Financing for Development in the Era of COVID-19 and Beyond

INVITATION

CIVIL SOCIETY MEETING

Financing for Development in the Era of COVID-19 and Beyond

Monday, 2 November 2020, 9:00-11:30 AM EDT

The COVID-19 pandemic and the social and economic crisis it triggered are threatening the well-being of billions of people and risk derailing the global efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and address the growing climate emergency. In some parts of the world, the pandemic is fast turning into a humanitarian crisis, pushing entire populations into a state of acute food deprivation. International cooperation and solidarity among all stakeholders are imperatives to respond to the crisis induced by the pandemic and ensure an inclusive, sustainable and prosperous future.

On 28 May 2020, the Prime Ministers of Canada, Jamaica and the Secretary-General convened a High-Level Event on “Financing for Development in the Era of COVID-19 and Beyond” to join forces with Heads of State and Government, international organizations, and other key partners to enable discussions of concrete financing solutions to the COVID-19 health and development emergency, guided by the roadmap set out in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Six Member States-led Discussion Groups, including civil society representatives, produced a comprehensive and bold menu of policy options to survive and build back better from this crisis, which were presented to Finance Ministers at a High-Level Meeting on 8 September and to Heads of State and Government at a Leaders’ Meeting at 29 September.

Building on this initiative, the meeting will provide an open and inclusive space for dialogue between civil society and the UN Secretary-General in order to explore critical pathways to better recover from the crisis and systemic solutions to fix our broken global economic architecture. In focusing on development financing, the meeting will put a human face to the challenges exposed and magnified by the pandemic, including the intersections between systemic economic reforms and the challenges and demands of peoples and their communities.

Please indicate your intention to attend this Roundtable by registering here by Saturday, October 31^st, at 5PM EDT.

For more information, please visit the website or email sdgfinancing@un.org

We hope you will join us for this exciting event.

Best wishes,

The SDG Financing Team

Civil Society Meeting

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Financing for Development in the Era of COVID-19 and Beyond

Monday, 2 November 2020, 9:00-11:30AM ET

Provisional Agenda

Opening Segment

Master of Ceremony Ms. Maria-Francesca Spatolisano, Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Inter-Agency Affairs, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs

Opening Statement by H.E. António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations
Remarks by H.E. Munir Akram, President of ECOSOC
Remarks by H.E. Bob Rae, Permanent Representative of Canada
Remarks by H.E. Courtenay Rattray, Permanent Representative of Jamaica
Presentation of Financing for Development Initiative by Mr. Mahmoud Mohieldin, Special Envoy on Financing the 2030 Agenda
Remarks by Lidy Nacpil, Coordinator, Asian People’s Movement on Debt & Development (APMDD)

Interlude 1 – Video Testimonial from Lima, Peru

Dialogue 1 –A New Global Economic Consensus to advance the 2030 Agenda

The first dialogue will focus on strategies proposed by civil society to strengthen the role of the United Nations in establishing a new global economic consensus to advance the agendas of human rights, gender equality, climate and sustainable development.

Moderator: Patricia Miranda, Global Advocacy Director, Red Latinoamericana por Justicia Económica y Social (LATINDADD)

A new feminist economy

Bhumika Muchhala, Third World Network and Women’s Working Group on FfD

Reconnecting UN processes on human rights & economic governance

Kate Donald, Director of Program, Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR)

The UN role in promoting a Just Transition

David Boys, Deputy General Secretary, Public Services International (PSI)

Relaunching a vibrant UN process on Trade & Development

Tetteh Hormeku, Head of Programmes, Third World Network Africa

Strengthening the normative dimensions of the UN STI process

Elenita Daño, Co-Executive Director, ETC Group

Open Dialogue with interventions from the floor (2 min interventions)
- Mohammed Ali Loutfy, Stakeholder Group of Persons with Disabilities
- Interventions from the floor

Interlude 2 – Multilingual music performance featuring artists from Latin America, Africa and Asia

Dialogue 2 – Menu of Options for Development Financing: Need to Focus on Strengthening Fiscal & Policy Space for Socio-Economic Transformation

The second dialogue will focus on civil society’s responses and proposals with respect to the Menu of Options, highlighting the elements of the menu that civil society supports and stressing the need for clear criteria on which elements on the menu the UN should focus on in order to strengthen fiscal & policy space for socio-economic transformation of developing countries.

