African Monitor, in partnership with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) South Africa, will host a national strategic consultation which seeks to mobilise Civil Society Organizations (CSO) participation in the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This event, to be staged on behalf of the South African Working Group on SDGs, will be held on Friday, 1 September 2017 at Park Inn Hotel in Sandton, Johannesburg.
The SA CSO Working Group is a platform of South African civil society organisations working on sustainable development. It consists of human rights organisations from different provinces, strong national NGOs as well as two of South Africa’s largest NGO networks – SANGOCO and NANGOSA. The Working Group has been actively engaging the South African government on the development and formulation of Agenda 2063 and the SDGs.
The vision of CSO Working Group is for South African civil society to participate effectively in the implementation of Agenda 2030. The first objective identified by the Working Group is to “mobilize a broader CSO constituency for effective implementation of the SDGs”.
African Monitor Director, Ms Namhla Mniki-Mangaliso says: “This implies that there is need to strengthen the Working Group by broadening participation and ensuring that it is inclusive of representatives of civil society broadly, and vulnerable groups in particular; including rural communities, youth, the disabled; as well as representatives of key thematic sectors.”
“At African Monitor we see the Sustainable Development Goals as an important instrument to accelerate development in South Africa, especially in the context of growing levels of poverty, inequality, economic exclusion and weakening governance institutions. It is of particular concern that the South African government is not showing leadership in this area.
In partnership with UNDP South Africa, African Monitor will host a civil society consultation to create space for civil society to discuss the best ways to push the agenda towards poverty eradication.”
The main objectives of the consultation are:
- To bring together CSOs working on SDGs from all sectors and provincial structures, and broader NGO and CBO community in South Africa;
- To formalise the structure of the CSO Working group on SDGs including representatives of national steering group, as well as provincial structures; and
- To agree on a two year road map for CSO participation on implementation of SDGs
This consultation is being hosted with funding support from UNDP South Africa.
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