Member News – Page 2

EPIC Final Events: discussing the challenges of migrant integration

By ALDA – European Association for Local Democracy

On 6 & 7 June 2023, within the framework of ALDA Festival and General Assembly 2023, EPIC – European Platform of Integrating Cities partners and both local and international stakeholders gathered together in Brussels (Belgium) for the last events of the project. The two events had the objective of discussing the project’s outcome and allow participants to talk about the sustainability of EPIC.

The third international networking event took place on 6 June, where partners and their local stakeholders had the opportunity to present their activities on migrant integration. Eventually, the audience was splitted in different focus groups to brainstorm on the current status and to discuss possible solutions to inclusion and integration of migrants in several fields namely, education, employment, legal and administrative support, housing, health, narrative, civic engagement and policy making.

The following day, the Final Conference of the project began with a welcoming speech from ALDA Governing Board member and President of Cooperativa Studio Progetto, Mr. Andrea Rilievo, followed by the keynote speech from Mr. Luca Barani, Policy Officer at the European Commission (DG HOME).

This first session was followed by a roundtable entitled “How to strengthen multilevel governance on migration? How to better include contributions and inputs from territories?” where representatives from local authorities, European institutions and CSOs exchanged views and opinions on the importance of acting at the local level.

In order to give concrete sustainability to the project beyond its lifespan, the last morning session focused on the Memorandum of Understanding, a document signed by the municipality and the local Non-Governmental Organisations to engage and commit in future actions together.

In the afternoon, all the sessions were structured as a marketplace where partners had the chance to showcase their activities on the 3 parallel actions they implemented: first they focused on the pilot projects, then on the counter-narrative campaigns to change the negative narrative in their territory (you can read the EPIC Toolkit on how to implement an alternative narrative campaign) and lastly on the local paths by answering the question: “How to raise awareness and mobilise citizens and local actors?”. The event ended with a networking aperitif.

If you want to know more about the EPIC project and its result, you can check out the final publication available in all the languages of the project!

SDGs as a common good: how wars and aggression change the path of sustainability in the world

By the Lithuanian NGDO Platform

Like all UN member states, Russia declared its commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015.

On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of the territory of a sovereign state, Ukraine, accompanied by the shelling of peaceful cities. The civil society Coalition for Sustainable Development of Russia (CSDR) has conducted an analysis of the implementation of the SDGs in Russia since February 2022, since the situation in the country changed dramatically due to the outbreak of aggression against Ukraine. In this report, CSDR has reviewed all the SDGs – from human rights to climate change – describing what has changed in the implementation of each of the SDGs since February 24, 2022, and how these changes have affected Russia’s international cooperation.

This analytical work shows that state policies and decisions of individuals in power have a huge impact on achieving the SDGs. We see that within one year, even those few institutions and mechanisms that contributed to the progress made on the SDGs were eliminated in the country. The country has shifted to a policy of isolation. The expressions such as ‘technological sovereignty’, ‘economic sovereignty’, ‘environmental sovereignty’, and ‘sovereign ESG’ are circulated in political discussions more often. All this fundamentally contradicts the principles of the SDGs, which aim to achieve sustainable development in a global context.

But even before the invasion, the SDG implementation in Russia looked like a simulation. The Russian government reported on the implementation of the SDGs in 2020 by presenting a Voluntary National Review at the High-level Political Forum at the UN headquarters in New York (in an online format, due to the COVID-19 pandemic). After that, interest in the SDGs at the political level in the country was maintained for a year.

At the end of 2020, Anatoly Chubais was appointed the Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation for Relations with International Organisations to Achieve Sustainable Development Goals. The implementation of the Goals at the local level was also discussed; there were plans to prepare a local review on the implementation of the SDGs in Moscow, but it was never released. The Federal State Statistics Service arranged the release of a yearbook with statistical data for each of the Goals. This yearbook has a very limited set of indicators, but nevertheless, work continued, and in December 2022 a statistical yearbook with data for 2021 was released.

At the end of 2021, it was clear that the State’s interest in the SDGs was only a formality.

At the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, the Special Representative of the President left his post. A new appointment has not taken place. Most likely, this position will remain unfilled, demonstrating the lack of interest in this topic on the part of the State.

Representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation continue to attend all international United Nations events on sustainable development. They are represented both at the UNECE and ESCAP regional forums and at the High-level Political Forum. Notably, at the 2022 Regional Forum on Sustainable Development in Geneva, representatives of the Russian Foreign Ministry expressed indignation at the position of many countries, who, in turn, condemned the military actions in Ukraine and accused Russia of creating another crisis that hinders the achievement of the SDGs amidst recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The report of the Civic Chamber for 2022 ‘On the state of civil society in the Russian Federation’ included the section ‘Sustainable development’ for the first time, which again formally confirmed the commitment of state policy to the 2030 Agenda. The report was fully focused on the green agenda and ESG. It provided information on ongoing public discussions, which traditionally only public organisations affiliated with the State to one degree or another, or GONGOs, are invited to.

NGOs, projects and social movements that refused to support the current position of the State had to either close their branches in Russia and relocate their teams abroad or completely cease to exist. Without openly expressing their position for safety reasons, many organisations and civil activists have been forced to limit the scope of their activities and reduce their potential, working less effectively.

Nevertheless, some organisations and civil activists openly express their position and continue their activities, despite the huge risks associated with the State being able to bankrupt both organisations and people themselves and deprive them of their freedom.

At the same time, the state machinery continues to exert pressure on people, even in places of deprivation of liberty. In addition, representatives of civil society continue their independent work abroad. At the same time, there are already precedents today for statements made by Russian citizens on international platforms criticising the Russian authorities being regarded as treason.

In the report “Invasion of Ukraine: implications for the Sustainable Development Goals in Russia”, CSDR experts reviewed all the SDGs. Each of the chapters consists of three main sections: the situation from the beginning of 2016 to February 24, 2022, what has changed in the implementation of each of the SDGs since February 24, and how these changes have affected Russia’s international cooperation in this area.

Civil society responds to the European Commission’s UN report on SDG progress

SDG Watch Europe, a civil society alliance of more than 90 EU NGOs established to ensure the full implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the EU and its Member States, has criticised today’s publication of the European Commission’s European Voluntary Review.

Serving as the first ever Europe-wide Voluntary National Review of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the European Voluntary Review (EU VR) has the potential to spark a bold political reset of the SDG Agenda. However, the report published this week by the European Commission does not go far enough in its content or process, with civil society organisations and citizens left out in the cold as the report was drafted.

As many independent assessments show, implementation of the SDGs has been lagging behind, and in key areas such as reducing poverty, tackling inequalities, and addressing the triple crises of climate, biodiversity and pollution, progress is going backwards. The Voluntary Review, which merely assesses what the EU has done so far and promotes its flagship policies, lacks any real vision for structural changes, nor does it provide an action plan at EU level to address gaps and challenges identified by civil society organisations on SDG implementation.

The EU VR process should be an honest and forward-looking stock taking, as well as a steppingstone to an overarching strategy on the SDGs, complete with a fully financed action plan. As of now, it is not clear how Europe intends to make structural changes in areas where the data shows regression, and particularly where we see negative external impacts of Europe’s policies on the rest of the world.
Jeffrey Moxom, SDG Watch Europe Coordinator.

A key demand of civil society organisations was that the European Voluntary Review be an inclusive best practice in participatory governance which promotes and secures the genuine involvement of citizens and civil society, as many EU Member States had successfully done when conducting their own Voluntary Reviews. Despite a commendable effort from the European Economic and Social Committee to lead a stakeholder consultation, the EU did not succeed in properly consulting citizens during the first ever European wide review of the SDGs. Nor did it reach out to NGOs beyond Europe to hear how the EU’s policies are affecting them.

Civil Society participates in the UNECE (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe) 2023 Regional Forum for Sustainable Development in Geneva, a forerunner to the High-Level Political Forum taking place in New York in July.

The lack of consultation with civil society in the preparation of the EU Voluntary Review is deeply disappointing. Article 11 TEU places an obligation on EU institutions to consult with CSOs to ensure open, participatory, and inclusive multi-stakeholder approaches, and the SDG agenda itself contains strong commitments to involving civil society and other key stakeholders in its implementation.