Moderator: Jean Letitia Saldanha, Director, European Network on Debt and Development (EURODAD)

Debt Sustainability

Farooq Tariq, General Secretary, Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee

Illicit Financial Flows

Caroline Othim, Policy Coordinator for Africa, Global Alliance for Tax Justice (GATJ)

Intersection of Debt and Illicit Financial Flows with Food, Health and Education

Rebecca Malay, Co-Chair, Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP)

Global Liquidity and Financial Regulation

Artemisa Montes Sylvan, Executive Director, Mexican Observatory on Crises (OMEC)

Fiscal Consolidation, Austerity and Privatization of Public Services

Magdalena Sepulveda, Executive Director, Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (GI-ESCR)

Need for a special focus on Social Protection

Nicola Wiebe, Social Protection Advisor, Bread for the World and Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors

Open Dialogue with interventions from the floor (2 min interventions)
- Helen Saldanha, NGO Committee on Financing for Development
- Paul Divakar, Asia Dalits Rights Forum
- Interventions from the floor

Interlude 3 – Musical and dancing performance on social protection Closing Segment

Master of Ceremony Ms. Maria-Francesca Spatolisano, Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Inter-Agency Affairs, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs

Concluding remarks by civil society:

Peter Kamalingin, Pan Africa Program Director, Oxfam International

Beverly Longid, Co-Chair, CSO Partnership for Development Effectiveness (CPDE)

Concluding remarks by Ms. Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations

Closing Testimonial – Poem by Marumbo

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CoNGO Notes: To know more about the work of the NGO Committee on Financing for Development-NY, including how to become a member, send an email to its Chair, Anita Thomas, at ngosonffd@gmail.com, and visit their website, ngosonffd.org/. See also the Committee’s social media handle on Facebook: NGOsOnFfD and @NGOsonFfD.

Interactive Dialogue with WHO Director General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

Greetings,

It is a pleasure to invite you to participate in an interactive civil society dialogue with WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on 4 November 2020 with the theme Strengthening connections across sectors: Building partnerships for healthy ageing in and beyond the COVID-19 era.

Older people and those with underlying health conditions are facing the most significant risks from COVID-19, yet neither are they invisible or powerless. In this space of both tragedy and opportunity CSOs working with these groups are the glue of solidarity globally, nationally, locally and at the community level. WHO leadership has a pivotal role to play in reinforcing the need for strategic action across WHO Departments and offices, with a common goal of improving the health (in the broadest sense) and well being of older people, and protecting their rights, during and living with the impact of the pandemic.

REGISTER HERE.

MODERATOR

Jane Barratt, International Federation on Ageing

SPEAKERS

Voice of older people in COVID-19: Maciej Kucharczyk, AGE Platform Europe

Enabling age-friendly environments, including measuring their impact: Grace Chan, Hong Kong Council of Social Services

Vaccination to older adults and those with underlying conditions: Michael Moore, World Federation Public Health Associations

Regulated home-based and residential / institutional long-term care and support: Isabella Aboderin, International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics (IAGG),

African Region

Including older people in all NCDs (including mental health) data and responses: Justin Derbyshire, HelpAge International

Humanizing loss, grief, bereavement, and the last days of life: Alexandre Kalache, International Longevity Centre, Brazil

Organized by the International Federation on Ageing, HelpAge International, ILC Brazil and the NGO Committee on Ageing, Geneva and supported by many organizations, this interactive session forms part of the series of Civil Society-WHO Director General dialogues being organized on different topics of interest for the civil society, related to the COVID-19 response.

Join this innovative program of lightning talks on technical and systemic issues, good practice and concrete action which we believe will support a stronger focus on healthy ageing at global, regional, national and community levels.

Date and Time:

Wednesday 4 November 2020

8:00–9:30am (EST – New York) | 2:00-3:30pm (CET – Geneva)

Register for the Interactive Dialogue

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Ageing-Geneva, please visit ageingcommitteegeneva.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Ageing-New York, please visit ngocoa-ny.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Ageing-Vienna, please visit ngoageingvie.org.

Nuclear Weapons and International Law in the Contemporary Era

You are invited to: A Virtual Conference on Nuclear Weapons and International Law in the Contemporary Era

12 November 2020, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST

Seeking to address the huge gap in public awareness of nuclear weapons risk and applicable international law, the New York State Bar Association International Section is holding an all-day virtual conference that will bring together leading public officials, thought-leaders, policymakers, and experts for a comprehensive look at this often ignored subject.

According to Professor Charles J. Moxley, Jr., an LCNP director and a conference organizer, “International law may well hold the world’s best prospect for addressing and getting ahead of the existential risks posted by nuclear weapons.”

Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy (LCNP) is one of the co-sponsors of the conference and is well-represented in the program.

