Please reach ADA Secretariat should you have any questions/suggestions or want to post anything – info@ada2030.org

Asia Pacific People’s Forum on Sustainable Development

The Asia Pacific People’s Forum on Sustainable Development was organised by Asia Pacific Regional CSO Mechanism (APRCEM) involving all civil society organizations, peoples' movements, development workers, and activists,  who joined the 4 days virtual events from March 22-25, 2022.
This year's theme, "Confronting Corporate Power and Demanding State Accountability for Just and Equitable Recovery from the COVID-19 Crises in Asia and the Pacific", aimed at building solidarity, foster sharing, and create a progressive narrative on sustainable development in the face of socioeconomic crises worsened by COVID-19 and intensified corporate power.
The four days event underscored the worsening inequality during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. Peoples from Asia and the Pacific region struggle as they find themselves being left behind in the path towards just and equitable recovery apart from being in the midst of climate emergency, increasing sovereign debt crisis, unjust trade and investment rules that limit policy and fiscal space. The region is also witnessing/experiencing vaccine inequity all while corporate wealth and power is growing (with a new billionaire being made every 26 hours since the pandemic started)." Also, many countries are confronted with widening debt traps, shrinking ODA and corporate capture all while struggling to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Members of civil society organisations and APRCEM cluster representatives presented fact sheets with issues and recommendations highlighting Sustainable Development Goals 4 (Quality education), 5 (Gender equality) and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights.
ADA co facilitated the VNR session on the second day of people’s forum , that also discussed the VNR fact sheet -2022 for Asia and Pacific. Apart from this, ADA hosted another side events during People’s forum , entitled How inclusive are VNR ?

 
 

9th Asia Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development

 

The Ninth Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development, organized by the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), was held online and in-person from 28 to 31 March 2022. The Forum was attended by more than 3,000 participants, including representatives of Governments, intergovernmental organizations, United Nations bodies, international organizations, and major groups and other stakeholders:

The key messages stemming from the Forum, further detailed below, are the following: (a) The need for inclusive and sustainable approaches and strengthened regional cooperation to build back better and deliver on the 2030 Agenda; (b) The need for policy actions to be grounded in human rights, focus on the vulnerable and empower women and girls through multi-stakeholder partnerships; (c) The importance of enhancing social protection, providing quality education, advancing gender equality, and accelerating the transition to inclusive and green economies, and prioritizing nature-based solutions for climate mitigation and adaptation; (d) The importance of increasing investment in sustainable and greener pathways and of balancing short-term recovery measures against long-term sustainability objectives; (e) The key role of partnerships, humanitarian support and regional initiatives, including in education, gender, digital connectivity and the environment; (f) The need for stronger linkages between national, subregional and regional forums, increased subregional cooperation and joint strategies to tackle common challenges and risks; (g) The opportunity provided by voluntary national reviews to strengthen national ownership and improve coordination among various levels of government for better policy integration and the critical role of peer learning in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda; (h) The importance of the collective work of the United Nations development system in supporting members and associate members of the Commission in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda; (i) The priorities for action as identified in the addendum to the report of the Ninth Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development

 

CSO Collective Statement on VNR - APFSD, March 30, 2022
 
ADA Organised and co-hosted following side events:

• Policy Coherence in Climate Justice – hosted by ADA

The side event broadly looked at these two questions:

• How far have the countries in Asia/ Global South been able to address the policy coherence in between SDG target 13 and Paris Agreement on climate actions? Case studies from Malaysia, Bangladesh, Thailand, Sri-Lanka, India Nepal etc.
• What are the key lessons learned in delivering the policy aspirations at the ground, especially how local people are involved in the process of climate governance and in fiscal decision-making from a rights-based perspective?
• PCSD is seen as a framework for analysing the synergies and trade-offs between and across sustainable development policy throughout all stages of the policy making process and ensuring inclusive, participatory and transparent decision-making. 
• PCSD is now recognised in global governance as a key ‘Means of Implementation’ of the 2030 Agenda and a key element for delivering the SDGs at the global level and to be pursued by all governments
• People’s Scorecard- with APSD as co-host
• Why VNR – with Pakistan Development Alliance as host

AWAZ Foundation Pakistan #PDA4SDGs Global Call To Action Against Poverty, Planning Commission Of Pakistan #AsiaDevelopmentAlliance organised official side event on How can #VNR be more Inclusive?
 

