Events related to the UN General Assembly Special Event beginning week of 22 September No 2

Major groups and other stakeholders’ briefing and NGLS event, Sunday 22 September

A large number of civil society organizations (CSOs) attended two events at the UN on Sunday 22 September in preparation for the UN General Assembly Special Event. The first was the Major groups and stakeholders’ briefing and the second was the event entitled, Advancing regional recommendations for post-2015: a dialogue between civil society, governments and UN representatives.

Major groups and other stakeholders’ briefing 

The President of the General Assembly, Mr John Ashe gave a keynote address at the beginning of the meeting as well as at the beginning of the NGLS event. He specifically referred to General Assembly events that he will be convening, which are included in the draft outcome document to be adopted on Wednesday at the Special Event. As part of the preparations for the post-2015 development agenda under the theme The Post-2015 Development Agenda – Setting the Stage, there will be three high level events and three debates that will address the following issues:

• What role should women, the young and civil society play in the new development agenda?
• How can we incorporate human rights and rule of law?
• How we maximize the benefits of South-South cooperation?
• How can we strengthen new and existing partnerships?
• How can we build stable and peaceful societies
• How do we address persistent challenges of water, sanitation and energy?

He emphasized the importance of the contributions from CSOs, particularly around new partnerships in practice. According to him CSOs do have a role to play and need to be involved from the outset, as the bulk of implementation will fall on civil society, particularly on the grass roots level.

Mr Ashe also stated that the Open Working Group will deliver its report to the next President of General Assembly in September 2014. At this point, as is also included in the draft outcome document, a process of intergovernmental negotiations will be launched at the beginning of the 69^th session of UN General Assembly in 2014 that will lead to the adoption of the post-2015 development agenda in 2015.

In response to a question, he pointed out that climate change is not included in the issues as specified above, as the Secretary-General will be convening a Summit on this issue at beginning of 69^th session. Environmental aspects will, however, be addressed.

CSO input through the Major Groups was explained in detail during the session, in particular with reference to the work of the Open Working Group. Further information about the Major Groups can be found at http://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/majorgroups.html

HE Ambassador Csaba Körösi, Co-chair of the Open Working Group

The Hungarian Ambassador stressed that it was important to negotiate a strategic vision with top priorities and that the focus should be on the kind of world we want. We should be bold, ambitious and indicate strategic objectives. If we lower the bar we will miss the target. The social, economic and environmental dimensions should be kept in mind. He reminded participants that governments and national and international agencies and even CSOs work in silos. There is a need to go across the silos and to find ‘win-win’ solutions. As he said, if we are “stuck with the notion that my gain is your concession, we will miss the major targets.”

He pointed out the great assets at hand:  human capital; social capital; natural capital; built capital; financial capital. Sustainable development has to keep these five assets in balance, as it won’t otherwise be sustained.

He said that CSOs should be proposing SDGs and ways to achieve them in relevant sessions of the Open Working Group before early Feb.

Since negotiators need to have all countries etc on board, it would not be possible to “design a social revolution, but a calculated evolution with a very broad agenda.”

David Hallam from the UK Department for International Development (DFID) said that in looking for convergence that the agreements made would have to agree with those made at the Rio + 20 Conference. The Post-2015 development agenda provides a real opportunity to join together the various communities to achieve what are common goals. There is a need to be pragmatic and to be flexible. The High Level Panel Report highlighted on the importance of a single agenda, as shown with the illustrative goals.

NGLS Meeting -- Advancing regional recommendations for post-2015: a dialogue between civil society, governments and UN representatives

John Ashe, as stated above, again spoke at the beginning of the meeting, emphasizing that dialogue among all stakeholders will be necessary if we are going to meet the needs of the human family. He referred specifically to the interconnection, stating “governments do not exist in a vacuum. Any genuine and meaningful dialogue can only take place when everyone is brought to the table.” He also recognized that “the past is indeed relevant to the future.” -- You cannot drive a car without using the rearview mirror from time to time. We need to move forward to a new agenda.

Jan Eliasson, the UN Deputy Secretary-General, said that what is happening is almost historic. While significant progress has been achieved through the MDGs, some serious deficiencies remain, eg maternal health. Poverty eradication is still the number 1 priority and while we may have a ‘plan B’ we do not have a ‘planet B’. In late 2014, we will see the results of the regional efforts, while the big negotiations will take place 2015. His hope is that it will be a process coming from the grass roots upwards and we should be in “listening mode to the mood of the world.”

According to the Deputy Secretary-General, there is growing convergence on the road ahead and the past year one of contributions. He pointed out that it took several years before the MDGs got wide support. Efforts should therefore not stop once the agenda is agreed – the question is ‘how’ as well as ‘what’, when we do development.

Some general observations

It was noticeable during the day that most of the presentations and comments were focused on issues such as the environment and sustainable development, particularly financing. In comparison, the social pillar was mentioned far less frequently, although there were strong CSO presentations during the Stakeholders meeting on gender. Health and education, however, were hardly referred to. 

Emphasis was placed on the importance of CSOs working with their respective governments. But it was clear that opportunities exist for CSO perspectives to be heard.  In answer to one question on possibilities for CSO input, it was pointed that civil society was pushing at an open door.

In moving forward, it will therefore be important not only to engage with national governments but also making their views known in both the initiatives of the President of the General Assembly and also in the work of the Open Working Group in the coming months to ensure that issues related to the social pillar are adequately included.