Civil Society Input Sought on Post-2015 Agenda

Erin Stock's picture
Submitted by Erin Stock on Fri, 10/12/2012 - 5:16pm

The development framework that will replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) after 2015 is already being mapped out – and civil society groups should plug in now to get their priorities included in the deliberations, panelists at an InterAction event said this week.

“Now is the time to have unprecedented input from civil society,” Will Davis, Director of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Washington Representation Office, told InterAction member organizations. “If there are issues that you think really need to be introduced into the conversation, this is the time to do it.”
Resources on Post-2015 Dialogue

In crafting a new development agenda, U.N. Member States are consulting civil society, the private sector, academia and individuals “from every corner of the world.” Input is being gathered through at least 50 country and nine thematic consultations on topics such as governance, health and inequalities, as well as through The World We Want online portal.

“We’re trying to bring together the energies that various stakeholders have, and bring some coherence to them,” Corinne Woods, UN Millennium Campaign director, said at the InterAction panel discussion.
 
This input will inform two key reports – one from the UN Secretary General and another from a working group of 30 state representatives – that will feed in to the Member State debates in 2014. That’s the critical juncture when country leaders will come together to agree on a post-2015 agenda for development.
 
While the working group is still being developed, the Secretary General's High Level Panel held the first of four meetings in September. This is a 27-member advisory panel co-chaired by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia, and Prime Minister David Cameron of the United Kingdom.
 
Davis, Woods and their counterpart on this week’s InterAction panel – UN Foundation Public Policy Director Minh-Thu Pham – outlined the three-year process for developing the post-2015 agenda and suggested where and how civil society groups could influence it most. 
 
Their recommendations included:
  • Meet with and appeal to John Podesta, the U.S. representative to the High Level Panel, in groups.
  • Ask your local partners to be part of the country consultations.
  • Reach out to government officials in the countries where you work now and emphasize the importance of this process and their involvement.
  • Use your base of expertise and the best data you have to educate decision-makers on what the challenges are before starting on the specific goals.
  • Remember that not all development challenges are suitable for a goal-based approach, so think creatively about other ways to achieve the outputs you want.
  • Consider the geo-politics, when deciding which countries to focus on. 
The panelists also emphasized that it’s not 2015 yet – and that the international community still has MDGs it wants to reach.
 

For more information on the post-2015 process, contact InterAction's Director of International Advocacy, John Ruthrauff, or InterAction's Executive Vice President of Policy and Communications, Lindsay Coates.