Opening of the GPEDC Senior-Level Meeting in New York highlights call to accelerate progress in SDG implementation
14 July 2019, NEW YORK – More than 500 key representatives from development actors around the world trooped to New York for the opening of the first Senior Level-Meeting (SLM) of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation (GPEDC).
Among the participants were civil society leaders from the global platform CSO Partnership for Development Effectiveness (CPDE). Days before the SLM, CPDE gathered its members to call for stronger commitments to accelerate progress in implementation, as well as concrete actions to promote an enabling environment for civil society organisations (CSOs) and reverse the trend of shrinking civic spaces.
Taking place in the margins of the United Nations High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, the SLM highlights the importance and contribution of effectiveness by showcasing tools – from and for the country level – for making development co-operation more effective. Its objectives were: a) affirm effectiveness as an essential driver for sustainable development; b) expand the reach of effectiveness with context-sensitive approaches, and through convening development actors on a more equal footing; and c) explore effectiveness challenges and priorities for the future.
Representing the civil society in the Steering Committee of the GPDEC, CPDE intends to actively engage in the gathering with its diverse delegation of development leaders and representatives who will share their insights in the discussions on achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
“For the civil society, this first SLM is a reaffirmation of the importance of development effectiveness principles – which CSOs championed – as a measure of how we gauge development outcomes,” said CPDE Co-Chair Justin Kilcullen.
CPDE Co-Chair Marita Gonzalez adds, “CPDE has been consistent and will continue to push for transparency and accountability for all actors in their development effectiveness commitments, and encourage multi-stakeholder dialogue on development cooperation.”
CPDE representatives participating in the SLM agreed on the following: a) call for stronger commitment to accelerate progress in implementation through engaging the results of the 3rd Monitoring Round and CPDE’s own CSO report and getting broader buy-in on the GPEDC Global
Action Plan; b) call for concrete actions regarding enabling environment and reversing the trend of closing civic spaces; c) promote effectiveness, accountability principles, and human rights-based approaches in the discourse on private sector engagement in development cooperation; d) solicit high level political support for the Belgrade Call to Action and Action Agenda; and e) promote the CPDE Manifesto and the Beirut Declaration.
CPDE is an open platform that unites CSOs from around the world on the issue of effective development cooperation (EDC). It strives to make development more effective by reshaping the global aid architecture and empowering CSOs working on the ground.
To know more, visit csopartnership.org and its special webpage on SLM engagement, csopartnership.org/slm2019.#