ADA Newsletter- May 2019

Dear ADA Members and Friends,
 
Here we present the ADA newsletter - May 2019 edition. As we inch towards the HLPF 2019, the activities around SDGs have intensified around the globe and civil society as one of the key actors in the whole process, playing super active role advocating various thematic concerns, especially around the HLPF reforms, while this completes its first cycle of four years, this July.
 
There have been many deliberations around recognizing the crucial roles of the civil society in the whole SDG process and the Rome SDG 16 conference was one of the important landmarks in realizing this notion, however, the CSOs needs to be informed well in advance. Apart from this, there have been very few representations of the CSOs from the Global South. This gap needs to be filled in as the Global South has been long ignored and their works, stories/innovations, and achievements in realizing the SDGs has not been showcased as much in comparison to the CSOs from the global north. The UN institutions and the global platforms based in (global) north need to understand and involve us in various panels and events and give equal if not more opportunities the southern CSOs.
 
To make our voices louder it's important to stay connected and share our stories on a regular basis.
 
Please stay tuned to know more about our activities and programs in May 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
ADA Secretariat
                         
 
 

Table of Contents

ADA and Members Activities
Global Activities.
Civil Society Day, IDLO Headquarters, Rome, 26th Mt, 2019
SDG 16 Conference: Rome (27-29 May, 2019.
6th Open Governance Partnership (OGP) Conference, Ottawa.
National activities.
Localization Of SDG 16: Thematic Workshop.
Asia Partnership on Sustainable Development (APSD) - TUR-OD Lkhagvajav New Coordinator
Useful Documents.
C 20 Strategy for India's Civil society.
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
Asia and the Pacific SDG Progress Report 2019
For your Action.
High Level Political Forum.
1. Registration [Update
2. Political Declaration
3. Voluntary National Reviews
4. GSDR Report - Global Sustainable Development Report
5. Webinar
Seventh Asia-Pacific Urban Forum (APUF-7) 
15-17 October 2019, Setia SPICE Convention Centre, Penang, Malaysia.
Work Calendar 2019.
 

ADA and Members Activities

In advance of the SDG 16 Conference, the TAP Network and IDLO hosted a pre-conference Civil Society Day, to provide a space for all civil society participants to coordinate and meet before the Conference. 
 
This civil society day culminated in the "Rome Civil Society Declaration on SDG16+", that served as an important input into the outcomes from the SDG 16 Conference. The key messages from the declaration were presented during a dedicated slot in the plenary on day 2 of the Conference. This Declaration is important for mobilizing civil society advocacy around the 2019 High-level Political Forum in July, as well as the SDGs Summit in September.
 
Apart from this, there were deliberations were also focussed around the HLPF preparation by the global civil society by sharing and discussing their key events during the HLPF

SDG 16 Conference: Rome, 27-29 May 2019

The three days conference was co-hosted by the UN DESA, International Development Law Organisation (IDLO) with the government of Italy.
 
The conference took stock of global progress towards achieving the SDG 16 through shared knowledge, success stories, and good practices; identify particular areas of concern and main challenges; and ways forward in terms of policies, partnerships and coordinated actions at all levels as well as specific ways to leverage the interlinkages between SDG 16 and the other Goals. The conference also drew on the reporting contained in the voluntary national reviews (VNRs). While sharpening the focus on SDG 16, to the Conference further emphasized the integrated, indivisible, and universal nature of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. These messages would help inform the HLPF, assist in planning its sessions, and serve to influence collaboration and programs of work going forward from 2019. 
 
On day 2, Jyotsna Mohan Singh, ADA Regional Coordinator, presented the Civil Society Statement on behalf of all the CSOs.

https://twitter.com/TAPNetwork2030/status/1133382763405598720/photo/1
https://tapnetwork2030.org/our-work/rome-civil-society-declaration-on-sdg16plus/

6th Open Governance Partnership (OGP) Conference, Ottawa

The 6th Open Government Partnership (OGP) Global Summit(www.ogpsummit.org) was held in Ottawa, Canada on 29-21 May 2019. For the first time, the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda was highlighted in several sessions directly, in addition to both plenary and side events bearing upon multi-faceted issues and implementation challenges around the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Moreover, the summit participants were enabled to hold discussions with OGP to build a more connected space for SDG practitioners within this community that can help each other to drive a more specific action. Whereas, the OGP steering Committee issued the Call to Action to Protect Participation, Advance Inclusion, and Create Impact for Digital Democracy
(https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/OGP_SC_Call-to-Action_29May2019_Endorsed.pdf).

On the main day morning of the summit, the Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD) and UNESCO hosted a workshop on Three Methodologies to Assess the Implementation of SDG Indicator 16.10.2.  This interactive session involved short presentations from UNESCO, CLD, an Information Commissioner from Kenya and an expert from Ukraine on their experiences in applying different methodologies for assessing the implementation of the right to information (RTI) laws. This was followed by group discussions among the participants on how they could apply one or another of these in their own countries, who should be involved and how they could promote the results following the application of the methodology. 
Full Report here
 

National activities

Localization Of SDG 16: Thematic Workshop, Kathmandu, Nepal, May 14, 2019

A thematic workshop on Localization of SDG 16 successfully conducted in Kathmandu on 14th May. The workshop was conducted to find the new indicators, analyze the stakeholders and find the gaps in the implementation and localization of SDG 16. The workshop was hosted by the  NGO Federation of Nepal (NFN) to discuss the potential of forming a network to advocate in localization of SDG 16 in Nepal. The recommendations and feedback received out of the workshop on the target and indicators of SDG 16 will be handed over to the National Planning Commission as a reference to incorporate in their upcoming plans and policies. 

