I am currently leading the Pathfinders for Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies initiative – a group of member states, international organizations, global partnerships, and other partners, convened by the governments of Brazil, Switzerland, and Sierra Leone, and supported by the Center on International Cooperation. Many of you will have seen our Roadmap, and information about the initiative on here, at events, and on other websites.
We have just launched the new Pathfinders website – take a look and find out the latest on the implementation of the SDG16+ targets.
The End Violence Solutions Summit took place this week in Stockholm, Sweden, bringing to life a recommendation made in a CIC report in 2014.
Key speakers included the Queen of Sweden, the Deputy Secretary-General, the heads of UNICEF, WHO, and UNODC, and ministers from 14 pathfinder countries. Never have so many senior leaders come together to prevent violence against children.
At the heart of the summit, INSPIRE – seven strategies for ending violence against children. The international community has reviewed the evidence and is speaking with one voice about how SDG16.2 can be delivered.
Brazil, Japan and United Arab Emirates all used the summit to join the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children.
Credit goes to countries first out of the blocks: Indonesia, Mexico, Tanzania and – the Summit host – Sweden. Also to Susan Bissell, who has nurtured the partnership in its early years and now gives way to Howard Taylor, joining from Nike Foundation as the partnership’s new director.
The big question. How will the partnership respond to Amina Mohammed’s challenge to present strengthened national commitments to end violence at the High-level Political Forum in 2019?
Read CIC’s challenge paper on preventing violence against children and my review of the Solutions Summit.
Image by Jessica Gow, Government Offices of Sweden
As the 2030 Agenda enters its third year, those working to end violence against children must redouble their efforts to make significant progress towards SDG16.2, improving the lives of children worldwide.
Summarizes the development of the Sustainable Development Goal targets on ending violence against children.
Describes how the SDG targets have been successful in strengthening a growing movement that aims to end violence against children, but argues that prevention has not yet become a frontline priority for governments.
Reviews the formation and activities of the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children, and the impact of the INSPIRE strategies for ending violence against children.
Looks at which “pathfinder” countries have taken national leadership in this area.
Every time I read the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, I am struck again by the magnitude of the task of delivering them. The agenda hails itself as “supremely ambitious and transformational,” which is all well and good, but only if there is equivalent ambition in implementation.
At the Center on International Cooperation, our focus is on the targets for peaceful, just and inclusive societies – not just those in SDG16, but in all Sustainable Development Goals.
We started with violence against children, helping create the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children. With the partnership, we contributed to the INSPIRE strategies, the first time the international community has united behind clear recommendations to policymakers on how these forms of violence can be prevented.
Over the past year, we have supported the Pathfinders for Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies, a group of member states, international organizations, global partnerships, and other partners that has been convened by the governments of Brazil, Sierra Leone, and Switzerland.
Based on existing country leadership and best practice, the Pathfinders have developed a roadmap for 36 targets for peaceful, just and inclusive societies (SDG16+). For the first time, this tracks a way forward for turning the ambition of the SDG targets for peaceful, just and inclusive societies into reality.
Today, the draft roadmap was presented at a side event at the High-level Political Forum in New York. Here’s what the UN Deputy-Secretary General, Amina Mohammed, had to say about the roadmap:
The roadmap proposes three cross-cutting strategies:
Invest in prevention so that all societies and people reach their full potential.
Transform institutions so that they can meet aspirations for a more prosperous, inclusive and sustainable future.
Include and empower people so that they can fulfill their potential to work for a better future.
It sets out nine catalytic actions: on violence against women, children and vulnerable groups, building safer cities, prevention for the most vulnerable countries, access to justice, legal identity, tackling corruption and illicit flows, open government, empowering people as agents of change, and respecting rights and promoting gender equality. around a common agenda.
The roadmap is the result of an extensive process of consultation and debate, and will be finalized in the coming weeks. We will then launch it in September, at the High-level week of the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly.
The Pathfinders will then continue their work as a platform for action. The group will not displace existing activity, but will act as a ‘docking station’, bringing partners from across the world together around a shared vision.
The focus is on the High-level Political Forum in 2019, when Presidents and Prime Ministers will gather for a summit on the 2030 Agenda and ask ‘what have you achieved over the past four years?’
