ADA Monthly Newsletter- July 2017

Dear ADA members and Friends, 
Greetings from ADA!

The most anticipated event of the year, the High-Level Political Forum convened under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council was concluded on 19th July 2017 in New York by adopting its Ministerial Declaration. This year also witnessed more than 2400 CSO representatives from across the globe reiterating greater demand to engage with UN sustainable development goals and their continued role as one of the important drivers of change along with other pillars of development. One of the important highlights of HLPF was VNR presentations from 43 countries. ADA along with its partners was actively engaged in the entire 10 days’ event. Now the greater role remains to make the HLPF not just one point event but continue to work on the crucial issues of the civil society..shrinking spaces, transparency, accountability, good governance, Climate change, inequality and much more as they interest us. Let’s be the true agents of change by participating in implementation, monitoring and reviewing the SDG’s and their targets at local, national, regional and global level.
ADA is steadily moving with its mission by organizing national (capacity building) workshops on SDG’s in Bhutan and Myanmar immediately after the HLPF and much more are planned for later this year.
 
Please remain in touch to get the latest news and updates on SDGs, development, and democracies!
Please show your solidarity by contributing any news, information or article from your country/ region to our newsletter.  

Hope it is useful for your reflection… Please see below for details how to get involved and share your activities for greater impact!

In solidarity, 

ADA Secretariat

Table of Contents

ADA and Members Activities. 
International Activities. 
High-Level Political Forum (July 10-19), New York. 
National Activity. 
National Workshop on UN Sustainable Development- Thimpu, Bhutan, 24th July 2017. 
National Workshop on UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Myanmar. 
Indonesia. 
Useful Documents. 
For Your Action. 
International Key Events related to SDGs 2017. 
 

ADA and Members Activities

  High-Level Political Forum (July 10-19), New York

UN DESA Division for Sustainable Development and the MGoS HLPF Coordination Mechanism organized a pre-HLPF preparatory meeting, on Sunday, 9 July 2017, from 9:00 to 15:00 at the Church Center (777 UN Plaza, New York), second floor.  The full-day preparatory meeting was promoted understanding of the HLPF, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the opportunities and procedures for engagement throughout the HLPF, and peer-to-peer learning sessions and exchanges among representatives of major groups and other stakeholders.  Additionally, it was also a good moment to network, become familiar with one another, and share experiences in implementation efforts, as well as for identifying common ground and different perspectives. 

1. Austria and Jamaica are going to be part of Ministerial negotiations
2. Summary of the President of the ECOSOC, seek to capture the points and recommendations
3. Second SDG progress report (UN statistics decisions), will be introduced to the HLPF 140 side events

The participants disused VNR, shrinking civil society spaces (paragraph 89), MGoS engagement, science policy interface and communication strategies in various groups and deliberated.
Read the full report here
Highlights: ADA initiatives and involvement and Participation in HLPF 2017
Apart from organizing a side event with TAP network on 14th July (“Beyond VNRs: Global Workshop on Civil Society Reporting for SDG16”), ADA also participated in Weekend meetings organized by A4SD and TAP meeting on ‘Justice and SDG16: National Civil Society Advocacy Workshop’. Followings are the highlights of the HLPF where ADA was engaged actively. Many ADA members from Nepal, Pakistan, Malaysia, India, Japan, S. Korea, Thailand participated in HLPF, from 10 to 19th July, at New York.
Read ADA’s full report here

   National Activities

   National Workshop on UN Sustainable Development- Thimpu, Bhutan, 24th July 2017

The workshop was conducted on 24th July in  Thimphu, Bhutan with about 30 participants from different CSOs. The welcome speech was given by Aum Chime Wangdi, Secretary General of Tarayana Foundation, followed by short input from Tshering Phuntsho from UNDP Bhutan. Later presentation on Bhutanese government's action plan on SDGs was given by Lhaba Tshering, who also highlighted the Gross National Happiness Commission. One important lesson learned from GNH can and perhaps must be an ultimate goal of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)! This was followed by a discussion on SDGs including its history, background, contents, and the role of CSOs in implementation and monitoring.

Participants had the group discussion on how each of 169 targets under 5 P - People (social development), Prosperity (economic development), Planet (environment), Peace (Goal 16) and Partnership (Goal 17) - is relevant to Bhutan as a way to identify priority issues for CSO action.

 National Workshop on UN Sustainable Development- Yangon, Myanmar, 26th July 2017 

National Workshop on UN Sustainable Development- Yangon, Myanmar 24th July 2017

Asia Development Alliance (ADA) in partnership with Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and Korea NGO Council for Overseas Development Cooperation (KCOC) as the local host organized the national workshop on UN Sustainable Development on Wednesday 26 July 2017 in Yangon.  

The training workshop was an initiative of Asia Development Alliance (ADA) to strengthen the advocacy capacity of civil society organizations (CSOs) in Myanmar on the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the national and sub-national/local level.The workshop helped CSOs in Myanmar to learn about SDGs as well as promoting networking among CSOs engaged in various sectors and issues.

Anselmo Lee, ADA co-convener facilitated the session including a lecture on SDGs. More than 30  participants from local CSOs in Myanmar attended the workshop.

Indonesia

Having been designed for more than one year by both CSO and the government, the President of the Republic of Indonesia on July 5, 2017, has finally signed the Presidential Regulation on the Implementation of SDGs in Indonesia. Presidential Regulation is not only a manifestation of the political commitment of the Indonesian government but also will govern how multi-stakeholders work in the implementation of SDGs through the establishment of the National Coordinating Team for SDGs. The challenges for CSOs in Indonesia today is to ensure a truly participatory and inclusive National Coordinating Team of SDGs and ensure Indonesia has a road map and action plan for SDGs that are developed through an innovative, participatory approach based on completely valid data.

      Useful Documents

• ECOSOC President’s Summary of the 2017 High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development

• E/2017/L.29-E/HLPF/2017/L.2 - Ministerial declaration of the 2017 high-level political forum on sustainable development, convened under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council, on the theme Eradicating poverty and promoting prosperity in a changing world 
  [Arabic] [Chinese] [English] [French] [Russian] [Spanish]

During the  HLPF 2017, 10 countries in Asia, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Maldives, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Japan, and Iran are presenting their Voluntary National Review. The Civil Society, in some of these countries, have also come up with their own reports as a result of various meetings and consultations held during last one year. CSOs in following countries have already prepared their reports:

     For Your Action

International Key Events related to SDGs 2017

• ADA's official website has been renewed. All the information related to the implementation of SDGs in Asia and actions conducted by Asian CSOs will be accumulated on this website. Please visit www.ada2030.org
• ADA's Facebook page has been activated! The page will channel useful information among civil society actors in Asia. Feel free to tag @Asia Development Alliance in future collaboration. The page is accessible with this web address: https://www.facebook.com/ada2030/