ADA Newsletter- November, 2019

Dear ADA Members and Friends,
 
November was a hectic month for all of us as we move fast towards winding up are activities and also planning actions for the next year. The civil society all over the globe organised various events like C20 handover events, Annual Goal 16 showcase, Global citizenship education (4.7) and training and capacity building on SDGs , reporting and review since the completion of first cycle of SDGs implementation, in July, 2019 and preparing ourselves for 2020, with new vigour and determination. 
Please glance through the events organised and feel free share any news/ updates should you wish them published in our monthly newsletter apart from giving your suggestions on how to improve our communication with you at   ada2030.secretariat@gmail.com
 
In solidarity, 

Jyotsna Mohan
Regional Coordinator-Asia
ADA Secretariat
                          

Table of Contents

Envision 4.7
2019 Annual Showcase : Implementing SDG 16+ & Showcasing Impact at National, Regional and Local Levels , Dili, Timor Leste , November 11-14, 2019
C20 Hand-Over Event: “Larger Voices of Civil Society for G20 towards a Sustainable World” : November 18th, Tokyo, Japan
Civil Society Consultation on VNR follow up and CSO’s Strengthening: Dili-Timor Leste – November 15
Glo-cal Advocacy Leadership in Asia (GALA) Bhutan : Punakha, Bhutan , November 25-28
Worth a Read!!!
Global Indicator Framework on SDGs: update and CSO perspectives
The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2019
Asia and the Pacific Progress Report 2019
Mongolia Civil Society Joint Report on Implementation of SDGs
Empowering Civil Society for National reporting and Action on SDG16
Forus and ADA National Case Studies on Goal 16
Cambodia Civil Society Report
Pakistan Citizen's Voice-2019
Growing Inequality in South Asia  :  SAAPE report:
Action Please!!!
ECOSOC 2019-2020 & HLPF 2020 Theme:
UN DESA-UNITAR: Massive Open Online Course: Strengthening stakeholder engagement for the implementation and review of the 2030 Agenda – Deadline: December 31
South and South-West Asia Forum on Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, 8-9 December 2019, Dhaka, Bangladesh
SSW CSO Forum- December 7, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Work Calendar 2019
 
 

Envision 4.7:  November, 5-7, Helsinki, Finland

Appreciation of cultural diversity, learning in school is not enough to face the challenges of today but learn adapt, change our priority through lifelong transformative learning, through non formal/ informal setting. Finland holds current EU presidency and prioritise inclusive and transformative education towards achieving #Agenda2030

Envision 4.7 was organised in the framework of the EU funded project “Bridge 47 – Building Global Citizenship” (www.bridge47.org), coordinated by Fingo – Finnish Development NGOs (www.fingo.fi), and in cooperation with the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture and Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland on transformative education and sustainable development .
The three days event deliberated the issues on how Europe is performing on target 4.7 implementation. EU countries have a mixed pictures and Its only one program targeting directly. The European region as a whole is leading in 4.7, however, there are difference between regional dynamics. There are Variations at the national and the sub-national, although they ae at the forefront at the change.
Europe is also facing challenges like immigration, climate change, digitalization and global education is paramount for people to live and cope with the changes. Valuing networking and partnership (multi-stakeholder) is the key to the build and promote target 4.7.
Apart from this public awareness campaign, integration and mainstreaming of target 4.7 is also very important having a crucial role of research.
The three days participatory event had a very participatory approach to listening the challenges related to Global Citizenship education from all across the globe leading to preparing the road map for its advocacy in the next few years. The voice of the global south was added by the ADA and few other participants from LAC and Africa region. 
 

