Thalif Deen, IPS
When Denmark hosted the World Summit on Social Development (WSSD) in March 1995, one of the conclusions of that international gathering in Copenhagen was to create a new social contract with “people at the centre of development.” Read more…
By Marina Ponti, Social Watch
The year 2015 –amongst many other things- marks the 20th Anniversary of the UN World Social Summit. The Social Summit brought about the principle of universality as its main outcome determined that that all countries have to pursue the objectives of eradicating poverty, achieving full employment and enabling greater social inclusion simultaneously. The Social Summit generated an extraordinary participation by civil society organizations ranging from development NGOs, women’s organizations, trade unions, social movements and other groups focused on domestic issues. It also inspired the creation of the Social Watch[1] network, report and movement. Read more…
The outcome document for the Third International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD3) is being finalized at the United Nations in New York. This is a key moment to make an assessment and influence the issues under negotiation to ensure progress is not lost in the interests of fact-tracking consensus. The outcome document must establish new ground on a range of issues such as combatting illicit financial flows and global tax cooperation. Read more…
Roberto Bissio, Social Watch
At the panel to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the World summit for Social Development, Social Watch coordinator Roberto Bissio said that “as we advance into the post-2015 agenda, some key ideas endorsed by the Social Summit are being reaffirmed. Inequalities are back in the agenda, after having disappeared for 15 years, and universality is recovered, with a strong sense of social protection floor. It is urgent, though, to make serious progress in the implementation of those agreed aspirations. Inequalities are in the title of a goal but nowhere to be found on the proposed indicators and a clear financing commitment on social protection floors (cash transfers/benefits for children, for people of working age in cases of maternity, unemployment, disability or work injury, and pensions for older persons, and other schemes) is still missing, even when now as in 1995, the resources are there.” Read more…
Marina Ponti, Social Watch
The post 2015 process will result in the adoption –by Heads of States at the United Nations on September- of a set of universal and transformative Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and targets.
The success of this agenda is also connected to the outcome of the discussion on indicators, which is taking place within the Inter-Agency Expert Group and the UN Statistical Commission. Read more…
This table was compiled by Social Watch from quotes of the Sustainable Development Goals as proposed by the Open Working Group and endorsed by the UN General Assembly as the basis for the new development agenda and the “First proposed priority indicator list” compiled by UNSD in preparation of the first meeting of the Inter-Agency Expert Group on SDGs, New York, June 1 and 2, 2015. Read more…
Roberto Bissio, Social Watch
Almost one third of the targets that define the 17 Sustainable Development Goals approved by the governments at the UN are being de facto rewritten or deleted by the Inter-Agency Expert Group proposal of “priority indicators” published June 1 in New York. Important notions included in the SDGs such as labour rights, women rights to property, financial services, inheritance and natural resources and many commitments of developed countries to support the efforts of developing countries are excluded from the proposed list of indicators and would therefore not form part of the UN reviews of the new development agenda. Read more…
by Hubert René Schillinger, FES Geneva
In this contribution to a session on “From Millenium to Sustainable Development Goals: Is transparency the key to unlocking our human potential?” at the GFI/FES Conference on “Financial Transparency and Human Rights” Hubert Schillinger does not elaborate on the positive impact of more financial transparency and the curbing of illicit financial flows for the realization of the new set of global goals. Rather, he a) looks at the role financial integrity and transparency is playing so far in the Post-2015 Development Agenda and b) makes some suggestions as to how this framework could be harnessed further to promote the agenda for financial justice and the curbing of illicit financial flows. Read more…
by Wolfgang Obenland, Global Policy Forum
For decades, development policy was shaped by the notion that the poor countries of the Global South needed money from the wealthy North in order to advance in their development. At the latest since the 2008/09 financial crisis this view of things has, it seems, begun to change. In the current Global Governance Spotlight, Wolfgang Obenland, Program Coordinator of the Global Policy Forum, analyses the negotiations on the outcome document of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development, scheduled to take place from 13 to 17 July 2015 in Addis Ababa, and shares his assessment regarding its progressiveness. Read more …
By Marina Ponti, Social Watch
As UN negotiations on the post 2015 framework begin to tackle the complex issues of accountability, review and follow up, the diversity of views, perspectives and the lack of concrete proposals make the likelihood of finding an agreement remote indeed. Read more…
If it doesn’t challenge power, it isn’t democratic
In the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, UN Member States committed to “reach the furthest behind first”. Can this commitment be applied to governance and related policies, budgets and institutions?
Barbara Adams explores the implications for global governance of the promises of the 2030 Agenda, the practice of the High-level Political Forum (HLPF) and the many and sometimes contradictory approaches and initiatives of the UN system and its ‘governors’.
This analysis highlights the need to move from the current pay-to-play orientation to one of democratic accountability for ‘people and planet’ and recommends a strengthened and re-positioned HLPF and UN General Assembly to drive momentum for the UN as the leader of rights-based multilateralism. Read more
The current status of Artificial Intelligence governance must be reshaped or it will contribute to more being left behind. The risks and shifts are outlined by Cecilia Alemany of Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN) and Anita Gurumurthy of IT For Change (ITFC) in a chapter on Governance of Data and Artificial Intelligence in the 2019 Spotlight on Sustainable Development report.
Four years after the adoption of the 2030 Agenda the world is off-track to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). But there are signs of change. New social movements have emerged worldwide. They not only challenge bad or inefficient government policies, but also share a fundamental critique of underlying social structures, power relations and governance arrangements.
For this reason, the Spotlight Report 2019 has as main topic “reshaping governance for sustainability”. It offers analysis and recommendations on the global governance that sustainability requires, as well as on how to strengthen inclusive and participatory governance to overcome structural obstacles and institutional gaps.