Learning with Partners CSO 1: Civic Engagement and Multistakeholder Partnerships for SDGs in Asia

Event: The 56th ADB Annual Meeting: Civil Society Program

Learning with Partners CSO 1: Civic Engagement and Multistakeholder Partnerships for SDGs in Asia

03 May 2023

by Asia Civil Society Partnership for Sustainable Development (APSD) and Korea NGO Council for Overseas Cooperation (KCOC).

The session opened with a note that while the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are at the halfway mark to the 2030 Agenda, progress is on track for only 12% of the SDG indicators in the region. The status quo implies that many countries in the region are off-track on SDGs, further slowed down by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. CSO panelists from Sri Lanka presented an overview of the current state of the Voluntary National Review process and concluded that it has become meaningless.

The CSO panelist from Mongolia presented the scorecard methodology used by stakeholders from the government, civil society, and private sector to assess progress. The review concluded that the progress was off-track in most cases. The methodology is participatory and brings credibility to findings and should be replicated in other countries. The participants learned about many forthcoming opportunities to participate in SDG reviews including the second UN SDGs Summit in September 2023.

The session further discussed cases of government-civil society partnerships in Japan and the Republic of Korea and recommended that both donor countries expand meaningful modalities, including through ADB, and channel more official development assistance to local CSOs in developing countries. Youth representatives from both the panel and among participants mentioned that even when structures exist to support their participation, they are unable to participate substantively as they lack resources for the needed analytical work. ADB’s Samuel Tumiwa shared the concern of CSOs about SDG targets being off-track in the region but hoped that the pace of progress will pick up as the COVID-19 disruption wanes. He highlighted the value of promoting partnerships with various sectors such as government, civil society, and the private sector to reach the SDG targets.

CSO Panelists:

Uchita De Zoysa, Executive Director, Center for Environment and Development, Sri Lanka
Urantsooj Gombosuren, Chairperson, Center for Human Rights Development, Mongolia
Aoi Horiuchi, Senior Advocacy Officer, Japan NGO Center for International Cooperation
Raffiela Lae Santiago, Research and Advocacy Officer, Asia South Pacific Association for Basic and Adult Education, Philippines
Jaeesun Shin, Director of Policy Center, Korea NGO Council on Overseas Cooperation (KCOC), Republic of Korea

ADB Panelist: Samuel Tumiwa, Advisor of Sustainable Development and Climate Change Department and Chief of Fragility and Conflict-Affected Situations

Moderator: Anselmo Lee, Regional Coordinator, Asia Civil Society Partnership for Sustainable Development (APSD).

Type of Content:

Learning Event

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