Dear Friends and Colleagues

Please reach ADA Secretariat should you have questions /suggestions or if you wish to post anything in the newsletters – info@ada2030.org

Warmly,
ADA Secretariat

'2020 Global NGO Forum on International Development’. Taiwan Aid, October 5, 2020

'2020 Global NGO Forum on International Development (Virtual)'  was held on October 5th to 6th, 2020 in Taipei, Taiwan,  jointly hosted by the Taiwan Alliance in International Development (Taiwan AID) and Institute of National Policy Research (INPR under the main theme 'Inclusive Partnership between Government and Civil Society in International Development'. The forum brought together a wide range of CSO practitioners, scholars and young people, as well as to build the capacities and develop common strategies based on sharing and analysis on key issues and challenges faced when putting Inclusive Partnership and SDGs forward.
ADA made a presentation on 'Challenges and Opportunities in Government-Civil Society Partnerships', 
CSO Government Relationship in Context to Agenda 2030 of Sustainable Development Goals

4th Yushan Forum on 8 October 2020 with the theme of “Paving Paths to Our Resilient Future”. 

The Yushan Forum, organized annually by the TAEF, serves as an annual platform for Asian regional dialogue, showcasing the achievements of governmental and non-governmental cooperation between Taiwan and partner countries.
This year’s focus of the Forum was on how Taiwan and its neighboring counties can collectively build a resilient society in the face of global challenges. In view of Asia Development Alliance made a presentation on Mitigating global challenges through innovative approaches.
Mitigating global Challenges through Innovative Approach

 
Transformative Action To Realize The 2030 Agenda Through Effective Coalitions, October 20

Description: As part of the Good Practice in 2030 Agenda Implementation Series, BCCIC and Cooperation Canada,
in collaboration with Action for Sustainable Development and Forus, released a new working paper, Transformative action to realize the 2030 Agenda through effective coalitions. Based on a review of multi-stakeholder coalitions from around the world including ADA, this webinar provided a series of good practices and evidence-informed recommendations to strengthen the governance of coalitions in order to trigger accelerated and transformative actions for sustainable development. The webinar, available in English, features the report authors and representatives from diverse 2030 Agenda coalitions from around the world!

AGNA AGM. Thursday, 22 October 2020

ADA being the regional coalition member of AGNA participated in the AGM , part 2 22 October 2020. To share a lesson or experience, lessons learned, and future partnership support and solidarity with AGNA.
 

SDG 16+ Report and Online GALA – 2020 (CDW)1, October 23, 2020

ADA in collaboration with JANIC and FORUS ' organized its first capacity building workshop under GALA 2020 which would culminate into Goal 16 Plus Monitoring ( 2015-2020)' . John Romano of TAP Network for facilitating the day workshop. The Report will be based on 12 countries case studies from Asia
India, Pakistan, Nepal Bangladesh - south Asia
Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam , Lao PDR - South - East Asia
Kazakhstan - Central Asia
Taiwan, Japan, Mongolia- North East Asia

Leveraging SDG 16 to Defend and Promote Civic Space – Forus Virtual Forum, Monday, October 26, 2020

Current research shows that civil society in over half of the countries of the world is facing serious and growing restrictions on its freedom to engage, express itself, and be heard. With increased surveillance, persecution and even violence against civil society, many CSOs have come under attack, particularly those advocating on behalf of excluded groups and minorities, for democratic rights, and in defense of the environment. The freedom to exercise civil and political rights is also extremely important for civil society as it struggles to fulfil the role it has been mandated by the 2030 Agenda. The recent ADA- Forus report, Realising the potential of SDG 16 to promote and protect civic space, highlights how SDG 16 can provide important with the following objectives and the ADA collaborated with Forus in this crucial workshop with the following objectives

