GCSPF responds to inequalities @HLPF 2019

The High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development will meet from Tuesday, 9 July, to Thursday, 18 July 2019; including the three-day ministerial meeting of the forum from Tuesday, 16 July, to Thursday, 18 July 2019.

The theme is: "Empowering people and ensuring inclusiveness and equality". The HLPF will also review progress towards the SDGs and focus in particular on Goals 4, 8, 10, 13, 16, and 17.
During the ministerial meetings 47 countries will carry out Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs). The programme is here.

Members of the GCSPF will organize and/or participate in several events, see below the information.

Members of the GCSPF will hold an INFORMAL MEETING on Tuesday 16^th at 9 am at Guillermo Campuzano’s office which is located at 246 E 46^th street between 2^nd and 3^rd, New York.

The Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors realeased the Policy Brief “Social Protection: an essential building block to reduce inequality” Reducing inequalities is important for development because the adverse impacts of high inequality undermine efforts to overcome poverty. Inequality endangers social cohesion and peace, it negatively affects economic, social and political participation and undermines trust in institutions. Social protection and its progressive financing are essential pillars for achieving the SDGs, and in particular SDG 10 that aims to reduce inequality within and between countries. Building them requires concerted efforts.

The 2030 Agenda and its 17 interrelated goals are grounded in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, international human rights treaties, the Millennium Declaration and the 2005 World Summit Outcome Document. The Agenda recognizes that economic growth alone misses those left furthest behind, and its transformative vision is to reach the furthest first, to leave no one behind, to empower the disadvantaged and to end poverty in all its forms everywhere by 2030. Read the chapter on SDG 1 by the GCSPF published at the Spotlight Report 2019.

This event will bring together a range of experts to examine how ageism and discrimination contribute to growing inequality, and how legal and policy frameworks are necessary for addressing older people’s exclusion. It will explore the potential for positive impact for individuals, societies and economies if older people are empowered, ageism is combatted, and a new understanding of ageing is embedded across all generations. Download the invitation
9 July 2019, 1:15 - 2:45 pm
ConferenceRoom 1, UNHQ

The event will look at how participation can be a transformative tool for people not only to become active agents of their own lives but also to build a truly inclusive society where all can reach their full potential by sharing their experience and knowledge, helping to better inform public policies and transform institutions.
Presenting inspiring speakers - from activists with a direct experience of poverty to academics and practitioners - this interactive event aims at starting a conversation around how innovative participatory tools and processes can help break the vicious circle of poverty and social exclusion and simultaneously effectively inform policy and accountability mechanisms. Download the invitation
Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM EDT
United Nations Church Center, 2nd floor

Come learn the feminists' position on systematic barriers, interlinkages with human rights, and the HLPF/VNR reform. Download the invitation
Tuesday, July 9 - 6:30 to 8 PM
Conference Room 1

“Leaving no one behind (LNOB)” is the central, transformative promise of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It represents the unequivocal commitment of all UN Member States to eradicate poverty in all its forms, end discrimination and exclusion, and reduce inequalities and address vulnerabilities, so that all people, regardless of their background, can fulfil their potential in life, and lead decent lives with dignity. This underscores the need for its 17 Sustainable Development Goals to be met for all nations and peoples and for all segments of society.
The 2018 VNR Lab on LNOB examined who are left behind in selected countries, identified good policies/measures taken to address specific needs of those who are left behind, as well as existing gaps, including lack of knowledge on how to identify and/or reach those furthest behind, and lack of national/local mechanisms for vulnerable groups to meaningfully participate in the VNR process. Download the invitation
Wednesday 10 July, 2019 - 1:15 to 2:45 pm in Conf 11

Four years after the adoption of the 2030 Agenda the world is off-track to achieve the SDGs. Most governments have failed to turn the transformational vision of the 2030 Agenda into real policies for change. Even worse, xenophobia and authoritarianism are on the rise in a growing number of countries. But there are signs of change. The implementation of the 2030 Agenda requires more holistic and more sweeping shifts in how and where power is vested, including through institutional, legal, social, economic and political commitments to realizing human rights and ecological justice.
The Spotlight Report 2019 has as main topic “reshaping governance for sustainability”, and offers analysis and recommendations on the global governance that sustainability requires, as well as on how to strengthen inclusive and participatory governance to overcome structural obstacles and institutional gaps.
At the roundtable event on July 11th in New York authors of the Spotlight Report 2019 will present key findings and recommendations to participants for discussion. Download the invitation.
11 JULY 2019, 9:30-11:30 AM
BAHA'I INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY, CONFERENCE ROOM, 866 UN PLAZA