2019 Annual Showcase : Implementing SDG 16+ & Showcasing Impact at National, Regional and Local Levels , Dili, Timor Leste , November 11-14, 2019

The 16+ Forum is a platform and partnership of 12 Member States (Australia, Costa Rica, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Georgia, Guatemala, Peru, the Republic of Korea, Sierra Leone, Sweden, Timor-Leste and Tunisia), the g7+ and the World Federation of United Nations Associations, committed to showcasing what it means to advance peaceful, just and inclusive societies in policy and practice at all levels and for a wide community of stakeholders. 
Bringing together 170+ participants from 30-35 countries, the Showcase provides a yearly opportunity to highlight steps taken at regional, national and local levels towards SDG 16+ implementation, inclusive of challenges, successes and solutions. With wide-rang- ing participation of governments, local to global civil society organizations, members of the UN system, regional and international organizations, the private sector and academia, the Annual Showcase highlights the catalytic value of peace, justice, human rights and inclusion regardless of context. 
With Timor-Leste as host, this year’s Showcase opened under the theme of Reconciliation, Strong Institutions and Inclusion, before broadening to address the breadth of SDG 16+ across countries, contexts and stakeholders. 
Day one of the showcase had Capacity-building Workshop for Civil Society Organizations engaging on issues related to SDG 16+ 
The workshop aimed at training and strengthening civil society organizations working on SDG 16+ advocacy and implementation, draw out linkages to complementary agendas, and build upon the momentum of HLPF 2019 and the SDG Summit. The CSO’s discussed strategies and next steps for stronger and sustainable engagement at global, regional, national
and sub-national levels on reporting, policy engagement and community outreach on SDG 16+, including discussion on the advocacy of Goal 16, voluntary national review. ADA along with TAP Network and FONGTIL organised the first session with other global goal 16 platforms such as Saferworld, CSPPS, NAMATI shared their wider experiences on goal 16 in past few years.

The conference provided a wider perspective on Timor Leste, which is the newest democracy in the world coming out of the bloody past, where thousands of human right defenders lost lives and how the country is on the path of peace and reconciliation. This could be a crucial learning for all those countries, still engaged in conflict and wars. Most of the sessions deliberated this issues apart from governance, accountability, peace, justice and strong institutions and many more themes interrelated with Goal 16.

C20 Hand-Over Event: “Larger Voices of Civil Society for G20 towards a Sustainable World” : November 18th, Tokyo, Japan

 
The C20 Hand Over Event was held success with the attendance of the representatives of the civil society of Saudi Arabia, Italy and India, that will be the hosting countries of G20 in 2020-22. 

• The handover event confirmed the outcomes of C20 and further continuity of C20 process and affirm C20’s continuity and significance based on the concept below; 
• Policy recommendations for the G20 agenda from the standpoint of an independent and free-willed civil society 
• Organization of the C20 Summit and advocacy based on the values presented in the “C20 guiding principles” document formed this year 
• Apart from this, the C20 plan with the hosting organization of the 2020 C20 through the appropriate C20 framework and discuss the continuity and development of the WGs. 

1. Establish the 2020 troika system (Saudi-Arabia, Japan, Italy) that is to take over from the 2019 troika system as well as 
2. its support system (International advisory committee and the steering committee) 

Civil Society Consultation on VNR follow up and CSO’s Strengthening: Dili-Timor Leste – November 15

ADA Organized one day consultation on VNR follow up and CSO’s strengthening in Dili on November 15th at the FONGTIL office. The workshop was attended by about 30 CSOs from Timor Leste.
Jyotsna Mohan, ADA Coordinator explained the CSO’s engagement in the VNR process in Timor Leste, as the country presented it’s VNR in July, 2019 during the High Level Political Forum in New York.  The discussion was also held around theme of Goal 16 and the issue of inclusive participation, peace and justice. Further, the role of CSO coalition as a voice of solidarity was also discussed and how the CSO could gather together as a single voice through FONGTIL. Later, during the workshop session, the participants discussed the issues like CSO’s engagement process in the VNR of Timor Leste , suggestions for change in the VNR reporting next time, need of CSO umbrella organisation in Timor Leste and develop a road map for engagement in the SDGs monitoring and implementation apart from creating roadmap for FONGTIL. 
Please refer to the link to read the full report

Glo-cal Advocacy Leadership in Asia (GALA) Bhutan : Punakha, Bhutan , November 25-28

26 representatives from Civil Society Organizations are undergoing a training workshop on the theme “Civil Society engagement in taking the Agenda 2030 forward in Bhutan”. The workshop aimed at familiarizing CSOs with the SDGs and enable them to assess their own contributions towards the goals and initiate a coalition towards monitoring & reporting. The 4 days workshop was organized by Helvetas Bhutan in coordination with Asia Development Alliance.
Full Report-GALA Bhutan here

Worth a Read!!!