 
More news here
 

 Asia Partnership on Sustainable Development (APSD) - TUR-OD Lkhagvajav New Coordinator

 
We are delighted to inform that Mr. TUR-OD Lkhagvajav is te new coordinator for the APSD starting June 1, 2019.
 
TUR-OD Lkhagvajav is the Open Government Partnership (OGP, www.opengovpartnership.org) Steering Committee member for Asia and Pacific since 2017. He is Co-Founder & President of Transparency International (www.transparency.org) – Mongolia National Chapter, and served as Chair of National Organizing Committee for 11th Asia-Europe People’s Forum (www.aepf.info), within the ASEM (www.aseminfoboard.org) process, and currently the AEPF International Organizing Committee member and Co-Coordinator of Democracy and Human Rights Thematic Cluster.

Useful Documents

 
 
C 20 Strategy for India's Civil society 
 
2017 CSO Sustainability Index Asia report entitled: Sustainability of the Philippine CSO sector declined in 2017. http://code-ngo.org/2019/03/phcsosireport2017/.  
 
Partners for Review (P4R) recently published a number of publications related to VNR and SDG implementation. 
All publications can be accessed at: http://www.partners-for-review.de/resources/.
Voluntary National Reviews submitted to the 2018 High-level Political Forum – a Comparative Analysis

The Shortcomings of SDGs and Possible Solutions  

 
 [Together2030] *New resource* Civil society quick guide to engaging in Voluntary National Reviews
Download Voluntary National Reviews Engaging in national implementation and review of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals – a quick guide for civil society (PDF 1.6Mb)
 

Asia and the Pacific SDG Progress Report 2019 

 For your Action

High-Level Political Forum

1. Registration [Update]

Registration is now open for the 2019 HLPF.
Click here to access the HLPF 2019 homepage and select the ‘Registration and Info’ tab in the blue navigation bar.
Click here to see the Draft Programme for the 2019 HLPF
Click here for the Information Note for Participants. The ‘Preparation’ tab has presentations, webinars and further information on engaging with the HLPF in the past.
Deadline to register: 15 June 2019
Let us know if you have any issues with registration. 

 

2. Political Declaration

There will be NO ministerial declaration in the July HLPF, but only Political Declaration in the SDG Summit in September. Co-Facilitators of the summit (from Bahamas and Sweden) are now facilitating the negotiations to finalize the political declaration - their ambitious timeline is: the end of June (before HLPF).



Click here for the Zero Draft of the Political Declaration.
Click here to access the President of the General Assembly’s letter on the modalities of the SDG Summit



The negotiations are happening already in these 4 informal sessions:
First Informal Meeting on the Political Declaration  | Wednesday, 15 May 2019 | 10 am | Economic and Social Council Chamber

• Notes from HLPF CM can be found - HERE (thank you to those who contributed!)
• Initial reflections / Key Demands from MGoS - HERE
• 3 Interventions from the floor made by MGoS

Second Informal Meeting on the Political Declaration  | Today Wednesday, 22 May | 3pm | CR2
Click here for the Zero Draft of the Political Declaration.
The meeting is open to MGoS with valid ground pass.
There will be interpretation in all six UN languages.
Key Demands from MGoS for 2nd informals HERE
Informal Informals 1  | Friday, 7 June 2019  | 3pm | CR 11
The negotiations as per co-facilitators decision will be open to MGoS and meetings will be announced in the Journal.
Informal Informals 2  | Wednesday, 12 June 2019  | 10am & 3pm | CR 6
The negotiations as per co-facilitators decision will be open to MGoS and meetings will be announced in the Journal.
IMPORTANT ACTION FOR POLITICAL DECLARATION INPUTS:

• The next negotiation will happen this Friday, 7 June.
• Please put your comments in APRCEM Inputs for Political Declaration so we can add it to MGoS inputs, deadline 7 June

3. Voluntary National Reviews

Find more information about the process here:
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/22610Process_for_MGoS_engagement_in_the_VNR_Sessions_FINAL2.05.2019.pdf

Click on the survey - Survey: Collection of inputs for Major Groups and other Stakeholders´ Statements to Voluntary National Review SessionsDeadline: 16th of June

This is an important process for those whose country doing VNR this year as this is the first step to collate your comments, inputs, and questions to the governments. All the inputs will be collated and discussed during the 1st week of HLPF to finalize the statement and questions to be asked to the member states (MS) at the VNR session. In the survey you can:  (1) analyse the VNR reports - if available already - submitted by their respective governments and published on the HLPF website, (2) compare and draw on respective governments ? previous VNR reports, and (3) base comments and contribution on national experiences and pertinent issues relevant to the SDGs implementation.

 

4. GSDR Report - Global Sustainable Development Report

The Independent Group of Scientists (IGS) appointed by the Secretary-General to prepare the 2019 Global Sustainable Development Report (GSDR) is inviting Major Groups and Other Stakeholders to review the draft report and to provide feedback to assist in its finalization before the launch at the High-Level Political Forum to be convened under the auspices of the General Assembly in September. Member states and other stakeholders are now invited to review the draft report and provide their comments. The IGS welcomes in particular feedback on the policy recommendations contained in Chapter 4, the “Call to Action,” as the IGS wants to ensure that the scale and approach of the recommendations will allow the Member States and other stakeholders to take the actions forward and implement change. The IGS also welcomes additional guidance on ensuring that regional perspectives are taken into account.
ACTION POINTS.
Read the report at this link, You can also find Draft APRCEM Inputs to  GSDR(based on our sectoral paper and inputs from APWLD)  

 

5. Webinar

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/