UN Secretary-General appoints Independent Expert Advisory Group on the Data Revolution for Sustainable Development

The UN Secretary-General has announced the establishment of a 24-member Independent Expert Advisory Group on the Data Revolution for Sustainable Development, as called for in the report of the High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the post-2015 development agenda. It will “assess new opportunities linked to innovation, technical progress and the surge of new public and private data providers to support and complement conventional statistical systems and strengthen accountability at the global, regional and national level.“

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65th Annual DPI/NGO Conference “2015 and Beyond: Our Action Agenda”

“2015 and Beyond: Our Action Agenda” was the theme for this year’s UN DPI/NGO Conference, which brought together some 4,000 civil society participants from 2,000 organizations globally. Participants discussed key issues on the post-2015 development agenda and agreed an action agenda, the Conference Declaration, to feed into the Secretary-General’s Synthesis Report on the post-2015 development agenda.

The conference was hosted by the UN Department of Public Information and the NGO/DPI Executive Committee, and was chaired by Jeffery Huffines, UN Representatives of CIVCUS. It was organized around four components:... 

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Lancet Commission Youth Survey —due by 5 September 2014

The Lancet Commission on Adolescent Health and Wellbeing  believes that youth have a voice and can make meaningful contributions to health policies and programs, both locally and globally. While the Commission already includes two youth leaders, to ensure that the perspectives of a broad range of youth from around the world are reflected in its work and reports, we invite youth health advocates aged 15-29 from around the world to share your perspectives by completing this online survey. Please complete the survey by 5 September 2014.

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President of General Assembly’s (PGA) two-day High-level Stocktaking Event

A two-day High-level Stocktaking Event on the post-2015 development agenda will be convened by the Office of the President of the UN General Assembly in New York on 11-12 September.  This will provide an opportunity to gauge Member States’ reactions to the SDGs and how they should be positioned in relation to the negotiations on the post-2015 development agenda. 

As stated in the concept note, the stocktaking event has four key aims: 

•  Reflect on the key messages from all the high-level events/ thematic debates, and interactive dialogue/briefing, convened by the President of the General Assembly 

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UN Secretary-General reappoints Dr Babatunde Osotimehin as UNFPA Executive Director

The NGOs Beyond 2014 website is very pleased to post the following announcement of 21 August 2014 from the United Nations, New York:

The United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, has reappointed Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin as the Executive Director of UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund.

In his statement on the appointment, the Secretary-General noted his “appreciation for UNFPA’s progress in effective management for results, especially for the most disadvantaged women and adolescent girls”.

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Sustainable Development Solutions Network “Indicators and a monitoring framework for Sustainable Development Goals”

The Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) has revised the working draft of its report on Indicators and a monitoring framework for Sustainable Development Goal” to align it with the draft Sustainable Development Goals as developed by the Open Working Group (OWG). The SDSN plans to engage with experts and statistical institutions to strengthen the indicator framework and fill some of the gaps as highlighted in the draft report. The SDSN welcomes comments on the ideas outlined in the draft report, which should be sent to info@unsdsn.org  

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Consultations on post-2015 Summit to resume in September

According to iisd Post-2015 Policy & Practice at the beginning of August, UN Member States decided to postpone the conclusion of the informal consultations on organizational modalities of the UN Summit for the adoption of the post-2015 development agenda. It is expected that they will resume in early September. 

The consultations started on 27 June 2014 at UN Headquarters, continuing throughout July, with delegations discussing a draft resolution and annexes that elaborate on key elements, which were circulated by the co-facilitators, Robert Guba Aisi of Papua New Guinea, and Ib Petersen of Denmark...

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Report of the International Committee of Experts on Sustainable Development Financing (ICESDF)

At the end of its fifth and final session, 4-8 August 2014, the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts on Sustainable Development Financing (ICESDF) finalized and adopted its draft report, which has been forwarded to the UN General Assembly (UNGA) for consideration. 

The Committee used the Monterrey Consensus of the International Conference on Financing for Development as a basis for its analysis, taking into account the work of the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals (OWG), and the Outcome document of the UN General Assembly Special Event in September 2013, that resolved that the post-2015 development agenda should reinforce the international community’s commitment to poverty eradication and sustainable development and the need for a coherent approach that integrates the three dimensions – economic, environmental and social...

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IPPF Statement on Index report

We have received the following statement on the Index Report from the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) 

STATEMENT: Secretary-General’s International Conference on Population and Development Index report: Recurrent themes and key elements identified during the sessions of the Commission on Population and Development. 

The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) welcomes the recent United Nations Secretary-General’s report: Recurrent themes and key elements identified during the sessions of the Commission on Population and Development, which marks one of the final milestones in the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Beyond 2014 review process. We congratulate UNFPA for their efforts in undertaking such a comprehensive review of the implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action (PoA). Uniting and guiding civil society organizations and Member States to navigate the modalities of the ICPD Beyond 2014 review process, to celebrate the ICPD and progress towards universal access to SRHR over the last 20 years.

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‘Index report’ of the Secretary-General, Recurrent themes and key elements identified during the sessions of the Commission on Population and Development for the UN General Assembly Special Session on ICPD, (A/69/122)

The ‘Index report’ of the UN Secretary-General is now available, in accordance General Assembly resolution 65/234 on the follow-up to the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) beyond 2014. It draws in large part on statements delivered during the 47^th session of the Commission on Population and Development (CPD), which, in preparation for the special session of the Assembly (UNGASS) to be held in September 2014, was devoted to an assessment of the status of implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action (PoA). Many of these statements were much stronger than the resolution as adopted by the CPD...

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