There is a clear need to shift from a tick box exercise to the creation of real opportunities for citizens’ and civil society participation to engage the whole of society for sustainable development and for the SDGs.
Manuela Gervasi, Senior Policy Officer for Public Participation and Sustainable Development at EEB and SDG Watch Europe Steering Group Member.

As Europe continues to preach the values of participation, democracy, and openness to other countries around the world, Europe now needs to show real leadership on SDGs on the world stage, as governments and civil society ramp up preparations for the High-Level Political Forum in July in New York and the SDG Summit taking place in September. With many countries engulfed by stubborn inflationary economic crises and global shocks that risk erasing vital SDG progress, the EU will need to lead in reviving a spirit of multilateral cooperation and fostering the political will required to achieve the sustainability commitments made in 2015. In such a context, it is only logical that the EU takes further measures to reverse the negative trends highlighted in the EU Voluntary Review.

“With only seven years left to achieve the SDGs, the role of the incoming European Commission in 2024 will be instrumental in the success of Agenda 2030. The EU VR provides a first step, but it should be followed by the introduction of an overarching strategy on SDGs that ensures meaningful civil society participation.”
Julie Rosenkilde, Director of Nyt Europa and SDG Watch Europe Steering Group member.

SDG Watch members highlighted that the ongoing deficiencies in implementing the SDGs are structural in nature, and the EU must assume a leadership role in tackling root causes and transforming the current economic system. Only by doing so can genuine progress towards the SDGs be achieved. This will require courageous decision-making from policymakers, as well as collaboration and cooperation from all stakeholders. Daniele Taurino of the European Youth Forum an SDG Watch Europe member, commented:

It’s becoming increasingly clear that our current economic model, which prioritises growth and profit, is unsustainable and detrimental to both the planet and the people. The only way to achieve the SDGs is by pursuing systemic and coherent change towards a post-growth future that values biocapacity, equality, and the well-being of both people and the planet while creating a thriving and peaceful future that operates within the limits of our planet’s resources.

The European Voluntary Review can be accessed here.

Climate Justice and Policy Coherence for Sustainable Development- Lessons from the Asia Pacific Region

By Forus International

SDG Watch Europe members and other activists who have been promoting the importance of PCSD for many years now are encouraged by the growing political attention paid to the issue by the EU & its MS. As an example, the European Parliament recently passed a Resolution on PCSD.

In addition, the global CSO network Forus and its Asian partner, the Asia Development Alliance (ADA), and Janic, recently released an important new report on Climate Justice and PCSD. This report is entitled “Climate Justice and Policy Coherence for Sustainable Development- Lessons from the Asia Pacific Region”. The report, which is a study on Climate Justice & PCSD in the Asia Pacific Region, contains case studies drawn from 17 countries from 4 different sub-regions in Asia and the Pacific.

See the report’s Executive Summary here and the full report here.

During the launch of the report, experts and institutional representatives from the EU, OECD, UNESCAP, as well as civil society organisations, including CONCORD, PIANGO, KRC, and Climate Watch, discussed the importance of policy coherence between climate action and sustainable development. Watch the recording here.

According to the report, a credible approach to PCSD includes both vertical coherence (between local, national, regional, and international levels) and horizontal coherence (between environmental, economic, and social policy areas and sectors and governance mechanisms).

In the study, target 17.14 and global indicator 17.14.1, which measures policy coherence for sustainable development, are noted as useful tools for monitoring PCSD.

There are several recommendations in the report for national-level actors, including the development of clear PCSD roadmaps with time-bound targets, the establishment of functioning PCSD governance mechanisms, as well as the creation of different avenues and spaces for CSOs and people to participate in PCSD discussions, as well as the dissemination of positive narratives.

Additionally, the report recommends that a global PCSD institution be established with a global steering body to develop standards and recommended processes and structures for PCSD, which should be flexible and adaptable to different countries’ contexts, and to monitor progress toward that standard as time goes on.

For further information about the Forus/ADA report, please contact Deirdre de Burca, Forus Advocacy Co-ordinator, at Deirdre@forus-international.org