In line with the United Nations Post-2015 Sustainable Development agenda a South Asia Consultation on Financing for Development: Advancing Progressive Regional to Global Policies brought together government representatives and members of civil society to Colombo on the 7 and 8 of June 2015, to build regionally grounded understandings and strategies toward the Third International Conference on Financing for Development (FFD3).
The two day meeting, held at the United Nations in Sri Lanka, strengthened the dialog between South Asia’s civil society across social movements and governments ranging from finance to social development ministries to advance progressive policies, reflecting feminist, youth and other marginalised perspectives, in the national, regional and global policy fora. The meeting was co-convened by Women and Media Collective, Regions Refocus 2015, Asia Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women with the support of UN Women and International Planned Parenthood Federation – South Asia Region.
The Third World Conference on Financing for Development is scheduled in July 2015 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where governments of the United Nations will negotiate an important political agreement on how to finance, support and enable the new sustainable development agenda. It follows a trajectory that began in the late 1990’s recognising the need for global attention and action to address and overcome systematic inequalities and the resources required to achieve development. The conference will result in an intergovernmental negotiated and agreed outcome, which will lay the groundwork for this landmark year of global agreements, particularly the two major intergovernmental negotiations that follow it: the Post-2015 Summit, to define the sustainable development agenda, and COP21 of the UNFCCC, a major legally-binding agreement on who bears responsibility for climate change.
Since the FfD3 process began in late 2014, states have debated a range of politically contentious issues, among them the right to development, the means of implementation for the post-2015 agenda, and the guiding principle of common but differentiated responsibilities (CBDR) that guides the actions of all countries in accordance with their historical trajectories. As detailed in analysis by Regions Refocus 2015 along with Third World Network and Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era, these fissures are at the very center of the geopolitical dynamics at the United Nations. Sound feminist analysis and regional perspectives, including building upon those expressed during the Asia-Pacific consultation organized by ESCAP in Jakarta in late April, must inform governments’ decisions on these fundamental elements of the FfD3 agenda.
Day 1
Day 2 with government representatives