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 31st, 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.