A global network of over 24,000 civil society organizations (CSOs) working in the areas of civic space and sustainable development has launched its collective contribution on what a post-2030 development framework must “defend, demand and decline.” Presented as an early collective civil society intervention, Forus’ Post-2030 Vision aims to createa platform to bring together wider alliances for frank and meaningful conversations around the future of sustainable development.

The 52-page ‘Forus Post-2030 Vision Paper’ notes that while formal negotiations on a post-2030 development agenda are expected to launch at the 2027 SDG Summit, informal conversations around agenda setting, coalition building, and political positioning are already underway. It highlights deepening geopolitical fragmentation, shrinking civic space, declining development finance, and waning support for multilateralism as factors accounting for today’s “far more volatile context than the one that enabled the adoption of the SDGs in 2015.”

Emphasizing that the years to 2030 “represent a strategic window to influence not only the substance of the post-2030 agenda, but also the rules of the process – including who participates, how accountability is structured, and what financing principles underpin delivery,” the paper outlines Forus’ collective priorities for shaping the post-2030 agenda.

Forus envisions “[a]n ambitious post-2030 global development framework rooted in human rights, universality and justice; responsive to today’s interconnected crises; backed by credible financing and accountability; and shaped through meaningful civil society participation, with greater power for local actors.”

The paper identifies three possible scenarios for the post-2030 process – continuity, reset, and fragmentation. Recognizing continuity as the most likely baseline and warning about fragmentation posing a constant risk, it proposes an approach that is relevant across all three scenarios.

The post-2030 process, the paper argues, “must not become a vehicle for lowering ambition, weakening rights or shrinking accountability.” Instead, “[i]t must be an opportunity to correct the implementation, financing and participation gaps that have limited the SDGs, while defending their universal and transformative promise,” it underscores.

Developed in close consultation with the Forus network as well as development experts from the UN, civil society, academia, thinktanks, and philanthropy, the Forus Post-2030 Vision “reflects regional nuances and a diversity of perspectives, while setting out a way forward that is globally relevant.”

Forus launched its Post-2030 Vision online on 21 May 2026. [Publication: Forus Post-2030 Vision Paper] [Publication Landing Page]