Summit 6: Background papers / special studies for interactive dialogues for UN summit

The six background papers / special studies, one for each of the interactive dialogues to be held as part of the UN summit have been posted. Questions for discussion at the interactive dialogue sessions are listed below:

Interactive Dialogue 1: ending poverty and hunger

• How can national development plans and policies best contribute to ending poverty and hunger in a way that is irreversible and sustainable within this generation, and what additional efforts are required in this regard? 
• What kinds of support and investment are likely to represent “highest/key priorities” for ending poverty and hunger during the next 15 years? 
• How can we revitalize partnerships at the local, national, regional and global levels to end poverty and hunger? 
• How can we put science, technology and innovation in the service of the poor and hungry?

Interactive Dialogue 2: Tackling inequalities, empowering women and girls and leaving no one behind

• How can the more explicit focus on reducing inequality -- including gender inequality -- in the SDGs improve the formulation of national development planning and policies and the allocation of national budgets (including on social protection and safety nets)? 
• How can the international financial, trade, investment, intellectual property and knowledge systems, including the Internet and ICTs, be adapted in order to address the issues of wide international inequalities among countries? 
• What can be done to better understand the root causes of discrimination on the basis of gender, age, income, location and other factors, and identify best practices to reduce discrimination and promote equality in all aspects of sustainable development? 
• How can people become fully engaged as active partners in all aspects of development – planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation? What measures can enhance gender equality in all aspects of sustainable development? 
• What steps can be taken towards building capacity for collecting and analyzing disaggregated data in order to make more informed policy-making decisions that take into consideration the needs of all, including the most marginalized?

Interactive dialogue 3: Fostering sustainable economic growth and transformation and promoting sustainable consumption and production

• Which policies and incentives have proven to contribute most effectively to achieving sustainable economic growth, and sustainable consumption and production? Which capacity building activities and other forms of cooperation are needed to accelerate sustainable and inclusive growth in the poor, slow-growing economies? Are special efforts required for countries affected by disasters or conflicts?
• What are the financial, trade and technological imperatives for sustainable economic growth and sustainable consumption and production? Are the capacities required to meet these imperatives available? 
• How can the public and private sectors work in a coordinated way to promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth? What sort of partnerships could be envisaged to promote more sustainable patterns of consumption and production?
• How can the UN system contribute at the local, national, regional and international levels to achieve sustainable economic growth and sustainable production and consumption? How can the measurement and monitoring of sustainable economic growth and sustainable production and consumption be improved?

Interactive Dialogue 4: Protecting our planet and combatting climate change

• Protection of our planet requires action in a wide range of areas, including promoting resilience and disaster risk reduction, sustainable consumption and production, ensuring the conservation and sustainable use of oceans, seas freshwater, biodiversity and ecosystems; addressing land and aquatic ecosystem degradation and desertification and supporting sustainable cities and human settlements. What actions should be taken and what resources will be required at the national level to co-benefit several areas?
• How can we ensure that all actions motivated by the SDGs contribute to realizing the long term goal of keeping the rise in global temperature below 2 degrees Celsius, which requires the world economy to become carbon neutral in the second half of the century? 
• How do we ensure that the SDGs can help build resilience for those in vulnerable situations such as women and youth? How can we ensure strong positive linkages between climate change actions and actions directed towards achieving other SDGs (for example health, education, food security and energy)?
• What business models, financial instruments or incentives have been effectively used to engage the private sector and communities in reversing ecosystem degradation, including land degradation, while delivering economic growth and  community resilience? How can these be scaled up?

Interactive Dialogue 5: Building effective, accountable and inclusive institutions

• What practical measures can be adopted to enhance universal access to justice and to ensure the equitable delivery of universal public services?
• What measures can ensure that institutions are accessible and responsive to people in vulnerable situations? 
• How can effective and inclusive institutions foster multi-stakeholder coalitions among the government, civil society, the private sector and people to enhance development outcomes? 
• What measures can be taken to build and/or improve the effectiveness and accountability of institutions and to ensure active participation in policy-making, implementation and monitoring, including through access to information, and encourage greater openness in the functioning of all institutions?

Interactive Dialogue 6: A strengthened global partnership for realizing the post-2015 development agenda

• What would be needed under the renewed Global Partnership in order to ensure the integration of all means of implementation, of all stakeholders, and their contribution across all SDGs? 
• How can we best learn from the Global Partnership to implement the MDGs? Which strengths should we build on, which weaknesses should be overcome, and how to do so? 
• How can we be sure that a revitalized Global Partnership is providing effective in mobilizing the resources and knowhow and supporting adequately the implementation of this ambitious agenda? 
• How can we ensure that public and private sources of finance, both domestic and international, reinforce and complement each other to support the SDGs and that we have coherent policies for achievement of sustainable development?