In our interconnected world, global discussions rely on

a shared understanding of key concepts.

Dr. Lutz Krebs, UNU-MERIT

No human being is illegal headlined an article in The Guardian in late 2015, stressing how the
phrase illegal immigrants is neither accurate nor neutral. Heard time and again in the US
presidential campaign, it was yet another example of a dubious, ubiquitous term shaping the
political debate and yet another reason for the UNU Jargon Buster.

Our glossary app not only clarifies hundreds of social, political and economic terms, it also aims to
be a reference point for global debates on migration, development, the environment and all major
UN issues.

What exactly is it?

A metaglossary app for Android and
iOS, the UNU Jargon Buster was
launched in November 2015 at the UN
Regional Information Centre in
Brussels. In 2016 it was presented to
UN colleagues in New York and Geneva, was featured in news stories by among others UN
Women, and was the focus of a Reuters article that reached more than 650 million readers
worldwide, according to UNUs Talkwalker media monitoring tool.

As of March 2017, the app has been downloaded thousands of times and continues to grow in
terms of the number of entries, partners and users. It features more than 1000 economic,
political and social terms ranging from simple acronyms to political proceedings to technical
legalese: things like AVE, ODA and TBT.1

Each entry is linked to at least one Sustainable Development Goal, although most straddle two
or three SDGs. All entries are shareable via email or social media, and all are cross-referenced by
institution and publication, mainly via hyperlink which in turn can provide extra visibility to
specific reports or events.

The user interface is minimalistic: the masthead presents the name and social media accounts of
UNU, followed by a free-search field that gives results as you type, followed by three barn-door
fields (i.e. with a horizontal scroll). These fields cover: i. the 17 SDG icons, ii. the 26 letters of the
alphabet, and iii. all participating institutions.

The app currently hosts terms from eight UNU sites (roughly half the network) as well as the
CTBTO, IMO, OCHA, OECD, UNECE, UNIDIR, UNIDO, UNRISD, UN Women and WTO. More entries
are also incoming from UNISDR.

1
If you work in international relations and dont know these acronyms, you may need this app!
Next step: A giant leap?
At UNU-MERIT we now want to expand the
app: to include more global agencies, to give
them more space and therefore a bigger stake.
Right now each participating agency has its
own box with a brief About Us section, followed by their entries. We want to expand these
boxes into suites: giving each agency a space not only for terms but also their SDG news and
events. Paying attention to ergonomics, these suites could include blogs, infographics, videos,
etc. thus increasing ownership, relevance and traffic.2

To accelerate this process, we plan two courses of action. First, we want to serve as a bridge
between UNU and at least six UN agencies in a showcase event for the 2nd Annual Multi-
stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the SDGs at the UN in New York,
15-16 May 2017.

As this years forum will focus on the six SDGs above, we want to develop specific app
partnerships around these goals: to show how specialist knowledge can be shared and
understood by a wider audience. For example: SDG#5 with UN Women (supported where
possible by UNU-OC and relevant UNU institutes like UNU-GEST.)

We also want to go beyond the boxes to show that no UN agency or SDG is an island. To show
how interconnected and interdependent we are. On a basic level, the app already does this by
presenting Related SDGs under each term. We now want to expand and highlight these links.

Developing an ecosystem?
The second course of action is to spin-off
the app, for example to EU agencies
interested in the SDGs.3 To this end, we are
targeting the relevant Directorates-General
of the European Commission, as part of a plan with the City of Maastricht for its 25th
Anniversary celebrations of the Maastricht Treaty. The basic plan is to present a new and
separate version of the app as a gift to the EU.

Two further activities would help build this ecosystem. First, to provide an additional means of
access and consumption, the app will be made available in a web browser version, hosted as a
subsite of UNU-MERIT.4 Second, to give real-world impetus, UNU-MERIT will host an event each
year for all partners. This would enable us to share our latest work on the SDGs, to continue the
apps evolution, and to exchange future plans and policy agendas.

Ultimately, the app can be a platform for inter-agency cooperation, for partners who would not
normally work together but could benefit from regular interaction. With this strategy, the app
can become an educational hub for the UN and other international bodies interested in
supporting the SDGs. In the words of Samantha Power, former US Ambassador to the UN:
to cut past the jargon and the acronyms and the sterile briefings and get real.

2
UNU-MERIT would continue to edit and update the backend, and to bear all administrative and technical costs.
3
We already include terminology from non-UN bodies, such as the OECD and WTO.
4
The app will however remain the core of the jargon buster, given its portability as an offline one -stop-shop.