The 2017 ECOSOC Forum on Financing for Development follow up (FfD Forum) is scheduled to take place in New York from 22 to 25 May 2017, convened by the President of Ecosoc.

While the inaugural forum held in 2016 was conceived as a moment to set up the monitoring framework gor the follow up to the Addis Agenda, the second one this year is expected to push forward the implementaiton of the FfD Forum outcomes and the delivery of means of implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The FfD Forum has been conceived as an intergovernmental process with universal participation mandated to review the Addis Ababa Action Agenda (Addis Agenda) and other financing for development outcomes and the means of implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, in this regards, the Zero Draft seems to give little direction in what needs to be done towards the achievement of the SDGs, the agenda 2030 is hardly mentioned, and the role of the FfD Forumitself as a central pillar in the review and monitoring process is little emphasized.

More information about the Forum and its background docuemnts can be found at the FfD Forum website here: http://static.un.org/esa/ffd/ffdforum

Tentative programme

The 2017 Forum will be structured in two major segments: the ministerial segment (22-23 May) and the expert segment (24-25 May). The ministerial round tables will take place on 23 May with the purpose of promoting the sharing of lessons learned at the nationla and regional level (as per mandate of the Addis Agenda for the FfD Follow-up process).

Each round table is envisaged to bring together ministers from developed and developing countries as well as high level officials of international organziations and other stakeholders to sahre their steps towards implementation of commitments contained in the Addis Agenda and other FfD outcomes.

The expert segment will focus on all seven action areas of the Addis Agenda, including a dedicated panel discussion on the IAFT report, and a dialogue with ‘stakeholders’,as wel as briefing on progress in initiatives mandated by the Addis Agenda or launched at the Third International Conference on Financing for Development

For the draft programme, click here http://www.un.org/esa/ffd/ffdforum/2017-ffd-forum/programme/index.html

Outcomes

As per mandate the FfD Forum outcome is envisaged to consist of ‘intergovernmentally agreed conclusions and recommendations’ that are submitted to the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development. The co-facilitator appointed by the ECOSOC President for the conclusion and ecommendations of the 2017 FfD Forum are: Mr. Marc Pecsteen de Buytswerve, Permanent Representative of Belgium to the UN, and Mr. Jerry Matthews Matjila, Permanent Representative of the Republic of South Africa to the Un (28 March 2017).

According to the modalities (defined in General Assembly resolution 70/192 an reconfirmed in General Assembly resolution 71/217), the two co-facilitators prepare the draft conclusions and recommendations and facilitate consultations among member States with a view to reaching intergovernmental agreement on that draft. Once the consensus is reached on draft outcome document, the co-facilitators would transmit it, thorugh a letter to the President of ECOSOC. the draft intergovernmentally agreed conclusions and recommendations are then adopted at the FfD Forum and transmitted to the HLPF through a procedural report of the Council.

A Zero Draft has been made publicly available for comments by Member States and other constituencies. It can be found here: http://www.un.org/esa/ffd/ffdforum/2017-ffd-forum/outcome/index.html

Inter-Agency Task Force Report

The Forum will be informed by the Report of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IAFT). A second draft report for 2017 has been made avaialble and open for comments. for more informaiton please cleck here https://www.un.org/esa/ffd/publications/advance-unedited-draft-of-2017-iatf-report.html

Background documents and information on the IAFT role ad previous report can be found here http://www.un.org/esa/ffd/ffd-follow-up/inter-agency-task-force.html

CSO Participation

Detailed information about the CSO FfD Group registration process, preparatory meetings and collective contributions are available at the followig link: https://csoforffd.org/ffd-forum/registration-to-ffd-forum-2017/