Global Indicator Framework on SDGs: update and CSO perspectives 

The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2019 

Asia and the Pacific Progress Report 2019 

Mongolia Civil Society Joint Report on Implementation of SDGs 

Empowering Civil Society for National reporting and Action on SDG16 

Forus and ADA National Case Studies on Goal 16 

Cambodia Civil Society Report 

Pakistan Citizen's Voice-2019 

Growing Inequality in South Asia   :  SAAPE report:

 Action Please!!!

ECOSOC 2019-2020 & HLPF 2020 Theme: 

‘Accelerated action and transformative pathways: realizing the decade of action and delivery for sustainable development’.
2020 HLPF Website:
The website for the 2020 HLPF website is now live. This year there will be a link in the navigation bar for information on processes and documentation specific to the Major Groups and other Stakeholders at the 2020 HLPF. More information will be uploaded in the coming months.
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/hlpf/2020
 
 

UN DESA-UNITAR: Massive Open Online Course: Strengthening stakeholder engagement for the implementation and review of the 2030 Agenda – Deadline: December 31 

Background: This massive open online course (MOOC) is designed in the context of the preparation to the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) as part of an effort to strengthen the capacities of Governments to engage in an effective and meaningful way with MGoS (Major Groups and other stakeholders) as they implement and review progress towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Event Objectives: This event complements a range of other capacity development activities being rolled out, among other, by UN Secretariat to meet the needs of both governments and other stakeholders with regards to the 2030 Agenda and HLPF process.
Learning Objectives: 

• To describe the rationale behind the need for Governments to engage with major groups and other stakeholders MGoS in formulating and reviewing SDG policies;
• To map key national stakeholders with a special focus on those who are the furthest behind;
• To assess the relevance of different models of engagement practiced by other countries as part of VNRs in their respective countries;
• To identify practical ways to engage with key national stakeholders, including. vulnerable groups, in the context of preparations for VNRs;
• To develop long-term strategies for ensuring continuous stakeholder engagement as part of regular national review processes for the SDGs.

Content and Structure:

• Module 1. Understanding the need for stakeholder engagement in the 2030 Agenda at the national level
• Module 2. Learning about approaches and tools for strengthening stakeholder engagement for the SDGs
• Module 3. Designing successful strategies for stakeholder engagement in national implementation and review processes for Agenda 2030

Methodology: This e-learning course consists of three modules developed around the overall learning objectives, as well as second-level learning objectives specific to each module. Each module has 3 units and an objective assessment.
Targeted Audience: This e-learning course targets governmental officials but also other stakeholders such as UN staff, local governments, civil society and others who expressed an interest in taking this course.
At the end of the course participants will be able to get a certificate provided that they have met the certification requirements described in the "Certification and feedback" section 
Additional Information: a2030@unitar.org and flyer attached.
Please visit: https://www.unitar.org/event/full-catalog/mooc-strengthening-stakeholder-engagement-implementation-and-review-2030-agenda
 
 

South and South-West Asia Forum on Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, 8-9 December 2019, Dhaka, Bangladesh

SSW CSO Forum- December 7, Dhaka, Bangladesh

 
ESCAP is organizing a series of meetings to advance implementation of the SDGs and prepare for the 6th Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development to be held during March 2020.
These meetings are scheduled during August to December 2019 to facilitate dialogue among government officials, civil society, experts and other stakeholders.  Organized by ESCAP’s subregional offices in East and North East Asia (ENEA), South and South West Asia (SSWA), North and Central Asia (SONCA) and the Pacific (EPO) in collaboration with UN Resident Coordinators and with the wider UN system, the meetings will focus attention on ways to accelerate progress on the SDGs. They will also take stock of discussions of the conclusions of the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development. 
Targeted participants, by invitation are:

• Experts from government agencies responsible for national coordination of SDGs
• Representatives of non-government and private sector organizations
• Regional and sub-regional organizations
• Other stakeholders involved in SDG implementation at national, regional and global levels

Work Calendar 2019

• ADA's official website http://www.ada2030.org 
• ADA's Facebook page has been activated! Feel free to tag @Asia Development Alliance https://www.facebook.com/ada2030/ 
• ADA Twitter Page alliance_asia