1. leverage for civil society everywhere in its efforts to create and defend civic space
2. To share the findings and recommendations of the Forus Goal 16 report on civic space with session participants
3. To invite a panel of civic space experts to reflect on the report’s key findings and recommendations
4. To enable session participants to discuss their own experiences of defending civic space in their local and national contexts could support the efforts of CSOs to defend civic space

South-East Asia Multi-stakeholder Forum on the Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, 28 and 29 October 2020

UN ESCAP Sub-Regional Office for South-East Asia organised the South-East Asia Multistakeholder Forum on the Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, as a virtual event on 28 and 29 October 2020.
YouTube access. (https://www.unescap.org/events/4th-sea-forum-sdg)
Mr. Saroeun Soeung, Executive Director, Cooperation Committee of Cambodia and Steering Committee Member of ADA, made Interventions from stakeholders session during the Fourth South-East Asia Multi-Stakeholder Forum
on Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals
“Sustainable and resilient recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic: Building an inclusive and effective path for the achievement of the 2030 Agenda in South-East Asia”
Day 1, Wednesday, 28 October
Statement of Mr. Saroeun SOEUNG

Action Please!!! 

historic C20 Communique
Nuclear-Weapon-Free World: Protect People and the Planet
Click here to read more about the appeal and see the current endorsers list. Click here to endorse it.

Worth a Read!!

All documents of the 2020 NEA CSO Session 
can be found at this link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1fXES8nvjmmtNsL1mWXmYg-MOPU_0-Zqg?usp=sharing
 
The NGO MG Position Paper in English is on the HLPF website.
NGO MG Virtual Annual Meeting hold on July 17, 2020 – notes here
Reactions of Local and Regional Governments to UN75 Report
UN (and international organizations) Updates
Letter of the President of ECOSOC on the Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) at HLPF 2021
Link to the letter with the final list of countries who expressed their interest in conducting Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) at the 2021 High-level Political Forum on sustainable development (HLPF), under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council in 2021.
In accordance with past practice, countries presenting a VNR for the first time will be allocated 30 minutes each in the programme; countries presenting a VNR for the second and third time will be allocated 20 minutes each in a panel format.
 
UN DESA: Handbook for preparation of Voluntary National Reviews (2020 Edition)
This is a handbook for countries in preparation of presenting voluntary national reviews (VNRs). It should be read in conjunction with the Secretary-General’s proposal for voluntary common reporting guidelines for VNRs at the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF).
This handbook supplements the Secretary-General’s guidelines in that it provides elementary building blocks and the basic, practical information on the steps that countries may take when preparing VNRs. It is not an exhaustive document. A range of other sources of information may further assist countries, some of which are indicated in the text. This document has been updated to reflect new information and dates.
 
IISD Updates
IISD / SDG Knowledge Hub Story: “In Times of Crisis, A Global Network Connects Data Experts Around the World for SDGs”
Story highlights:
- Even when countries have data available on an SDG, they may have only a small number of observations over time, making it difficult to monitor progress and identify trends.
- Disruptions from the pandemic will have a lasting effect on countries´ ability to produce timely and disaggregated data for a large number of SDG indicators.
- The UN Statistics Division is launching the Global Network of Data Officers and Statisticians to connect statisticians, data experts, and geospatial information experts around the world to share knowledge or new data solutions and technologies, to improve collaboration, and to forge partnerships.
Read the full story here.
IISD / SDG Knowledge Hub Story: “SDGs-aligned Voluntary Standards Promote Sustainable Production, Trade: UNCTAD, Partners Report”
Story highlights:
- The report tracks the extent to which sustainable practices promoted by voluntary sustainability standards (VSS) align with SDG targets, and finds that 200 or more VSS are linked to SDG 2, SDG 8, SDG 11, and SDG 12.
- Three SDGs have few or no links to VSS: SDG 13, SDG 14, and SDG 17.
- The report concludes VSS can contribute to a stronger governance ecosystem to help achieve the SDGs, and offer recommendations for governments, business support organizations, companies and standard bodies.
 
Read the full story here.

• 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