Register (no charge) and see the agenda here.

Among the speakers:

Professor Moxley, Kathleen Lawand of the International Committee of the Red Cross, and Professor David Koplow of Georgetown Law
Izumi Nakamitsu, UN Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, will deliver a keynote address, followed by a panel on the role of the United Nations featuring her, LCNP Senior Analyst John Burroughs, Allison Pytlak of Reaching Critical Will/WILPF, and LCNP Executive Director Ariana Smith (moderator)
Jerry Brown, former Governor of California and Executive Chairman, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, will engage in a dialogue on responding to the greatest threats to humanity with Jonathan Granoff, President of Global Security Institute and an LCNP director
A panel on advancing the rule of law and morality in relation to nuclear weapons includes Jacqueline Cabasso, Executive Director of Western States Legal Foundation, LCNP advisor Laurie Ashton, an attorney who served on the legal team for the Marshall Islands in its nuclear disarmament cases in the International Court of Justice, and Tom Collina, Director of Policy, Ploughshares Fund, and co-author with William Perry of The Button

Additional panels will address nuclear weapons risks, consequences and responses, and the treaty regime on nuclear weapons.

Conference co-sponsors in addition to LCNP are Fordham Law School, Center on National Security; Georgetown University, Berkley Center for Religion, Ethics and World Affairs; American Bar Association, International Law Section; New York City Bar Association, Committees on International Law, Military and Veteran Affairs, Nuclear Policy and the United Nations, and Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice; New York County Lawyers Association, Committee on Foreign & International Law; Global Security Institute.

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Disarmament, Peace, and Security, please visit ngocdps.wordpress.com. For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-Vienna, please visit ngocsdvienna.org.

No Gun Ri Global Peace Forum (CoNGO President scheduled to address the Forum)

TO REGISTER, CLICK HERE.

[postponed] 21st session, Intergovernmental Working Group on the Right to Development

Announcement to civil society partners & interested participants:

The twenty-first session of the Intergovernmental Working Group on the Right to Development, planned to take place from 2 to 6 November 2020, is postponed to 3-7 May 2021, Ariana 1, Palais des Nations, Geneva, due to the current circumstances arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Organized by the NGO Liaison Unit, Political Affairs and Partnerships Section
Office of the Director-General, United Nations Office at Geneva, Palais des Nations, unog.ngo@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 Sustainable Development-Vienna, please visit ngocsdvienna.org.

[UN Observance] World Children’s Day 2020: A Day to Reimagine the Future

World Children’s Day was first established in 1954 as Universal Children’s Day and is celebrated on 20 November each year to promote international togetherness, awareness among children worldwide, and improving children’s welfare.

World Children’s Day offers each of us an inspirational entry-point to advocate, promote and celebrate children’s rights, translating into dialogues and actions that will build a better world for children. This year is extra special. It’s the 30th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, time to celebrate and a time to demand action for child rights.

Explore UNICEF’s 2020 World Children’s Day Toolkit here to learn more and get involved.

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on the Rights of the Child, please email the co-chair at marjones@rr.nyc.com. For more information on the NGO Committee on Intergenerational Solidarity, please email the vice chair at susanneseperson@gmail.com. For more information on the NGO Committee on Education, Learning, and Literacy, please visit facebook.com/NGOCELLatUN.

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and Global Health: Inter-linkage of the Health of People and Planet

Join UNESCO for a global series of online workshops on how to transform society through learning with Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), launching in September 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a tragic impact on human life around the world: killing hundreds of thousands of people, causing global economic decline and school closures in over 180 countries. ESD reassesses what we learn, where we learn and how we learn to ensure we develop the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes that enable us to make informed decisions and actions on global problems such as the climate crisis and the COVID-19 crisis.

Transforming learning to transform societies towards sustainability is the aim of the ESD for 2030 framework. This roadmap for ESD in 2020-2030 will be officially launched at the UNESCO World Conference on ESD taking place on 17-19 May 2021, in Berlin, Germany. In the lead-up to the World Conference, UNESCO invite you to a series of ESD online workshops in cooperation with the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany, and with the German Commission for UNESCO as advisory partner. The discussions and results from the series of online workshops will be used to further develop the conference program and help shape the agenda in Berlin next year.

Dec. 9, 2020 will be the 4th session in the series: ESD and global health: Inter-linkage of the health of people and planet

This online workshop focus on the interconnectedness of the health of people and planet as highlighted through the COVID-19 pandemic, and questions how this can be better reflected in ESD practices.

