Dr Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah, Secretary General of CIVICUS, discusses what we in civil society should be doing over the coming years to help implement the Sustainable Development Goals.
Between us we have spent an incredible amount of time and money on trying to shape the post-2015 agenda. Arguably it has been the most open and inclusive intergovernmental decision-making process. Although this is positive, it has meant that the new Goals are not quite as ambitious as hoped. But now we must move beyond the text and – whether we’re happy with the wording and the commitments or not – we have to start thinking about the implementation agenda.
Civil society will be playing a key role in implementing the SDGs. We therefore need to get into conversation with decision-makers about the national level strategies for implementing the SDG agenda. When I talk to our members around the world, there are differing levels of awareness of the need to do this. On the positive side, in Colombia civil society representatives are already deeply integrated into conversations about the implementation agenda…
*Statistics within article correct at original publication date of CHOGM 2015 Report.
Dr Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah
Secretary General of CIVICUS
