8 April 2016: In preparation for the 2016 Development Cooperation Forum (DCF), officials from governments, international and philanthropic organizations, the private sector and civil society gathered to consider ways to make development cooperation a “better fit” for implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the least developed countries (LDCs) and other vulnerable contexts.

The DCF high-level symposium on ‘Rethinking Development Cooperation for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Country-Level Perspectives and Lessons Learned’ took place from 6-8 April 2016, in Brussels, Belgium. Discussions centered around: country-level experiences, including the role of development cooperation in areas such as strengthening domestic resource mobilization (DRM); responding to climate change challenges; supporting policy coherence for sustainable development; citizen leadership and the key role of women and local authorities.

UN and government officials addressed the gathering, which was the third and final high-level symposium in preparation for the 2016 DCF. Wu Hongbo, UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, recalled the terrorist attacks in Brussels and stressed the importance of development cooperation to secure peaceful, prosperous and inclusive societies. He called for a renewed approach to development cooperation for implementing the 2030 Agenda and SDGs, noting the need for new partnerships and forms of cooperation.

Oh Joon, President of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), said development cooperation can: localize the SDGs and build institutional and human resources capacities; spur innovation, technology development and knowledge sharing; promote private sector engagement for sustainable development impact; and strengthen multi-stakeholder approaches, including citizen-based monitoring.

Queen Mathilde of Belgium, UN Special Advocate for the SDGs, highlighted the need to rethink the “usual modus operandi” of cooperation. She noted that education and public health are broad and ambitious goals that can be linked to all the other SDGs, and added that health occupies a prominent place in Belgian development cooperation, both private and public. She remarked that the Ebola outbreak could not have been contained and will be fought sustainably only if, inter alia, adequate health education, governance, and infrastructure policies are put in place.

Alexander De Croo, Belgium’s Minister for Development Cooperation, said all governments face development challenges and all are accountable to their citizens. Among other initiatives taken by Belgium, he said the country’s private sector has been asked to take a stronger, more pro-active stance in international development, and that Belgium and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) will present, during the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul, “the first-ever” Humanitarian Impact Bond, in order to expand the ICRC’s Physical Rehabilitation Program. De Croo called to adjust the ECOSOC meeting cycle so the DCF takes place before, and can feed into, the ministerial segment of the High Level Political Forum on sustainable development (HLPF) in future years. He also highlighted the need to avoid duplication between the DCF and the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation (GPEDC).

Gyan Chandra Acharya, UN Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for the LDCs, Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS) asked for good coordination mechanisms within the UN and at the national levels, stressed the importance of ODA for LDCs, and emphasized that climate change will put a big burden on those countries.

The DCF takes place every two years, to provide a platform for global policy dialogue on international development cooperation, review trends and encourage coordination across actors and activities. Its 2016 session will take place at UN Headquarters in New York, US, from 21-22 July 2016, as part of the High-level Segment of ECOSOC.

The two other preparatory symposiums for the 2016 DCF took place in the Republic of Korea, in April 2015, and in Uganda, in November 2015. [ECOSOC President Opening Statement] [ECOSOC President Closing Statement] [Wu Statement] [Queen Mathilde Statement] [Belgium Minister Statement] [Meeting Website] [UN Press Release, 7 April] [UN Press Release, 8 April] [Belgium Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Press Release] [DCF Website]