5 April 2013: Informal consultations on the Programme of Work for the UN General Assembly (UNGA) Open Working Group on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG OWG) were held on 5 April 2013, in New York, US. Led by OWG Co-Facilitators Csaba Körösi (Hungary) and Macharia Kamau (Kenya), discussions addressed the Group’s agenda for its next meeting and for the rest of the year.

Upcoming meetings of the OWG are expected to take place on 17-19 April (OWG 2), and 22-24 May (OWG 3). Further dates are still to be decided, as agreement has yet to be reached on whether to hold three-day meetings every month, or five-day meetings every two months.

OWG 2 will focus on a conceptualization of the SDGs, mapping the Group’s plan of work for the next year, and the subject of poverty eradication. An Expert Panel will present to the Group on these subjects. Conceptualization is expected to focus on linkages between the SDGs and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), among other issues.

The current draft programme of work for OWG activities divides the coming year into two sections: an “input” phase of intergovernmental dialogue and expert presentations (April 2013-February 2014); and an “output” phase to draft the OWG Report (February-March 2014). This programme is subject to change upon further Member State discussion.

Throughout the consultations, delegates also considered: how to identify thematic issue areas and appropriately cluster them for discussion; including “means of implementation” for each goal; the importance of poverty eradication as an overarching issue; and how to document each OWG meeting. [IISD RS Sources]