September 2014: Numerous civil society organizations have provided inputs on the post-2015 development agenda. Recent position papers and other documents react to the report of the Open Working Group (OWG) on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and discuss, inter alia: climate change; gender equality; freedom of expression; financing for development; equality; means of implementation; and communication of the post-2015 development agenda.

A Development Progress blog entry by Andrew Scott of the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) evaluates country progress toward MDG 7 on environmental sustainability, with case studies of Brazil, Burkina Faso, China, and Viet Nam, and looks ahead to including sustainability in the SDGs.

Several inputs take up issues related to equality, rights and freedom of expression. An issue brief from Save the Children outlines the need to embed equity into the agenda. ‘Leave No One Behind’ suggests creating “stepping stone targets” to act as short-term benchmarks across all of the goals for particularly disadvantaged groups. The brief emphasizes that the post-2015 goals will not be met by 2030 unless “no one is left behind.” The Beyond 2015 campaign released comments in reaction to the OWG report, which it calls a “good starting point” while asking governments to aim higher in future negotiations. The comments suggest that the SDGs should further build on values of participation, human rights, and environmental sustainability. In an open letter to the UN Secretary-General, the IFEX Global Network on Defending and Promoting Free Expression calls for including freedom of expression rights in the new agenda. Signed by over 100 civil society groups, the letter emphasizes that restrictions on expression will hinder development progress and the data revolution. Following a three-day Global Media Forum in August 2014, media groups launched the Bali Road Map, speaking to the roles of the media in achieving sustainable development. The declaration calls on governments to support freedom of expression, media outlets to supply development-relevant information and a diversity of views, and the international community to advocate for a free media worldwide.

An Open Democracy blog by Radhika Balakrishnan, Center for Women’s Global Leadership, and Ignacio Saiz, Center for Economic and Social Rights, calls for more attention and accountability on human rights in the post-2015 development agenda. The article calls the current draft SDGs approach to human rights “highly selective, partial, and ambivalent.”

On gender and women’s rights, a brief by the Post-2015 Women’s Coalition calls for gender equality and the human rights of women and girls to be central to the post-2015 agenda. It calls for the future agenda to address transformational and structural changes to yield women’s empowerment across all of the goal areas. Research by ODI, presented in ‘What women want – gender equality post-2015,’ highlights the priorities of women and girls for the SDGs. It finds that women in the most gender-unequal societies are prioritizing the need for gender equality at higher levels, and says that this preference should be reflected in the post-2015 agenda.

Other groups address the links between climate change and the post-2015 development agenda. A paper jointly written by Christian Aid, Practical Action, Greenpeace, CAFOD, WWF, CARE and Oxfam cites the need for the post-2015 goals to focus on climate change. According to ‘The right climate for development: why the SDGs must act on climate change,’ the negative effects of climate change will impact all future development, and the SDGs should complement decisions made in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2015. A CARE paper titled ‘A sustainable future for all: Eradicating poverty and tackling climate chaos’ highlights specific points for linking climate and development in the SDGs, building on the report of the OWG. A blog post by the International Institute on Environment and Development (IIED) stresses the need for well-financed action on climate change to play a central role in the post-2015 development agenda. It calls for an agenda that fully embeds the issue of climate change, while promoting new commitments of public and private funding.

Further on financing and means of implementation (MOI), a publication from the Future UN Development System (FUNDS) Program, titled ‘The SDGs – What are the Means of Implementation,’ focuses on the need to comprehensively define MOI for the SDGs. It highlights the multiple and diverse MOI that are available internationally, and calls for a strengthened focus on innovative finance in the agenda. A paper from Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES), titled ‘An Urgent Need for Clarity: On the Post-2015 Development Agenda and Financing for Development,’ looks at defining financing, while a paper titled ‘Reforming the International Monetary and Financial Architecture’ takes up international financial reform in post-2015. FES also released a paper, titled ‘What’s Peace Got To Do With It?,’ on the issue of peaceful societies.

Finally, inputs explore the challenge of communicating the next development agenda. A World Resources Institute blog considers the OWG report and identifies key questions going forward in international negotiations on a post-2015 development agenda. Specifically highlighted are the needs to ensure greater specificity, integrate contentious issues, encourage substantial commitments, reshape the global partnership, and effectively communicate the goals in a new agenda. An issue brief by Kara S. Alaimo of the University of Massachusetts Boston focuses on how the UN can best promote the post-2015 development agenda. Calling on the UN to effectively calibrate expectations in advance, the brief stresses the need for transparent negotiations, a clearly-crafted narrative, clear language, and a globally accessible agenda. [Save the Children Publication: Leaving No One Behind] [IFEX Open Letter] [The right climate for development: why the SDGs must act on climate change] [CARE Publication: A sustainable future for all: Eradicating poverty and tackling climate chaos] [Bali Road Map] [Development Progress Blog] [WRI Blog] [FUNDS Publication: The SDGs – What are the Means of Implementation?] [Open Democracy Blog] [Post-2015 Women’s Coalition Publication: A Feminist Brief] [U Mass Boston Publication: How the UN Should Promote the Post-2015 Development Agenda] [ODI Publication: What women want – gender equality post-2015] [IIED Blog] [Beyond 2015 OWG on SDGs Comments] [Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Publications: What’s Peace Got To Do With It?; An Urgent Need for Clarity: On the Post-2015 Development Agenda and Financing for Development; Reforming the International Monetary and Financial Architecture]