Bringing the voices and experiences of those who have been left behind – through empowerment and participation – goes beyond enabling agency and towards developing a more inclusive and democratic society.
Come to listen to and discuss about recent tested methodological approaches and tools used in participatory research and programmes aiming to contribute to the ‘whole of society’ approach to follow up and review, ensuring broad inclusion of traditionally excluded groups to deliver the pledge to ‘leave no one behind’. Download the invitation
Thursday 11 July - 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Conference Room 5, United Nations Headquarters

The side event will present and discuss the importance of national reporting on the 2030 Agenda, both by governments (VNRs) and civil society (“spotlight” or “shadow” reports).
The Committee for Development Policy (CDP) will present key findings of its analysis of 2018 VNRs. Voluntary national reviews (VNRs) are an important innovation as a United Nations process for follow-up to the adoption of development agendas, in particular the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
In the 2030 Agenda governments promised “accountability to our citizens”. Civil societies responded by multiplying their own national and regional “spotlight” reports and engaging with governments in a variety of ways about their findings. Social Watch helps to link those processes with the global follow-up and review. Download the invitation
11 JULY, 2019 AT 6 PM UN FF BUILDING
304 EAST 45TH STREET, 11^TH FLOOR

Who are the people who are making our world more sustainable, just and inclusive and how can we ensure that they are protected and empowered by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development? Download the invitation
Friday 12 July, 1 PM to 3 PM
Ford Foundation Center for Social Justice

Integrating several topics among those related to growth, employment, productivity as well as social dimension, SDG8 is per se a multidimensional goal, which plays a pivotal role within the general framework of the 2030 Agenda. Given the centrality of SDG8, reaching its targets is functional to guarantee a full and holistic accomplishment of the 2030 ambitions. Monitoring and measuring SDGs is crucial to guarantee accountability of policy makers vis-à-vis stakeholders. Trade unions are heavily involved in the SDG process at global, regional and national level. Download the invitation
12 July 2019, 6:30 - 8 PM
Conference Room F - UN Conference Building

The EU is still lacking a comprehensive strategy on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and its ambitious commitments to action. On average, the EU has one of the world’s worst environmental footprint per capita, with our unsustainable lifestyles based on resource and labour exploitation in other parts of the world. The economy of the future needs to take into account the environmental and social impact beyond our borders rather than living in the illusion of a low-carbon, resource efficient Europe that exports resource-intensive production to other parts of the world. At the launching event on July 15th in New York authors of the Spotlight Report Sustainability in Europe will present in some important policy areas where there is an urgent need for action, because the external effects of European policies are not sufficiently taken into account. Download the invitation
Launch Spotlight Report Sustainability in Europe
Who is paying the Bill ? (Negative) impacts of EU policies and practices in the World
CHURCH CENTER - 10TH FLOOR, NEW YORK
MONDAY 15TH OF JULY - 16.30-18.00H

Reducing inequalities (SDG10) is essential for overcoming extreme poverty (SDG 1) and a successful implementation of the 2030 Agenda as a whole. Many countries experience high and increasing inequalities. A reversal of this trend is not in sight. Therefore, it is paramount to take political action towards reaching this central goal of the 2030 Agenda. Strong social protection and redistributive policies significantly reduce inequality within countries. Therefore, it is essential to develop overarching strategies, build universal social protection systems as well as assess and increase redistributive capacities. These measures have to ensure that no one is left behind and equitable access to protection against risks and against poverty for all people is guaranteed.
The panel will discuss the most persistent barriers to a sustained reduction of inequalities and the contribution of fiscal and social protection policies to overcome inequalities worldwide. Download the invitation
July 15, 2019, 7 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Permanent Mission of Germany to the United Nations | Auditorium

DESA, UN-Habitat and UNDP will present their approaches to inequality in the 21st Century and discuss what can be done to address them in a new and dynamic context. The event will include a presentation of some of the emerging messages of the forthcoming flagship publications of these entities (including DESA’s World Social Report and UNDP’s Human Development Report). The interactive debate and Q&A that will follow should allow for a forward-looking discussion on the new opportunities and challenges in the debate on inequality and policy action to address it.  Download the invitation
16 July - 1 to 2:30 PM
United Nations S-2724