The Asia Development Alliance (ADA), the UNDP Bangkok Regional Hub, the International Platform for National NGOs (IFP), the UNECE Regional Civil Society Engagement Mechanism and the UNECLAC civil society engagement mechanism jointly organized a side event on 13 July 2018 at the UNDP headquarters, during the 2018 HLPF.
The side event contributed to share experiences of government-CSO engagement across regions and understand the role of the United Nations to encourage multi-stakeholder partnerships and ensure that the transformative promise of the SDGs to “Leave No One Behind’ is delivered. It also focused on challenges and opportunities related to CSO-government engagement based on previous CSO lessons learned during VNR reporting and other follow-up mechanisms in 2016 , 2017 and 2018.
The side event aimed to answer the following key questions:
• What are the challenges and opportunities for an inclusive and meaningful CSO engagement in the VNR process and other SDG follow-up mechanisms across the three regions? How to promote regional exchange of learning and good practice linked to VNRs?
• What can we learn from CSO alternative reports, and submissions on VNR reporting, for instance VNR guidelines prepared by CSOs such as IFP, ADA and others?
• Are the governments of 2018 VNR reporting countries prepared to fulfil the principles of the UNDESA Handbook for Preparation of VNRs regarding the role of civil society in this process?
• How can UN agencies support CSO engagement in SDG implementation at the country level? What tools and platforms can the UN create and promote to advance CSO engagement in this context?”