Civil Society Meeting – FfD in the Era of COVID-19 and Beyond

Monday, 2 November 2020, 9:00-11:30 AM EDT

Background

On 28 May 2020, the Prime Ministers of Canada, Jamaica and the Secretary-General convened a High-Level Event on “Financing for Development in the Era of COVID-19 and Beyond” to join forces with Heads of State and Government, international organizations, and other key partners to enable discussions of concrete financing solutions to the COVID-19 health and development emergency, guided by the roadmap set out in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Six Member States-led Discussion Groups, including civil society representatives, produced a comprehensive and bold menu of policy options to survive and build back better from this crisis, which were presented to Finance Ministers at a High-Level Meeting on 8 September and to Heads of State and Government at a Leaders’ Meeting at 29 September.

The Civil Society FfD Group actively contributed to all stages of this process and provided inputs to all six discussion groups and all High-Level meetings (please find them here). In this context, the UN Secretary General and Deputy Secretary General convened a meeting with civil society to provide the opportunity to comment on the menu of options, strategize on how to strengthen the role of the United Nations in economic governance and explore how to keep the momentum for FfD in the coming period. This process was also triggered by the Open Letter that was prepared by the CS FfD Group and widely endorsed in the lead-up to the Heads of State meeting.

Final Programme

Link to video recording of the event

Statements

Remarks by António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations

Opening Segment
Lidy Nacpil, Coordinator, Asian Peoples Movement on Debt and Development

Interlude 1 – Testimonial – San Juan de Lurigancho, Perú

Dialogue 1 – Creating a Feminist Economy (in the wake of a global pandemic)
Bhumika Muchhala, Third World Network and Women’s Working Group on FfD

Dialogue 1 – Reconnecting human rights & economic governance
Alejandra Scampini, PODER

Dialogue 1 – Climate: The UN role in promoting a Just Transition
David Boys, Deputy General Secretary, Public Services International

Dialogue 1 – Relaunching a vibrant UN Trade & Development process
Tetteh Hormeku, Head of Programmes, Third World Network Africa

Dialogue 1 – Strengthening the normative dimensions of the UN Science, Technology, Innovation (STI) Process
Elenita (Neth) Dano, Co-Executive Director, Action Group on Erosion, Technology & Concentration (ETC Group)

Open Dialogue with interventions from the floor
Mohammed Loutfy, Stakeholder Group on Persons with Disabilities

Interlude 2 – Poem by Marumbo

Dialogue 2 – Debt Sustainability
Farooq Tariq, General secretary, Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee

Dialogue 2 – Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs)
Caroline Othim, Policy and Campaigns Coordinator, Africa and Co-chair of the Tax and Gender Working Group, Global Alliance for Tax Justice

Dialogue 2 – Intersection of Debt and IFFs with Food, Health and Education
Rebecca Malay, Co-Chair, Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP)

Dialogue 2 – Global Liquidity & Financial Regulation
Artemisa Montes Sylvan, Executive Director, Mexican Observatory on Crises (OMEC)

Dialogue 2 – Fiscal Consolidation/Austerity and Privatization of Public Services
Magdalena Sepulveda, Executive Director, Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (GI-ESCR)

Dialogue 2 – Social Protection
Nicola Wiebe, Social Protection Advisor, Bread for the World and Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors

Open Dialogue with interventions from the floor
Helen Saldanha, VIVAT International on behalf of the NGO Committee on FfD
Paul Divakar N, Asia Dalit Rights Forum & Global Forum on Discrimination based on Work and Descent
Claudio Fernandes, Gestos

Interlude 3 – Video on Social Protection Floors

Closing Segment
Peter Kamalingin, Pan Africa Program Director, Oxfam International

Closing Segment
Beverly Longid, Co-Chair, CSO Partnership for Development Effectiveness & Coordinator, International Indigenous Peoples Movement for Self-Determination and Liberation

Interlude 4 – Multi-country rap music video “Eternal Debts Enough!”