UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, 79th Session (Bangkok)

The 79th Session of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific will be held at the United Nations Conference Centre ESCAP Hall in Bangkok, from 15 to 19 May 2023.

This is an in-person event and all participants who appear in the letter of credentials are requested to register online at indico as soon as possible but no later than 21 April 2023. Only the names of duly accredited and registered participants will be included in the list of participants.

The theme of the session is “Accelerating climate action in Asia and the Pacific for sustainable development”, and this annual session will be an opportunity to strengthen regional cooperation on climate change.

For more information about the 79th Session of UNESCAP for Asia and the Pacific, please visit their website.

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-NY, please visit ngocsd-ny.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-Vienna, please visit ngocsdvienna.org.

Asia-Pacific Environmental Human Rights Defenders Forum

Dear Friends/Colleagues,

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights – Regional Office for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, United Nations Environment Programme – Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Asia Pacific Network of Environment Defenders, together with our partner organizations, will be conducting the Asia-Pacific Environmental Human Rights Defenders (EHRDs) Forum with the theme “Building safe spaces for dialogue and support among environmental human rights defenders“ on 17-19 November 2021 at 10:00-13:00 GMT+7 / Bangkok time. The Forum aims to provide a venue for EHRDs discussion, learning exchange, and formulation of recommendations among EHRDs in the region. The recommendations will become a foundation to raise awareness amongst policymakers, the private sector, and other stakeholders in order to encourage policies and practices recognizing the vital and positive role of EHRDs. The recommendations developed at the Forum can further guide UN programming and advocacy at the country and regional levels to continue to support the contribution of EHRDs.

Register here: https://events1.social27.com/EHRDForum/auth/register

If you have questions, please contact the Forum team at ap.ehrd.forum@gmail.com.

#Asia-PacificEHRDForum2021

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Human Rights, please email the co-chairs at bknotts@uua.org or bobbinassar@gmail.com. For more information on the NGO Committee on Social Development, please visit ngosocdev.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Financing for Development, please visit ngosonffd.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, please visit facebook.com/NGOCoRIP.

ASPBAE Asia Pacific Policy Dialogue on Education Financing

Dear ASPBAE Members and Friends,

We cordially invite you to join the ASPBAE Asia Pacific Policy Dialogue on Education Financing which will be held on Monday, 26 April 2021, at 1:00 pm Manila time (Philippine Standard Time).

This is a key Asia Pacific event as part of the Global Action Week for Education (GAWE) held from 26-30 April and the One Billion Voices Campaign, both coordinated by the Global Campaign for Education (GCE) and supported by ASPBAE. Each regional network member of GCE is holding an event on a different day of GAWE, and the Asia Pacific event by ASPBAE is the first one to start the week on Monday 26 April.

We hope you can join us in this event and encourage your colleagues to participate as well. There is no registration process required. Join the Zoom Meeting here:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86001255005?pwd=M0h2ZVV3ZGY5VG51Zzl5OUZORDBlQT09
Meeting ID: 860 0125 5005; Passcode: 850131

The event will be attended by three senior government officials, one each from Timor Leste, the Philippines and Bangladesh speaking, along with a presentation from the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), as well as a presentation from ASPBAE and a youth representative from NCE Nepal. There will be space at the end of the speeches and inputs for a number of questions to the speakers.

Objective:

The objective of the Asia Pacific Regional Dialogue on Education Financing is to encourage governments to mobilise national resources that can ensure inclusive education systems and programmes that prioritise the most marginalised.

Rationale:

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a huge gap between education spending, and what was actually needed to achieve SDG4. The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly exacerbated this gap, and has led to a curtailment of funding by donors and governments for the education of its people. More than ever, it is important for governments to step up and protect national education budgets, and even better, to increase them, especially to enable education access to rural and remote communities, people with disabilities, those that are missing out on school, unemployed youth, and those that have no access to online learning opportunities.

This online event is part of the Global Action Week for Education (GAWE), an annual international week of campaigning for improved national education policies and increased national education budgets. The theme of GAWE this year is education financing towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4). GAWE is part of a year-long campaign organised by the Global Campaign for Education (GCE) called One Billion Voices.

