Partnerships with Civil Society – summary report of UNDG high-level global meeting
Tuesday, December 9, 2014 at 2:02PM 
As reported by IISD, the UN Development Group (UNDG) has released a summary report of its high-level global meeting, held in Siem Reap, Cambodia on 20-21 October 2014, on ‘Partnerships with Civil Society.' This meeting was the culmination of eight national consultations held in Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Colombia, Indonesia, Jordan, Lesotho, Tunisia and Saint Lucia, as well as an e-discussion on the topic. The report addresses ways in which civil society can inform the elaboration of the post-2015 development agenda; engage in its implementation; and help to enhance national policy formulation.
The process was one of six Dialogues on the Implementation of the Post-2015 Development Agenda that was organized by UNDG as a second phase of consultations on the post-2015 agenda. The summary report will serve as an input to the upcoming intergovernmental negotiations on the post-2015 development agenda.
Participants at the high-level meeting discussed four key recommendations: recognizing and understanding civil society's role in policy development; creating an enabling environment to maximize civil society's contribution towards development objectives; establishing and maintaining accountability mechanisms to monitor partnerships; and implementation progress; and aligning multi-stakeholder priorities.
On the role of civil society in policy development, participants recommended that governments should inter alia: ensure that policy-making processes are open with timely information-sharing; move toward civil society empowerment by breaking down cultural, institutional and social barriers; and leverage civil society's strengths.
On an enabling environment for civil society, recommendations focused on: ensuring accountability, transparency and participatory governance in all stages of policy-making and implementation of the post-2015 agenda; building cooperation between civil society and government, including through dialogues at national and sub-national levels and knowledge-sharing mechanisms; and investing in building civil society capacity.
Participants also discussed challenges to establishing and maintaining accountability mechanisms, including the need to standardize data and ensure data is open and transparent.
Among the proposed solutions they suggested ensuring the availability of accessible information to support participatory monitoring and evidence-based advocacy, and using alternative sources of data, such as soft or perception-based data and citizen data collection. They also suggested drawing on the UN Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review framework (UPR) to monitor the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The meeting was hosted by the Governments of Cambodia and the Republic of Korea, in partnership with the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), the UN Volunteers (UNV) programme, the UN Non-Governmental Liaison Service (UN-NGLS), UN Millennium Campaign (UNMC), the UN Post-2015 Secretariat and the Cambodia UN Country Team.
Further information:
Read more: http://sd.iisd.org/news/post-2015-consultation-recommends-actions-for-civil-society-partnerships/