Every year, United Nations Member States, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) including Soroptimist International, and other stakeholders, meet at the UN’s High-level Political Forum (HLPF) to review progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. The High-level Political Forum provides an opportunity for states and organisations to share what they are doing to realise the ambitions of the Sustainable Development Goals, challenges they are facing, and new innovative ideas to expedite action.
This year’s HLPF theme is: “Sustainable and resilient recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic that promotes the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development: building an inclusive and effective path for the achievement of the 2030 Agenda in the context of the decade of action and delivery for sustainable development”.
Gender equality is core to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – not only does SDG5 focus on gender equality, all States agreed that none of the goals would be achieved without gender equality. This means that the HLPF provides a key opportunity for Soroptimist International to share its expertise and to try and influence future sustainable development action.
In the lead-up to the Forum, SI’s UN Representatives have been working hard to ensure SI’s views are shared. SI UN Representative Frances Zainoeddin shares her update on some of the key activities that she and others are doing:
“The 2021 High-level Political Forum (HLPF) will meet from 6-15 July to review implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. This year, 42 countries will be presenting Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) on their national implementation of the SDGs. Preparatory events have included nine expert groups, each addressing one of the 9 SDGs designated for in-depth review (SDGs 1, 2, 3, 8, 10, 12, 13, 16 and 17). Bette Levy (UN Representative in New York) was selected to represent the Women’s Major Group in the Expert Group that discussed SDG1 (ending poverty in all its forms everywhere). Reports of the expert groups will provide background information for the HLPF deliberations.
Preparations are ongoing to ensure adequate participation of Civil Society at the official panel discussions and VNR sessions. SI, as a member of the Women’s Major Group, collaborates with other members to provide input to the drafting of the Ministerial Declaration, the outcome document which will be adopted at the HLPF, and also to the discussions on the HLPF Review Process. The Women’s Major Group in addition to participating in organisation of the official session of the Major Groups and Other Stakeholders that will take place on 9 July from 3-5p.m. EDT, will also be organizing its own side event. SI itself will be submitting a report on implementation of the SDGs, highlighting some of the work and accomplishments of projects around the world.
Information on the 2021 HLPF, including its programme, preparatory work, documentation, VNR information, pre-session meetings and information webinars can be found at the HLPF website. The website is updated on a regular basis to provide the latest on the status of preparations for the HLPF. The 2021 HLPF will be held virtually and can be viewed on UN Web TV.”
As part of Soroptimist International’s global policy work at the UN and High-level Political Forum, SI will soon be releasing its report “Confronting Inequalities: Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals during the COVID-19 Pandemic”. This SI report outlines policy recommendations and actions to support States and others work towards gender equality and features projects that address different SDGs.
As highlighted by SI UN Representative Frances Zainoeddin, even though the High-level Political Forum take place in New York, no matter where Soroptimists are in the world they can watch many sessions on UN Web TV. To find out which sessions to watch, the programme is available HERE.