United Nations Non-Governmental Liaison Service (UN-NGLS)

By 31 March: Apply for speaking role or selection committee: UN PGA's 21-22 April High-level Thematic Debate on Promoting Tolerance and Reconciliation

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At the request of the Office of the President of the UN General Assembly, UN-NGLS is facilitating a nomination process to identify a civil society speaker for the President's High-level Thematic Debate on Promoting Tolerance and Reconciliation. The event will take place on 21-22 April 2015 at United Nations Headquarters in New York. This civil society speaker will receive travel funding, and will participate as a panelist in a discussion on "practical strategies to foster peaceful, inclusive societies and to counter the threat of radicalization and violent extremism."

World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction adopts Sendai Framework

WCDRR logo The Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR), held in Sendai, Japan from 14-18 March, adopted the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction: 2015-2030. The Conference brought together over 6,500 participants from 187 Member States, including 25 Heads of State, Vice Presidents and Heads of Government, 42 intergovernmental organizations, 236 civil society organizations, 38 UN entities, and over 300 private sector representatives, who attended the intergovernmental and multi-stakeholder events.

FfD3 Co-facilitators release zero draft outcome document

UNCC flags FFD The Co-facilitators for the Third International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD3) have released the zero draft of the outcome document, building on the work of the preparatory process and inputs submitted by Member States and other stakeholders. The draft outcome document is intended to provide a holistic and forward-looking framework and concrete actions for the financing of sustainable development in order to deliver the means of implementation for the ambitious and transformative development agenda.

PGA hosts debate: “Advancing Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women and Girls for a Transformative Post-2015 Development Agenda”

PGA GENDER The President of the General Assembly hosted a high-level thematic debate on “Advancing Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women in the post-2015 development agenda” on 6 March 2015 at UN Headquarters, just prior to the 59^th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women. The debate consisted of an opening segment, two interactive, multi-stakeholder panel discussions, and a closing segment, and brought together representatives from Member States, UN entities, civil society groups and others.

By 8 March: Apply for speaking roles during the 23-27 March negotiating session for the post-2015 development agenda

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The UN DESA DSD Major Groups Programme and UN-NGLS are facilitating stakeholder Steering Committees to ensure broad and inclusive participation of stakeholders in the negotiating sessions on the post-2015 development agenda at UN Headquarters. DESA-DSD and UN-NGLS are also conducting open and transparent nomination processes for these Committees to select speakers for these negotiating sessions, in accordance with the modalities that are defined for the process.

17-20 February negotiating session on the Declaration component of the post-2015 agenda

Donoghue and Kamau The second round of the post-2015 intergovernmental negotiations took place from 17-20 February at UN Headquarters. The full session was webcast and the archived videos can be found at the bottom of the page here. This session focused on the Declaration component of the agenda.

On 19 February, the co-facilitators of the post-2015 intergovernmental negotiations, Ambassador David Donoghue, Permanent Representative of Ireland to the UN, and Ambassador Macharia Kamau, Permanent Representative of Kenya to the UN, released a discussion document for the Declaration section of the Post-2015 Development Agenda. This document contains 15 paragraphs that present ideas for Member States to consider including in the Declaration. UN DESA DSD and UN-NGLS invited non-governmental stakeholders to provide suggested text / language that is inspirational and aspirational for any of these paragraphs. Submissions received can be viewed here: http://bit.ly/p2015-declaration-paragraphs-submitted. A compilation document of all submissions was prepared by UN-NGLS and DESA-DSD with attributions, and reviewed by the United Nations as the first draft of the Declaration was crafted for consideration by UN Member States.

Summaries, statements and videos from the 19-21 January negotiations on the post-2015 development agenda

January Post 2015 negotiations opening smaller The first negotiating session on the post-2015 development agenda took place from on 19-21 January at UN Headquarters. Please see the summary of this stocktaking meeting, based on concluding remarks/observations made by the co-facilitators of the negotiations, Ambassador David Donoghue of Ireland, and Ambassador Macharia Kamau of Kenya. On Wednesday, 21 January, the co-facilitators of the post-2015 negotiations convened a 2-hour interactive dialogue with Major Groups and other stakeholders.

Summary of the 16 January Stakeholder Preparatory Forum for the Post-2015 Development Agenda Negotiations

The Stakeholder Preparatory Forum for the post-2015 development agenda negotiations was held on 16 January at UN Headquarters. It was organized by the Stakeholder Steering Committee representing the Major Groups and other stakeholders, facilitated by UN-NGLS and UN DESA-DSD. The Forum brought together approximately 400 participants, including UN Member States, the UN System and stakeholders from civil society and the private sector.

Summary of the United Nations President of the General Assembly’s Interactive Dialogue with Civil Society, 16 January

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On 16 January 2015, the UN President of the General Assembly (PGA), H.E. Mr. Sam Kahamba Kutesa, conducted and interactive dialogue with civil society representatives to discuss the five high-level thematic debates that he will host in 2015 as a contribution toward defining and implementing a transformative post-2015 development agenda.

On the road to COP 21 in Paris: UN Climate talks in Geneva

UNFCCC Geneva conference Two months after the 20th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 20) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) took place in Lima, Peru, the UN Climate Change Conference in Geneva was held from 8-13 February. A climate change conference will also be held this year in Bonn, Germany from 1-11 June, with the aim to continue progress toward achieving an ambitious climate change agreement at COP 21, taking place from 30 November to 11 December in Paris, France.

President of the General Assembly hosts high-level thematic debate on "Means of Implementation for a Transformative Post-2015 Development Agenda"

PGA MOI smaller The UN President of the General Assembly hosted a high-level thematic debate on “Means of Implementation for a Transformative Post-2015 Development Agenda” on 9-10 February at UN Headquarters. The debate brought together Member States, parliamentarians, representatives of local and city authorities, UN entities, international financial institutions, regional development banks, the private sector, civil society, academia, and others. The event consisted of an opening plenary with remarks by the President and Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliaisson; two multi-stakeholder panel discussions; and a closing plenary.

UNCTAD side event: “Making the Sustainable Development Goals Work – Harnessing Trade, Investment and Technology for Sustainable Development”

On the sidelines of the President of the General Assembly’s High-Level Thematic Debate on “Means of Implementation for a Transformative Post-2015 Development Agenda,” the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) convened a side event on 10 February entitled “Making the Sustainable Development Goals Work – Harnessing Trade, Investment and Technology for Sustainable Development.” The event included opening remarks from President of the General Assembly Mr. Sam Kutesa and a welcome address by UNCTAD Secretary-General Mr. Mukhisa Kituyi. The discussion included perspectives from Member States and civil society, and was followed by an interactive debate.

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