ADA Newsletter- March 2019

Dear ADA Members and Friends,
 
We present our March edition of ADA Newsletter to you. This month witnessed one of the largest gathering of the Asia-Pacific civil society for the 6th Asia-Pacific People’s Forum (24-26 March) Sustainable Development and Asia Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development (27-29 March) to make  Asia-Pacific CSO submission for the High-Level Political Forum, later in July 2019. Earlier. ADA also organized three side events during the people’s forum and the APFSD forum during these 6 days event. Earlier, ADA’s member organization, Cooperation Committee of Cambodia organized the Civil Society Day on March 19th in Phnom Penh to solicit solidarity from various actors including the government, UN institutions and the private sector apart from the civil society from across the country during the Annual General Body Meeting. Later. ADA also organized a three days GALA training for Mekong Plus region having participation from the five Mekong countries (Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Lao PDR, and Cambodia) and Timor Leste. The training program highlighted the environmental challenges in the region apart from linking human rights with Sustainable Development Goals and training on Voluntary National Review for the civil society in the wake of Cambodia and Timor Leste presenting their VNR in 2019.
 
Please stay tuned to know more about our activities and programs in March and the rest of the year.
 
Also, please feel free to give your suggestions on how to improve our communication with you on   ada2030.secretariat@gmail.com
 
In solidarity, 

Jyotsna Mohan
Regional Coordinator
ADA Secretariat

Table of Contents

ADA and Members Activities.
National Activities.
Civil Society Day on Inclusive Partnership for Sustainable and Democratic Development, Phnom Penh, Cambodia / March 19, 2019 
Sub-Regional activities. 3
Glo-cal Advocacy Leadership Academy (GALA) , Mekong Region and Beyond Promoting People-centered Partnership for Peace, Prosperity, and Planet through the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 19-22 March 2019.
Theme: Integrating Peace and Human Rights into Civil Society Engagement with SDGs in Mekong Countries and beyond 
Regional Activities.
The Asia-Pacific People’s Forum on Sustainable Development, Bangkok, Thailand, 24-26 March 2019  4
.
Asia Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development – Bangkok, 27-29 March 2019.
Inclusive Participation as Key Driver and Accelerator of SDG 16 and SDG 10 CSO Best Practices and Lessons in Ensuring Inclusiveness and Equality towards achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – ADA-APRCEM-UNDP, KOICA-Side Event
ADA Side Event – Peace and Disarmament, UNCC, Bangkok, March 29.
Useful Documents.
2017 CSO Sustainability Index Asia report entitled: Sustainability of the Philippine CSO sector declined in 2017. http://code-ngo.org/2019/03/phcsosireport2017/.
The Shortcomings of SDGs and Possible Solutions
[Together2030] *New resource* Civil society quick guide to engaging in Voluntary National Reviews
Forus Toolkit here.
For your Action.
High-level Political Forum, 2019.
THEMATIC SDG REVIEWS.
REGIONAL PREPARATORY MEETINGS.
WORKSHOPS.
Work Calendar 2019. 
 

 

       ADA and Members Activities

National Activities

Civil Society Day on Inclusive Partnership for Sustainable and Democratic Development, Phnom Penh, Cambodia / March 19, 2019

Approximately, 300 participants representing members and partners of the organizing committee (CCC, DCA, BSDA, Oxfam, NEP, TI, SCW, STT, SILAKA, UN/women, World Vision), government officials, development partners, provincial non-governmental organizations networks, community-based organizations, private sector and other stakeholders gathered to participate in the Civil Society Day held at Cambodiana Hotel, Phnom Penh, Cambodia on March 19, 2019.
The Civil Society Day focused on “Inclusive Partnership for Sustainable and Democratic Development” in Cambodia to support the converging approach for all from different sectors to learn, discuss, and find solutions to address the challenges we face in common, particularly on the nine sub-themes of Enabling environment for civil society; Financial sustainability for civil society; Human capacity development; Governance and anti-corruption; Natural resource management and governance; SDGs 16 “Peace, Justice, and Strong Institution”; Policy engagement (case study on sub-national democratic development); Multi-stakeholder engagement; and Gender and social inclusion.
 

Sub-Regional activities

Glo-cal Advocacy Leadership Academy (GALA), Mekong Region and Beyond Promoting People-centered Partnership for Peace, Prosperity, and Planet through the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 19-22 March 2019

Theme: Integrating Peace and Human Rights into Civil Society Engagement with SDGs in Mekong Countries and beyond  

 
ADA organized the 7th GALA in Cambodia from 19th to 22nd of March About 25 participants from Mekong region ( Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar and Lao PDR) and Timor Leste attended the three days training program on linking SDGs wit human rights, peace, and democracy. The training program was also important looking at the VNR reporting by Cambodia and Timor Leste in order to prepare the CSOs to encourage them to get involved in the national VNR process.
 
The training also focussed on People’s centered partnership for peace, planning and prosperity part from the discussion on the 9 human right treaties and linking them with the development. The SDGs have been also put to criticism on account of having the private-public money put together for the so ‘called development’ as Its not the development that makes the people richer rather it becomes all the more problematic.
One of the highlights of the event was a presentation on Mekong River dam collapsed and how the Interlinkages of the SDGs, that full fill one goal but ignore others, systemic issues, and policy coherence and human right issues.
Later the participants made presentations on why SDGs should be adapted apart from, difficulties in SDGs implementation/understanding and Challenges faced. If the SDGs goals are not matched with the state sovereignty, it could be a challenge. Hence, it’s important to create linkages between the SDGs with the human rights to make it more relevant.

