2022 Nepal People’s Forum on the SDG 16+

2022 Nepal People’s Forum on the SDG 16+

  •    August 7, 2022

With SDG16+ targets serving as critical enablers of the 2030 Agenda, it is now more urgent than ever that we further accelerate progress on SDG16+ implementation, in order to build forward better from these ongoing crises. Similarly, in the case of the country, the progress on the SDG16 is not satisfactory and even the COVID 19 crisis has further exacerbated the situation.  At this juncture, all the organs of government and their agencies should be more serious and civil society, civil society organizations, human rights defenders, and SDGs advocates should be more proactive.

In this light, the National Campaign for Sustainable Development jointly with SDGs National Network Nepal and 33 prominent CSOs convened the 2022 Nepal Peoples Forum on the SDG16+ with active involvement of civil society major groups, stakeholders and key development actors. The overall objective of this event is to (i) review the progress, (ii) discuss on key issues and challenges and (iii) find out possible way outs to achieving SDG16+ national targets. The forum focused its discussion on following key themes:

  • Peace, Security and Non-violence
  • Access to Justice and Rule of Law
  • Good Governance and Anti-Corruption
  • Strong Public Institutions
  • Inclusive Participation and Decision Making
  • Social Inclusion and Non-discrimination
  • Legal Identity
  • Access to Information and Fundamental Freedom

This event took place in Kathmandu on 4-5 August 2022. All the sessions were conducted in the hybrid mode. 8 thematic sessions and 10 side events were organized under the forum.

Participants of this event were mainly civil society Major Groups and Stakeholders including NGOs/CBOs, Youth, Women and Girls, LGBTIQ, Workers and Trade Unions, Indigenous Peoples, Dalits, Madhesi, Farmers, Senior Citizens, Minorities, PWDs, People Living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA), development practitioners, human rights defenders, peace builders, INGOs, UN Agencies, Bilateral Agencies, Diplomatic Agencies and related government agencies etc.

The event enriched the knowledge of civil society major groups, stakeholders, human rights activists on the issues and challenges of SDG16+ in the country. Further, Governments and other related agencies were concerned about the issues related with SDG16+. The forum released a joint statement of CSOs with key messages extracted from the thematic discussions.