Consultations for a Post-2015 Development Agenda

The UN Secretary-General (UN SG) Report on accelerating progress toward the MDGs and the issues for advancing the UN development agenda beyond 2015 (A/66/126) stated that “[t]he post-2015 development framework is likely to have the best development impact if it emerges from an inclusive, open and transparent process with multiple stakeholder participation.”

The UN system is uniquely positioned to foster this inclusive multi-stakeholder process and advocate for an agenda informed by national and local priorities.  UN agencies, funds and programmes can promote inclusive consultation process by identifying key groups, convening stakeholders, and informing the debate with relevant knowledge on development challenges, opportunities and solutions. 

To this end, the members of the UN Development Group (UNDG) have developed a project proposal to facilitate post-2015 consultations in at least 50 countries (the criteria for selection of the initial 50 countries are provided in Annex A of the Guidelines).  The oversight for this project is provided by the UNDG MDG Task Force.

The objective of the country consultations is to stimulate discussion amongst national stakeholders, and to garner inputs and ideas for a shared global vision of “The Future We Want”.  It will be important that the post-2015 debate is informed by inputs and ideas from a broad base of civil society, marginalized groups, and others previously left out of discussions on development priorities.

The Guidelines for country consultations on the post-2015 development agenda provide ideas for how to promote inclusive consultations with government representatives, and relevant stakeholders. They are designed to help UN Country Teams, under the leadership of the UN Resident Coordinators, to formulate their own, context-appropriate, consultation processes to inform the post-2015 development agenda. The Guidelines are not intended to be an exhaustive and prescriptive rulebook, but rather an instructive text with an array of useful tools and considerations that country teams may adapt to local conditions and realities. 

The Guidelines provide information on what financial and technical resources are available to assist with this effort (Section I); guidance on the process (II), content (III) and documentation of the consultations (IV); and outline what deliverables are expected at the end of the consultation processes (V). The Annexes to the Guidelines provide advice on who could be targeted for engagement, as well as the facilitation of meetings and communications with key groups.

The country consultations are expected to run from June 2012 until the end of the first quarter of 2013.  By June 2013, the results of the country consultations are expected to have been recorded and will feed into a global UNDG report that is expected to inform the post-2015 discussions.