, and educational aspects. According to John Fernandez, director of MIT’s Environmental Solutions Initiative, being singularly focused on these aspects, “runs the risk of us having a bankrupt set of solutions.” An emphasis was also placed on involving local communities to actively participate sustainable solutions. The next World Symposium on Sustainability Development at Universities’ will be held in 2018.

Reference:
Chandler, D. (2016). Education leaders gather to chart a future for sustainability at universities. Retrieved September 26, 2016, from http://news.mit.edu/2016/education-leaders-sustainability-universities-0922 

UNA-Tampa Bay Seeks Fundraising Director to
Join Board of Directors

The United Nations Association-Tampa Bay Chapter is searching for a fundraising director to join the board of directors. The all-volunteer board which meets monthly oversees education and advocacy programs that foster an understanding of the United Nations and its goals. We service Pinellas, Pasco, Hillsborough and Polk counties. Our chapter has more than 250 members and coordinates outreach through a social media network of more than 6,000. Read our chapter mission statement here. The Director serves as the lead on major annual fundraising initiative. Review a brief summary of the primary responsibilities below.

Interested in applying? Submit your resume to our chapter president Dr. Mark Amen at amen@usf.edu

Primary Responsibilities

• Develop an annual strategic fundraising plan for the Chapter.
• Build, coordinate, and design fundraising initiatives to maintain existing and initiate new fundraising relationships with corporate, community, and individual sponsors.
• Coordinate major fundraising initiatives including the ambassador cup golf tournament and better world 5k.
• Identify new and innovative funding sources for the Chapter
• Coordinate with the Strategic Communications and Publishing directors to ensure effective marketing and communication of our fundraising efforts and their benefit to Chapter programs.