CoNGO  REGIONAL COMMITTEE IN ASIA-PACIFIC 

(RCAP)

Invitation to RCAP Bangkok, May 19 and 20, 2023

1.  The CoNGO RCAP initiative took off in 2017 and has been productive for NGOs/CSOs in the Asia-Pacific Region, facilitating access to the United Nations deliberations on the Sustainable Development Goals, and encouraging intra-regional learning and cooperation processes.

• This memorandum outlines the situation and planning for RCAP work in 2023 when we will meet in person for the first time after the pandemic that has so long disrupted lives and activities around the world.

2. You certainly know that UN. ESCAP has scheduled its 2023 Plenary Session  (ESCAP 79) for May 15-19. We are delighted that our generous Bangkok host of many years, Siam University, kindly agrees to again host RCAP 2023 on May 19 and 20. (May 19, the last day of ESCAP, is normally a rather formal set of sessions to approve the conclusions reached  during the preceding week.) As 2023 is CoNGO’s 75^th Anniversary, we will also hold a commemorative event for that within the framework of RCAP.

3. Each year the work of RCAP provides input to the UN High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF)  –  which in 2023 is meeting at the UN.HQ in New York from July 10 to 19.   Information:  hlpf-un-org/ 2023/programme. In addition, an SDG Summit will be held at the UN.HQ in September 2023, to assess progress at approximately the halfway stage of 2015-2030. (https://www.un.org/en/conferences/SDGSummit2023)
   RCAP can have input to that too.

4.  This year’s HLPF theme is “Accelerating the recovery from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at all levels”. The 2023 HLPF will review the following SDGs: SDG 6 (Clean water and sanitation), SDG 7 (Affordable and clean energy), SDG 9  (Industry, innovation, infrastructure),  SDG 11 (Sustainable cities and communities), SDG 17  (Partnerships for the SDGs). The Voluntary National Reviews scheduled for HLPF 2023 include the following countries from the RCAP region: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Fiji, Maldives,  Mongolia, Singapore, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam.

5. Based on past experience, we will again focus RCAP’s content on the key action words of the HLPF theme in 2023, namely “FULL IMPLEMENTATION  OF  THE  2030  AGENDA  FOR  SUSTAINABLE  DEVELOPMENT”.

• The IMPLEMENTATION of the SDGs is so frequently lacking, and it is in the implementation area that NGOs and CSOs are often setting an example to governments, local authorities, and other stakeholders. So we are hereby inviting all NGOs/CSOs on the RCAP mailing list to send CoNGO a document (text, PPT, chart, etc) via our registration survey describing their specific projects and achievements in implementing one or more of the SDGs that are up for review this year. We want to have examples of grass-roots implementation that involves communities and makes a measurable difference in people’s lives.

6. As in past years, we shall then use the project reports as the basis for a composite synthesis for submission to the 2023 HLPF.

7. Under the updated RCAP Terms of Reference, the Steering Committee will be elected at the 2023 RCAP Session. I invite you to consider proposing a candidate.

We look forward to your responses on your Implementation of the SDGs!

Please fill out this registration survey. 
Your organization’s  SDG implementation documents should be sent to (rcap@ngocongo.org) by May 3, 2023. 

CoNGO First Vice President
(firstvp@ngocongo.org)

N.B. As a reminder, the following are some relevant international events in the months until the HLPF:

• Asia Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development, 27-30 March (ESCAP, Bangkok)
• UN Commission on Population and Development (CPopD16), 16th Session, April 10-14,  New York
• 17^th World Congress on Public Health, May 2-6, Rome   (World Federation of Public Health Associations)
• International  Labour Conference  (ILC 111),  June 5-16  (Geneva)

Annexe:   RCAP  2023  Logistical Information  and  Provisional  Schedule

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