Delegates from Asia Pacific Regional CSO Engagement Mechanism join in solidarity with peasants and farmers across the globe in celebration of the Global Day of The Landless.

Civil society organizations, people's movements, and grassroots sectors held a silent protest at the United Nations Conference Centre 9th Asia Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development (APFSD).
Together, they call toward genuine agrarian reform, to stop land-grabbing and the corporate capture of agriculture, and to stop fascist attacks, human rights violations, and killings of rural peoples and farmers!

 

Action Please!

Register!! Rome SDG16 Conference] Invitation for Civil Society consultation

 Rome Civil Society Declaration on SDG16+.

In continuing to keep TAP partners and members engaged in the process for a 2022 update to this advocacy document, we are pleased to invite you to a hybrid Civil Society consultation on Thursday, 21 April 2022, from 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM CEST (8:00 AM - 9:00 AM GMT), that will be taking place in the context of the 2022 SDG16 Conference in Rome, Italy.

The annual SDG16 Conference represents an opportunity for civil society to come together to identify areas where amplified actions are needed on SDG16+. In this context, this event will allow for civil society's final review of the 2022 version of the Declaration and its presentation in the context of the SDG16 conference.  This synthesized version of the 2022 Rome Declaration will be shared publicly in advance of this meeting on 20 April, 2022 and will be shared with you for review and possible endorsement.

Please register to attend this event virtually here

NGO MG Side-Event Process

 Here is the google form where you and your organizations can register until next week to collaborate for the NGO MG HLPF Side-Event: 
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1QUQSa1KYqRUWzGd0I8qDIwOff52OaF-WUPGm9RJznx0/viewform?edit_requested=true  
 
The Side-Event call for proposals is now open until May 31 as per the information provided by UNDESA https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/hlpf#hlpf2022 . 

High-Level Political Forum 2022 Under the Auspices of ECOSOC

The meeting of the HLPF in 2022 will be held from Tuesday, 5 July, to Thursday, 7 July, and from Monday, 11 July, to Friday, 15 July 2022, under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council. This includes the three-day ministerial segment of the forum from Wednesday, 13 July, to Friday, 15 July 2022, as a part of the high-level segment of the Council.
The theme for the HLPF 2022 will be “Building back better from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) while advancing the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”.

The HLPF in 2022 will review in-depth Sustainable Development Goals 4 on quality education, 5 on gender equality, 14 on life below water, 15 on life on land, and 17 on partnerships for the Goals. The forum will take into account the different and particular impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic across all Sustainable Development Goals and the integrated, indivisible, and interlinked nature of the Goals.

·  New: Invitation letter from the President of ECOSOC for the 2022 High-level Segment of ECOSOC and High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) (6 April 2022)
·  New: Draft program for the 2022 High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development
·  New: Secretariat’s concept note for the 2022 HLPF
45 countries will carry out voluntary national reviews (VNRs) of their implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. For more details, please click here.
UNDESA will organize substantive preparations for the thematic reviews of the HLPF 2022 together with relevant UN system partners.