Regional Activities

The Asia-Pacific People’s Forum on Sustainable Development, Bangkok, Thailand, 24-26 March 2019

#PeoplesForum2019 | Two hundred participants from 27 countries in 5 sub-regions in Asia have attended the Asia Pacific People’s Forum on Sustainable Development in Bangkok, Thailand. With the theme, “Strengthening People's Power for Development Justice in an Unequal and Divided World”, it opened with participants representing different constituencies such as NGOs, Women, Youth, Social and Community Enterprise, Farmers, Trade Union/Workers, Science and Technology, Indigenous Peoples, Urban Poor, Migrants, Persons With Disability, People living and affected by HIV and AIDS, LGBTI, Older People, People affected with conflicts and disasters, Fisherfolks and Local Authorities.
Common themes in the proceedings of the first day stressed the importance of solidarity and inclusiveness that empowers people’s resistance. Major issues in the region include the growing economic influence of China, the threat of selling out Asia’s vast natural resources, the corporate capture of development, and the shrinking democratic spaces of civil society.
The People’s Forum 2019 is organized by the Asia Pacific Regional Civil Society Engagement Mechanism (APRCEM), a civil society platform that aims to enable stronger cross-constituency coordination and to ensure that voices from the Asia Pacific are heard at the regional and global level. The APRCEM is initiated and driven by civil society and seeks to engage with UN agencies and the Member States across the region on the issue of sustainable development.

“VNR 2019 and HLPF 2019 Reforms”, Bangkok, March 25, 2019- Asia Development Alliance and Japan Youth Platform for Sustainability organized the side event during the people's forum. The workshop deliberated the key following key recommendations:

• Provide a tool to help bring national groups together – at a horizontal level, focusing on principles.
• Be a platform for improved member states peer review on CSO engagement, eg. a concrete idea would be that Member States report at Regional Forum on their approach to CSO engagement
• Capacity development for CSOs 
• Strengthen solidarities and work on issues together, particularly important to strengthen interlinkages and break down siloed way of working
• CSO engagement in VNR should include transparent process at national, regional and global levels.

Asia Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development – Bangkok, 27-29 March 2019

The sixth Forum, as in previous years, served as a preparatory event for the 2019 high-level political forum on sustainable development (HLPF) and engaged member States, United Nations bodies and other institutions, major groups and other stakeholders in highlighting regional and subregional perspectives on the 2019 theme of the HLPF, “Empowering people and ensuring inclusiveness and equality”.
This year's session, addressed the theme “'Empowering people and ensuring inclusiveness and equality” and on the cluster of SDGs to be reviewed at the HLPF - in accordance with General Assembly resolution 70/299:

Goal 4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all

• Goal 8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
• Goal 10. Reduce inequality within and among countries
• Goal 13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
• Goal 16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
• Goal 17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development

The APFSD agenda addressed:

1. Regional perspectives on the implementation, follow-up, and review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including an in-depth review of the theme and cluster of goals; and
2. Strengthening implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the Asia-Pacific, including the assessment of the progress of the regional road map for implementing the 2030 Agenda in Asia and the Pacific.

Inclusive Participation as Key Driver and Accelerator of SDG 16 and SDG 10
CSO Best Practices and Lessons in Ensuring Inclusiveness and Equality towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – ADA-APRCEM-UNDP, KOICA-Side Event

 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Bangkok Regional Hub; Government of Mongolia; Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA); Asia Development Alliance (ADA); Asia-Pacific Regional CSO Engagement Mechanism (AP-RCEM) – March 28th, UNCC, Bangkok
 
The side event deliberated the key challenges to the effective implementation of SDGs 10 and 16 are well identified across Asia-Pacific. Civic space is shrinking and democratic values are under attack in a majority of countries of the region, except in Timor-Leste and New Zealand. Both social and economic inequalities are rising, disproportionately affecting the poor and marginalized communities. Importantly, there are structural barriers and worrying imbalances between public and private interests (e.g. corruption, land grabbing, patriarchy and other ways in which people and communities are “systematically and intentionally” left behind) that hamper the fair and equal distribution of development dividends.
However, despite the strong emphasis in the Voluntary National Review (VNR) reports on being inclusive and participatory, there are mixed feelings and uneven practices among countries in the region. It was emphasized that citizen-led monitoring of the VNR process, in particular, can help ensure governments do not only selectively report on development progress. The establishment of the coordination and integration mechanisms has helped to avoid creating silos during the implementation phase but is not consistently open to civil society’s meaningful participation.
Full Report here

  ADA Side Event – Peace and Disarmament, UNCC, Bangkok, March 29

ADA organized its second side event on Peace and disarmament as the follow-up and key tale away from PyeongChang Peace Forum, organized earlier in February 2019.  The workshop deliberated the issues of linking peace and SDG 16 and how the issue of peace has been gaining prominence citing jeopardizing the peace issues between north and south Korea, in the northeast region, India and Pakistan in the south Asia region causing much awkwardness in these regions.



 

Useful Documents

The Shortcomings of SDGs and Possible Solutions  

Forus Toolkit here  

 For your Action

High level Political Forum, 2019

• Goal 4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
• Goal 8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
• Goal 10. Reduce inequality within and among countries
• Goal 13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
• Goal 16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
• Goal 17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development

 THEMATIC SDG REVIEWS

Calendar of preparatory thematic events for 2019 HLPF under ECOSOC

 REGIONAL PREPARATORY MEETINGS

 WORKSHOPS

• Advancing the 2030 Agenda: Lessons learnt from the first cycle of the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) – how far can we go?
• Sustainable Development Transition Forum outcome: Incheon Communique

Work Calendar 2019

• 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/ 
• ADA Twitter Page : @alliance_asia