Inclusive and Sustainable Development: Perspectives from Europe and Central Asia

on the Post-2015 Development Agenda

Making the new Agenda work: From the Local to National level

« The importance and role of

CSOs »

Istanbul, 8 of November

Leida Rijnhout Executive Director

ANPED – Northern Alliance for Sustainability

Why active civil society participation ?

Participation is often called the 4th dimension for

Sustainable Development.

Creating ownership for policy decisions and

implementation is crucial for good governance

Active and responsible citizens are the

foundation for the social cohesion and

inclusiveness of a society

It guarantees accountability for governments and

politicians, which is legitimate, as they are

representatives of the society.

Different forms of Civil Society Organisations

- Awareness raising and informal education

- Interest groups: defending collective rights, voiceless

groups, nature and/or animals, ..

- Organising (local) activities/farmer markets, ..

- Involvement in concrete planning and

implementation (all stakeholders)

- Policy work:

- Advocacy, agenda setting, push and pull, campaigning

- Engagement in official policymaking (advisory councils,

dialogues with government, ..), monitoring

- Watchdog, name and blame,

Where comes the money from ?

• Private foundations

• Private donations (or memberships)

• Merchandising gadgets

• Public funding (tax payers money)

• …….

!!! Has to be transparent

Enabling effective CSO engagement

CSOs have to be seen as self-organised citizens.

They need to be independent, transparent,

accountable and based on a constituency.

Advocacy CSOs have the role to defend long

term strategies, going beyond the period of a

government

Social innovation is key for the shift towards SD

Acceptance of “dissident” voices

Allow CSO to effective engage in policy process

at all levels

Access to information, participation and justice is a

“must” (Aarhus Convention: for environmental

information)

Legal frameworks are getting more important

Access to justice is implemented more and more:

citizens groups can go to court

On the other hand we see also an increase of

criminalisation of environmental activists

Every week one activist is killed, and hundreds are in

prison and/or oppressed

Agenda 21 was important document that

really valued civil society participation in

policy processes (Local Agenda 21,

National Councils for SD, private and

public multistakeholder dialogues, ..)

Some countries institutionalised CSO

participation in their policymaking

Online consultations

Think global, act local (ownership)

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Thanks !! leida@anped.org

Good governance is also about building communities of responsible citizens and visionary leaders at all levels of society.