Aiming to ensure a broad span and diversity of voices in conversations on the shape and content of the Post-2015 Development Agenda, the United Nations Development Group (UNDG) is convening a series of country and global thematic consultations. There will be 50-100 national consultations and eleven global thematic consultations on topics which have been identified as being of critical importance to the discussions on the “world we want”, both now and beyond 2015.In support of an open, participatory process for the formulation of the post-2015 development era, this consultation aims to enable the participation of civil society, academia, governments, the UN system, the media, national and international non-governmental organizations and the private sector in the discussions on how the next development framework can most effectively incorporate and address key issues of inequality and the factors underlying them.
Activities are starting now, and will continue over the next several months, leveraging technology and social media to engage participants in the form of online, moderated discussions on specific issues related to inequalities.
How can I participate?
Sign-up to join the consultation here >. The Addressing Inequalities Consultation space is hosted by the www.worldwewant2015.org site, co-owned by the UN System and Civil Society. Within this space, we are hosting a series of online, moderated discussions on major, globally-prevalent forms of inequality related to gender, disability, indigenous and minority group status, sexual orientation, etc. New discussions will be launched on the site approximately every two weeks, led by expert moderators from the UN system and Civil Society. Each discussion will be time-bound, lasing approximately three weeks, to allow time for detailed discussion of issues from as broad a range of participants as possible. The full calendar of upcoming discussions is available on the site. Visitors to the site are also able to pose questions to key development actors via live-streamed discussions on inequalities and occasional “Twitter chats”.
The data collected from this online engagement on Inequalities, including summaries of the discussions and inputs from civil society organizations submitted via the site, will be synthesized in the form of a final report and recommendations to be presented at a Leadership Meeting in Copenhagen in February 2013, where key decision-makers will be presented with the outcomes of the consultation process.
This is a public, open-access discussion forum and contributions are welcomed from all those with a stake in the next development agenda. This is an opportunity to influence the agenda, and you are encouraged to share the voices of the people or communities you represent, particularly those who are not able to access the consultations online. The first discussion kicked off on Wednesday, 3 October, on the theme of Gender Equality, co-moderated by UN Women, and we welcome your participation.
To participate, join the consultation here > and post your response to the discussion questions in the discussion forum. You do not need to register in order to post comments, but you are welcomed and encouraged to do so. The website is available in English, French and Spanish, and you may contribute in any of the sixty languages supported by the site’s Google translate feature.
How does the online engagement feed into the overall Inequalities consultation process?
The Inequalities Consultation has three major components:
1. Call for Papers: launched in July 2012. Over 250 paper proposals were accepted from a diverse group of stakeholders including academia, civil society, the UN, etc. All papers will be finalized by 31 October and some are already available on the Addressing Inequalities website.
2. Online engagement: launched in September 2012 at: www.worldwewant2015.org/inequalities.
3. Leadership meeting: Culmination of the conversation findings and presentation/discussion: High-level officials from governments, civil society/international NGO coalitions, UN partners, members of the Secretary-General's High-Level Panel and members of the Open Working Group on the SDGs will meet to discuss the synthesized results and findings of the papers and the online engagement and put forward a statement and recommendations on how to address inequalities in the post-2015 agenda. The aim is to build consensus on key issues and ways to address them, in order to feed into the intergovernmental discussions on the new agenda.
Synergies with other processes and partners, including civil society
An Advisory Group is helping to guide the consultation, as well as promote synergies with other consultations on the Post-2015 development agenda. The Group is composed of individuals representing the diverse range of stakeholders expected to engage in the consultation, from civil society and academia to governments and the UN.
The success of any new development framework will depend largely on the inclusiveness of the process by which it was designed. We hope that you will join in the discussions taking place on the Inequalities site over the next few months, and will encourage your networks and constituencies to also participate.