The 61st Session of the United Nations Commission for Social Development (CSocD61) took place from February 6 – 15, 2023 in New York. UN Commissions are the main avenues where non-government organisations (NGOs) bring the voices and concerns of the people from around the world and try to influence the policies that affect the people and the planet. The Priority theme of the Commission for Social development 2023 was “Creating full and productive employment and decent work for all as a way of overcoming inequalities to accelerate the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.”
As a member organisation of the NGO Committee for Social Development (NGO CSocD) we provided input to the draft resolution, drafted advocacy points and met with Ambassadors and Delegates of various countries (known as Mission Visits) to contribute to the discussions and resolutions. Since our members (IBVM and CJ) are involved in creating decent work for people from the marginalized communities who are mostly women and youth, we were able to bring their concerns.
Further, we shared our good practices at a side event we organized with other NGOs during the Commission. The event titled “Decent work for all: Ending vulnerability through education and economic empowerment,” included three of our Sisters from India, Kenya and Slovakia on the panel, together with a youth from Kolkata Mary Ward Social Centre, India. The keynote speaker was Ambassador Allie Kabba, the Permanent Representative of the Mission of Sierra Leone to the UN.
Our intern, Prateeksha Shukla, together with another youth from Red Dot Foundation, one of our co-sponsors, were the moderators. The speakers highlighted their engagement with local communities, youth and women’s groups to provide quality education, skill development programmes and various micro-financing activities, supporting them to create jobs and livelihoods for themselves. They shared stories of how young women and girls from rural communities, through socio-economic support are rebuilding their lives and working towards ending their vulnerability. We also heard the lived experience of youth participants. You can read the Concept Note HERE.
Advocacy Priorities
The NGO CSocD Advocacy Group, that we are part of, developed an advocacy talking points and recommendations as follow:
1. Address growing economic and social inequality through universal social protection, wage policies and formalization of work.
2. Enact inclusive, people-centered and gender-sensitive policies and programs.
3. Provide education, skilling, up-skilling, and digital training, for all.
4. Invest in initiatives and policies for human capital creation and redistribution.
5. Highlight and energize the movement towards a renewed social contract and the world social summit in 2025.
The full document can be found HERE.
Advocacy at all levels is needed and more importantly at a global level at the UN as our governments agree upon many resolutions at international level demonstrating their willingness to implement them. You can read the resolution agreed on by the member states agreed HERE
You can read the NGO CSocD Committee’s analysis of the Priority Theme Resolution with special attention to our Advocacy Priorities HERE .
We continue to advocate on behalf of the people and planet. Let us make our passion into action to make a change in the lives of others.
AUTHOR: Cynthia Mathew CJ