Side Events And Exhibitions

Side Events and Exhibitions provide great opportunities to discuss themes and SDGs under review at the HLPF, deepen the discussion on VNRs, identify new issues, listen to all voices, and help spread greater awareness of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs in general at all levels.
Side Events and Exhibitions will be scheduled on the margins of the 2022 HLPF under the auspices of ECOSOC and sponsored by Member States, the UN system, intergovernmental organizations, the Major Groups and other Stakeholders and accredited Non-governmental Organizations including those with special consultative status.
Proposed side events and exhibitions should be closely related to the work of the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) and should have as a main focus the theme for the 2022 meeting under the auspices of ECOSOC "Building back better from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) while advancing the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development". The HLPF in 2022 will also review in-depth SDG 4 on quality education, SDG 5 on gender equality, SDG 14 on life below water, SDG 15 on life on land, and SDG 17 on partnerships for the Goals.
In view of the large number of requests anticipated, and taking into consideration the very limited time allotted for the Side Events and Exhibitions, requests should be limited to ONE per entity and in line with the Guidelines (link below)
Given the ongoing situation linked to COVID-19, it has been decided that all Side events and Exhibitions on the margins of the 2022 High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) will be held virtually.
We call on all interested organizers to be flexible on the timings of their proposed event so that it does not run parallel to the main meeting.
Interested parties can begin to submit their applications today, Monday, 4 April 2022.
The application portal will close on Tuesday, 31 May 2022.
We will contact ALL organizers on the status of their side-event AFTER the close of the application process, by mid-June.

• Guidelines for Side Events in HLPF 2022
• New: Kindly submit your application for side-events to the HLPF 2022 using this link
• Guidelines for Side Events in HLPF 2022
• New: Exhibition application form in HLPF 2022

 

Voluntary National Reviews (VNR) - 2022 High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development

According to the letter from H.E. Collen Vixen Kelapile, President of the ECOSOC, on the closing of the list for countries that will be presenting their Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) at the 2022 High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) for your information.
 
Since the first communication dated October 4, a number of other countries have expressed their wish to present their VNRs for the first time at the HLPF. For your ease of reference, please find below the final list of VNR-presenting countries (a total of 45):
 
Andorra*, Argentina**, Belarus*, Botswana*, Cameroon*, Comoros*, Côte d’Ivoire*, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, El Salvador*, Eritrea, Eswatini*, Ethiopia*, Gabon, Gambia*, Ghana*, Greece*, Grenada, Guinea-Bissau, Italy*, Jamaica*, Jordan*, Kazakhstan*, Latvia*, Lesotho*, Liberia*, Luxembourg*, Malawi*, Mali*, Montenegro*, the Netherlands*, Pakistan*, the Philippines**, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal*, Somalia, Sri Lanka*, Sudan*, Suriname, Switzerland**, Togo***, Tuvalu, United Arab Emirates*, Uruguay*** 
 
VNR Countries in Asia - 2022
Kazakhstan*, Pakistan*, the Philippines**, Sri Lanka*,
 
(Note: Countries with one asterisk * are second-timers, those with two asterisks** are third timers, those with three asterisks *** are presenting for the fourth time, while those without asterisks are presenting for the first time).
 

Interesting Readings!!
Draft Report of the Ninth Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development
Draft Summary of Round Table Discussions-APFSD 2022
 

NGO MG Global and Regional Organizing Partners ‘contact details

 
Global Organizing Partners (ngomajorgroupopny@gmail.com):
Jessica Bridgers (jessica.bridgers@wfa.org)
M. Victoria Espada (mariavictoria.espada@dianova.ngo)
Oli Henman (oli.henman@action4sd.org)
 
Regional Organizing Partners:
Central Africa: Bernard Lutete Di Lutete (bernlutete@yahoo.fr)
Eastern Africa: Henry Oriokot (henrycidc@gmail.com)
Northern Africa: Hagar Monsif (h.monsif@maatpeace.org)
Southern Africa: Joseph Mihaye (aminiac15@gmail.com)
Western Africa: Kofi Kankam (eri@eri.kabissa.org)
 
Caribbean: Donovan McLaren (kevoy1@yahoo.com) and Joseph Severe (unascadhaiti@gmail.com)
North America: Kehkashan Basu (kehkashanbasu@greenhopefoundation.com)
South America: Rosario Diaz Garavito (r.garavito@themillennialsmovement.org)
 
Asia: Jyotsna Mohan (jyotsna@ada2030.org)
Central Asia: Artem Stepanenko (a.stepanenko@eca-ces.ru)
 
Europe: Lara-Zuzan Golesorkhi (golesorkhiwow@gmail.com)
 
Middle East/North Africa: Anis Brik (anisdago@gmail.com)
 
Pacific: Emeline Siale (siale@piango.org)
 

• 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 account @alliance_asia