Register & learn more: https://en.unesco.org/themes/education-sustainable-development/ESDfor2030-workshops

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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 Sustainable Development-Vienna, please visit ngocsdvienna.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Financing for Development, please visit ngosonffd.org.

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and the Climate Emergency: ‘Flatten the Curve for Climate Change’

Join UNESCO for a global series of online workshops on how to transform society through learning with Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), launching in September 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a tragic impact on human life around the world: killing hundreds of thousands of people, causing global economic decline and school closures in over 180 countries. ESD reassesses what we learn, where we learn and how we learn to ensure we develop the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes that enable us to make informed decisions and actions on global problems such as the climate crisis and the COVID-19 crisis.

Transforming learning to transform societies towards sustainability is the aim of the ESD for 2030 framework. This roadmap for ESD in 2020-2030 will be officially launched at the UNESCO World Conference on ESD taking place on 17-19 May 2021, in Berlin, Germany. In the lead-up to the World Conference, UNESCO invite you to a series of ESD online workshops in cooperation with the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany, and with the German Commission for UNESCO as advisory partner. The discussions and results from the series of online workshops will be used to further develop the conference program and help shape the agenda in Berlin next year.

Feb. 10, 2021, will be the 5th session in the series. The theme will be “ESD and Climate Emergency: Bend the curve for climate change”

This online workshop will raise the parallels between the pandemic and climate emergency and discuss how the lessons learned from the public response to the Covid-19 crisis can help ‘flatten the curve of climate change,’ in particular through ESD’s contribution.

Register & learn more: https://en.unesco.org/themes/education-sustainable-development/ESDfor2030-workshops

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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 Sustainable Development-Vienna, please visit ngocsdvienna.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, please visit facebook.com/NGOCoRIP. For more information on the NGO Committee on Financing for Development, please visit ngosonffd.org.

United Nations Association of the Philippines 75th Anniversary Event {CoNGO President Speaks}

UNITED NATIONS ASSOCIATION OF THE PHILIPPINES (UNAP), Member, World Federation of United Nations Association (WFUNA), invites you to join in our 75th UN Day Celebration

October 24, 2020

10:00AM (Manila) 10:00PM/October 23 (New York EDT)

Join via Zoom :
https://pnu-edu-ph.zoom.us/j/83389362814?pwd=T0tFUzFwNzl5RUZ3MXJrMjQ5UWM3dz09

Meeting ID: 833 8936 2814
Passcode: 244993

Invocation – Audio Visual Presentation

National Anthem – Audio Visual Presentation

Opening Remarks – Amelou Benitez Reyes, Ph.D.

The UN International Year of Nurses and Midwifes

Philippines International Year of Healthcare Workers – PCW Chair Sandy S. Montano

The Philippines at UN – Amb. Noralyn Jubair-Baja

The Message of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres – Mr. Gustavo Gonzalez

Revitalizing Gen. Carlos P. Romulo’s – Hon. Cong. Roman Romulo

Contribution to Education, UN and World Peace

Strengthening NGO participation in the UN…………………… Rev. Liberato “Levi” Bautista

UN Education for World Peace…………………………………… Hon. Arch. Charles John Brown

Presentation of the Gen. CPR Award…………………………… Ramona Ines B. Rañeses, Ph.D.

Response from the Awardee…………………………………….. Department of Education

Closing Remarks…………………………………………………… Prof. Alice Aguilar Lucas

UNAP Executive Secretary

Master of Ceremony: Roderick C. Cruz, UNAP Board Member

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the Conference of NGOs at the United Nations, and what it is doing to celebrate the UN Day and the 75th UN anniversary, visit www.ngocongo.org

{Livestream from Geneva} 30th Anniversary of International Day of Older Persons

Live Stream virtual event: 30th Anniversary of International Day of Older Persons

Livestream: https://who.zoom.us/j/92371571549 Password: Meetus@99 or https://tinyurl.com/UNIDOP2020 password: Meetus@99

Co-organized by the NGO Committee on Ageing, Geneva with UNFPA, OHCHR and WHO

to mark the International Day of Older Persons on Thursday 1 October 14:00-15:00 CET/ Geneva time, 08:00-09:00 EDT/New York

See flyer here. See Concept Note here.

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO committees working on issues related to ageing and older persons, that are affiliated with CoNGO, please contact: NGO Committee on Ageing-Geneva, please visit ageingcommitteegeneva.org; NGO Committee on Ageing-New York, please visit ngocoa-ny.org; NGO Committee on Ageing-Vienna, please visit ngoageingvie.org.

Conference of NGOs (CoNGO)