Rallying Call: ‘Protect Education Budgets: reach the most marginalised’

Main speakers:

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, Chair, Senate Committee on Basic Education, Arts and Culture
Dr. António Guterres, Vice Minister for Education, Youth and Sport, Timor-Leste
Mr. Md. Mahbub Hossain, Secretary, Secondary and Higher Education Division, Ministry of Education in Bangladesh
GPE presentation: recorded message from Ms Margarita Focas Licht, Chief, Effective Partnerships

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Education, Learning, and Literacy, please visit facebook.com/NGOCELLatUN. For more information on the NGO Committee on Financing for Development, please visit ngosonffd.org.

77th session of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia & the Pacific (ESCAP)

The seventy-seventh session of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) will be held at the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok and via videoconferencing from 26 to 29 April 2021 under the theme, “Building back better from crises through regional cooperation in Asia and the Pacific.”

The theme study for the 77th Commission session analyses the socio-economic impacts of the pandemic in countries of Asia and the Pacific, takes stock of action so far, and sets out a policy agenda for building back better grounded in regional cooperation and centered around four critical interconnected areas: broadening social protection, investing in a sustained recovery, strengthening connectivity and supply chains; and mending a broken relationship with nature.

Meeting at the ministerial level, the members of the Commission will discuss and decide on important issues pertaining to inclusive and sustainable economic and social development in the region and make recommendations to its subsidiary bodies and to the Executive Secretary. The proceedings will include regional perspectives, initiatives and subregional cooperation for scaled up actions in response to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and take stock of its socioeconomic impact.

The Commission will also review the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific, consider issues vital to the inclusive and sustainable development of least developed countries, landlocked developing countries and Pacific island developing States, and discuss management issues such as the proposed programme plan of ESCAP for 2022.

Credentials and Registration:

Each delegation is required to submit a letter of credentials, duly signed by the appropriate authority of the respective Government or organization, at the earliest convenience and no later than 16 April 2021 to oes.unescap@un.org. Only delegates who appear on the credentials will be recognized in the list of participants.

Once letter of credential has been submitted, all participants are requested to register online as soon as possible.

Only the names of duly accredited and registered participants will be included in the list of participants. For more information, please email the Office of the Executive Secretary at oes.unescap@un.org.

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Social Development, please visit ngosocdev.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Financing for Development, please visit ngosonffd.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-Vienna, please visit ngocsdvienna.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-NY, please visit ngocsd-ny.org.

Youth-led Action Research (YAR) on the Impact of COVID-19 on Marginalised Youth in 9 Countries in the Asia Pacific

The Asia Pacific region is home to more than 700 million young people. About 85 million come from marginalized backgrounds, living in extreme poverty, having little to no access to education, employment, health care, and social protection, and facing barriers to meaningful opportunities to engage in decision-making processes that affect their lives. Disconnected from their peers and pushed to the margins, youth took a serious hit due to the profound impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and continue to face significant disruptions and changes on multiple fronts- at home, in their community, and in the economy. They will continue to feel the weight of this crisis for a long time.

The Asia South Pacific Association for Basic and Adult Education (ASPBAE) recognizes the immense value of youth as equal partners in promoting transformative youth and adult work and strong lifelong learning systems and creating a better world. ASPBAE is well-positioned to serve as a source of support for youth and as a platform through which their voices and needs can be conveyed and amplified, even and especially during a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic. Strengthening the voice and agency of youth in education policies and processes has been a priority of ASPBAE and is a huge part of its work and advocacies.

It is against this backdrop that ASPBAE invites you to its virtual side event:

Youth-led Action Research (YAR) on the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Marginalised Youth in 9 Countries in the Asia Pacific

Register here!

This side event will bring together youth and youth organizations, national and local governments officials, international organizations, civil society organizations, parents’ and teachers’ associations to deepen understanding of the new and challenging realities that marginalized youth are facing due to the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the different aspects of their lives. The event specifically aims to:

✱ Share stories and recommendations of marginalized youth on how to place education, decent work, and social protection at the centre of the agenda towards recovery and resilience

✱ Discuss measures that governments, decision-makers, and other relevant stakeholders can take to finance and prioritize the recommendations of youth

✱ Appraise the VNRs of 12 countries in the region through an adult learning and education (ALE) lens looking into the integration of youth and adult learning and education in the implementation of the SDGs

✱ Discuss the financing of education based on the recommendations from the youth-led action research

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Education, Learning, and Literacy, please visit facebook.com/NGOCELLatUN. For more information on the NGO Committee on Children’s Rights, please visit childrightsny.org.

Asia Pacific