13 January 2016
CSocD Reviewing Working Methods for 2030 Agenda
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The UN Commission for Social Development (CSocD) is conducting a review of its methods of work in the context of follow-up to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

It is expected to consider a resolution on the matter during this year's session (CSocD 54), according to Daniela Bas, Director, Division for Social Policy and Development (DSPD), UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA).

CSocD will convene in New York, US, from 3-12 February 2016, under the theme ‘Rethinking and strengthening social development in the contemporary world.'

ECOSOC12 January 2016: The UN Commission for Social Development (CSocD) is conducting a review of its methods of work in the context of follow-up to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It is expected to consider a resolution on the matter during this year’s session (CSocD 54), according to Daniela Bas, Director, Division for Social Policy and Development (DSPD), UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA). CSocD will convene in New York, US, from 3-12 February 2016, under the theme ‘Rethinking and strengthening social development in the contemporary world.’

The review was discussed at a meeting convened by the Chair of CSocD 54, Ion Jinga (Romania), on 12 January 2016, in New York, US.

Participating UN officials highlighted the need for alignment between the 2030 Agenda and the work of ECOSOC’s commissions. Thomas Gass, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Inter-Agency Affairs, said delegates should seek to identify the 2030 Agenda’s elements of relevance to the Commission’s mandates, and which targets are the most relevant for its work. He emphasized the importance of complementarity between existing review processes, as called in paragraph 85 of the Agenda.

Navid Hanif, Director, Office for ECOSOC Support and Coordination (OESC), DESA, called for aligning the themes of the ECOSOC functional commissions and other bodies with the themes of the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) and ECOSOC, and for coherent cycles between these processes. He added that the ECOSOC theme will be “closely aligned” to the HLPF theme. Christine Brautigam, UN Women, reported that future priority themes considered by the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), and the CSW Multi-Year Programme of Work to be adopted in 2016, should provide an opportunity to ensure linkages with the 2030 Agenda.

Other Commissions have also undertaken reviews. John Wilmoth, Director, UN Population Division, said the UN Commission on Population and Development (CPD) is undergoing a review of its methods of work, and Brautigam recalled that the CSW reviewed its methods of work in 2015.

Delegates cautioned about the lack of synergies among the functional Commissions of ECOSOC, saying each Commission “has its own agenda.” Others called for: strengthening the HLPF so as to deliver its function of overseeing follow-up and review at the global level; streamlining the work of the functional Commissions and making it more effective and impactful; and strengthening civil society participation in that work.

The meeting also provided an update on the forthcoming report of the UN Secretary-General on global follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda, which was requested by paragraph 90 of that Agenda. Gass said an unedited version of the report should be published by “the end of the week” or “the end of the weekend” (15 or 17 January 2016) “if everything goes well.”

On the content of the report, Gass said a key message is that the Agenda needs to bring “everyone on board” and the global review system needs to allow interactions between “states and the people.” He said the guidance provided by the report is not going to be “very specific,” in respect of the large variety of intergovernmental fora and bodies to which the report applies. The report will suggest consideration of all Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) “in a cycle of four years,” Gass said.

CSocD 54 will include panel discussions on ‘Implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: moving from commitments to results for achieving social development’ and on ‘Implementation of the post-2015 development agenda in the light of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities’ (CRPD). It will be preceded by a Civil Society Forum from 1-2 February to discuss ‘Inequalities and the 2030 Agenda for SD.’ [CSocD Webpage] [CSocD 54 Information] [ECOSOC Functional Commissions] [IISD RS Sources]

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