28 March 2014: Ahead of the 10th meeting of the Open Working Group (OWG) on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), publications by civil society groups, academics, and stakeholders have been released detailing specific positions and proposals for the post-2015 development agenda.

Position papers from each of the nine Major Groups (Business and Industry, Children and Youth, Farmers, Indigenous Peoples, Local Authorities, NGOs, Scientific and Technological Community, Women, and Workers and Trade Unions) have been released. The papers outline each Major Group’s vision for the SDGs and post-2015 agenda, with specific goal, target, and indicator proposals and ideas for the overarching agenda themes.

A publication by the New York University Center on International Cooperation (NYU CIC) analyzes the history of the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities (CBDR), and its application to the sustainable development agenda. It discusses the disagreement between developed and developing countries regarding whether CBDR can be legally applied to all areas of sustainable development.

In the context of the recently held Development Cooperation Forum in Berlin, Germany, the German Development Institute (DIE) released publications on the subjects of new means of development cooperation and the global partnership for development. ‘Berlin: Cautious launch for new global development cooperation’ and ‘How to shape development cooperation? The Global Partnership and the Development Cooperation Forum,’ the two reports highlight the challenges and opportunities of cooperation around modern development issues.

A publication by Columbia University academics Joseph Stiglitz and Michael Doyle in ‘Ethics & International Affairs’ looks at the issue of inequality in the context of the post-2015 development agenda. Titled ‘Make Eliminating Extreme Inequality a Sustainable Development Goal,’ the publication proposes a specific SDG on eliminating extreme inequality, with targets evaluating income and other social inequalities within countries.

The Independent Research Forum on the Post-2015 Development Agenda (IRF) produced a report titled ‘Grounding post-2015 frameworks in bottom-up action learning,’ which emphasizes the need for the next development agenda to give attention to “ground level” processes and approaches for achieving sustainable development, and their relationship to national, regional, and global policies.

An open letter from children-focused organizations and agencies to the Co-Chairs of the OWG responds to the Focus Areas document, and emphasizes the centrality of children to the entire post-2015 development agenda.

The Chronic Poverty Advisory Network (CPAN) has released its Chronic Poverty Report 2014-2015, which suggest three objectives for eradicating extreme poverty: tackling chronic poverty; stopping impoverishment; and supporting sustained escapes from poverty. The report also argues for the need to empower people with lifelong skills and health in order to prevent the continual slip back into poverty.

The Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) has released a discussion brief on ‘Cross-sectoral integration in the Sustainable Development Goals: a nexus approach,’ which considers the opportunities for framing SDGs around the water-energy-food nexus. [Major Group Position Papers] [NYU Publication: Do Common But Differentiated Responsibilities Belong in the Post-2015 SDGs?] [DIE Publication: Berlin: Cautious launch for new global development cooperation] [DIE Publication: How to shape development cooperation? The Global Partnership and the Development Cooperation Forum] [Columbia Publication: Make Eliminating Extreme Inequality a Sustainable Development Goal] [IRF Publication: Grounding post-2015 frameworks in bottom-up action learning] [Child-Focused Agencies Open Letter to Co-Chairs] [CPAN Publication: Chronic Poverty Report 2014-2015] [SEI Publication: Cross-sectoral integration in the Sustainable Development Goals: a nexus approach]