Must civil society also transform itself for Agenda 2030?

Must civil society also transform itself for Agenda 2030?

New York—12 April 2016

Agenda 2030, the UN’s new and ambitious development program, promises not only to transform global policies on poverty eradication, health, and environmental protection, but also the UN itself.

Discussions are underway about how to make the UN “fit for purpose” so that it can better coordinate and implement the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that lie at the heart of the Agenda.

Among the questions now is what this will mean for the UN’s partners – and the degree that they, too, will be transformed.

That was the topic -- “Rethinking the role of civil society in an evolving UN system and Agenda 2030” – at a breakfast meeting held 12 April 2016 at the offices of the Baha’i International Community.

“For effective implementation, we not only need a UN fit for purpose – but we also need effective partnerships,” said Laura Elena Flores Herrera, Permanent Representative of Panama to the United Nations.

“I always like to say that we need ‘all hands on deck’ – from the private sector to community organizations to individuals, with each stakeholder leveraging their comparative advantage.”

“In my opinion, one of the best legacies of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is a shepherding of an unprecedented process of ample participation by civil society organizations in the formulation of the 2030 Agenda, a model that is trickling down and inspiring others,” said Ms. Herrera.

“By aiming to leave no one behind, the Agenda also calls to all,” continued Ambassador Herrera. “Organized civil society has proven to be a more practical bridge to reaching those who might be left behind.”

The challenge, however, will be in sustaining the kind of interaction and engagement with civil society as the Agenda unfolds.

“In multilateral settings, CSOs have often been praised in principle, but marginalized in practice,” she said. “Their inputs are often left to the very end of meetings.”

Another challenge, said Ambassador Herrera, is that those CSOs accredited to the UN “tend to represent more established, more affluent global NGOs.”

These concerns raise certain questions such as “how can NGOs working at the national and local levels express their needs at the global level?” and “how do we overcome traditional mistrust across sectors?”

One answer to such questions, she said, will be to create good incentives for participation and measurement. “In a data-driven framework such as under Agenda 2030,” she said, we need to create “win-win-win” situations, where not only are financial backers and NGOs able to “check the box” but also where “end recipients are actively involved and the effect on their well-being is effectively taken into account and measured.”

Bani Dugal, the principal representative of the Baha’i International Community to the United Nations, was the other keynote speaker at the breakfast – and she sought to address the kinds of transformations that all partners will need to consider as Agenda 2030 moves forward.

She began with an overview of civil society involvement with the UN, tracing its history back to the League of Nations.

The International Red Cross, the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, and the Baha’i International Community, she said, were among the earliest non-governmental organizations to work with the League. “And they are all still working to engage with the UN today,” she said.

Over time, she said, the depth and breadth of engagement has increased. Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan “opened many spaces where civil society” could give input to the UN, she said, such as by appointing a high level panel, headed by Fernando Henrique Cardoso, which examined and then endorsed the case for wider civil society participation in all of the UN’s work.

Today, she said, even though the practical reality doesn’t always match the rhetoric, the trend for greater partnership with civil society at the UN continues. Examples include not only the process behind Agenda 2030, but also the GEAR (Gender Equality Architecture Reform) campaign, which contributed greatly to the creation of UN Women, and the current hearings on the selection of a new secretary general, which have for the first time been held in the open, instead of behind closed doors.

The new Agenda also raises a number of questions, said Ms. Dugal. “Will we continue to have dynamic civil society engagement at grassroots and national level? Or will we work through the Major Groups from Agenda 21? It worked to some level, but is this grouping really representative of the individuals at the grassroots?”

“How can we talk about leaving no person behind, and how will we bring their views to the table?” she asked.

For the future, she added, the UN and member states – as well as NGOs – should also re-think notions about what how individuals and communities can be empowered and given the capacity to make ever more meaningful contributions to society.

“Material wealth, for example, is often equated with capacity and development,” said Ms. Dugal. “Those with access to greater financial resources are taken to be the engines of development and the rest are relegated to secondary functions, if not excluded altogether.  Yet financial capacity is not synonymous with the human capacity needed to advance constructive social transformation.

“The ultimate goal of the work of the UN and all of its related agencies is not merely the alleviation of poverty and a host of other social ills that besiege humanity. Our ultimate goal is the creation of a prosperous world civilization in which all human beings can thrive. This world civilization can only be constructed when we accept the oneness of humanity, and operate in a way that reflects this oneness,” said Ms. Dugal.

Following the keynote remarks by Ambassador Herrera and Ms. Dugal, participants engaged in a general discussion, using the Chatham House Rule, which limits attribution so as to encourage a frank and open exchange.

The meeting was the 33rd in a series that has sought to bring together diplomats, UN officials and civil society for informal discussions on Agenda 2030.

Full notes of the meeting can be read here.