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Role of Civil Society
Platforms in T he Rio+20 outcome document, The Future We Want, set out a mandate to establish an Open Working Group to develop a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for consideration and appropriate action by the General Assembly, United Nations. The Rio+20 outcome gave the mandate that the SDGs should be coherent with and integrated into the UN Development Agenda beyond 2015. This shall form the new development agenda that is to succeed the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2015. Unlike MDGs, SDGs aim to be universally relevant, inclusive of issues of all the countries of the world. The overarching principle of the SDGs is to enhance a transformative potential for ensuring equity, leaving no one behind. They aim to build systems that work for the people and the planetary well-being.The process of formulating and subsequent implementation cannot be fulfilled without collective engagement of local, regional and national governments; civil society and the private sector. Member nations of the UN across the world shall soon begin to negotiate targets and indicators of the goals keeping the ambit of their political feasibility in mind. The local governments, at this stage are only waiting for the outcome of the negotiations to know what is for them in the new bucket of development agenda. Global civil society platforms play a critical role in this process. They bring together individuals with on-ground experience from across the world to assist the local, national and global stakeholders and decision makers in the process of developing the post 2015 development agenda. This article will elaborate on the potential, challenges and way forward for such platforms. Features Civil society has certain features that put them on a distinct platform in the development of the post 2015 agenda. The strongest feature of the civil society organisations is their ability to discuss beyond what is considered politically feasible. The informal dialogue process at such platforms leads to more elaborate and extensive discussions on global and local concerns. Civil societies from various parts of the world bring vast knowledge, capacities and cultural perspectives which can nurture the negotiations, development, implementation and monitoring process of the post 2015 development agenda. Also, civil society organisations (CSO) have a strong outreach in their specific area of work and hence are well connected with ground realities. Their representation at the global level via the civil society platforms provides impetus to the democratic ownership of the development agenda by involving people working directly at the grassroots. The uniting aspect of civil society platforms brings more confidence, working capacities and negotiating power to the civil society organisations in the global arena. Also these platforms enable these organisations to work collaboratively for a common purpose. Present Involvement and Potential The role of civil society platforms stretches from negotiations to implementation and monitoring processes of the post 2015 development agenda. There may be only slight direct influence of the CSO platforms in the official negotiation process, but the use of such platforms for dialogue, discussions and deliberations on the post 2015 agenda strongly takes their voice to the post 2015 development process. Directly, there are CSO platforms feeding their inputs and recommendations to the Open Working Group document (See Box). Indirectly, civil society platforms enable the drafting system to evolve comprehensive, just, transformative and universal set of goals for dealing with the pertinent problems of the world. They launch fundamental social debates both, locally and internationally, to introduce progressive discourses around various factors of development. The nature of problems has gone so heterogeneous today that the local specialised understanding of such civil society organisations substantially enhances the quality of global discussions and subsequent decision making processes. Apart from its contribution in the negotiation process, civil society platforms have a huge potential in the implementation phase of the post 2015 development agenda. With access to their data, knowledge and experience, they can assist nations to set their respective national targets aligning with the post 2015 development agenda. In the same process of assistance, CSOs can also influence the governments to progress beyond minimum consensus. They are the key players that can motivate the governments to set ambitious goals for the welfare of the people. The civil society can also assist the nations in their management and policy making at the local and national level. |
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5 th Independent Research Forum Retreat, Towards a Transformative Post 2015 Development Agenda, November 2014
Independent Research Forum (IRF) is a collaboration of research institutes from across the world that provide an independent source of critical thinking, integrated analysis and raising awareness on SDGs and the post 2015 agenda. It leverages the power of its network to inform decision makers on how to achieve sustainable development. It also organises a series of retreats which call upon various stakeholders from across the globe to deliberate over pertinent issues relating to sustainable development. Currently IRF 2015 is working closely with the Open Working Group and contributing directly to the SDGs drafting process. |
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Challenges Civil society platforms, despite their value in developing the post 2015 agenda, face significant challenges in terms of recognition and representation at the global stage. The views of the civil society organisations are usually considered secondary due to their unelected portfolio, despite the fact that they have been working closely with the people on the ground. This factor of not recognising their representative character limits their room in multi stakeholder negotiations. Also, the efforts and contributions of the civil society platforms cannot give fruitful results without adequate support of the government and the private sector. The government must support their cause with adequate policy formulation and possible financial support. The private sector must understand and invest into their ideas and ambitions for them to unleash their potential. This dependence of civil society on the government and corporates affects their potential impact and outcome. There is always a fear for CSOs to use more resources in developing relationships with the government and private players than in actual developmental work. A healthy system with strong cooperation amongst the three can make the best utilisation of the resources for the well-being of the people and the planet. Way Forward At Rio+20 Conference 2012, there were substantially more civil society organisations represented than at the 1992 Earth Summit. A great many people and civil society groups are participating in the discussions on the post 2015 agenda throughout the world. To achieve the most of this enormous power, it is important to streamline these civil societies by providing them a global platform. The civil society platforms should focus primarily on laying out their positions and thus build their credibility in the global arena. This is crucial for their recognition in the decision making process. The credibility can be enhanced by not just more dedicated set of ground work but also circulating and communicating their grassroots work at various global and national platforms. Apart from this, it is equally important to create as well as integrate new development leaders from across the world to such platforms. This shall not just bring more knowledge, experience and universality in the system but also expand the boundaries and outreach of the civil society platforms. The civil society platforms must live up to their commitment of strategic support in building a more sustainable system for the well-being of the people and the planet. q Anshul Bhamra
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