Being a UK based international NGO, IACD sometimes gets involved in UK partnership initiatives, if we deem they are in line with our strategic priorities and can lead to wider sharing of lessons internationally. The UK Stakeholders for Sustainable Development (UKSSD) network supports organisations who are working to advance sustainable development and helps to facilitate the delivery of the SDGs within the UK. It is a multi-stakeholder partnership, representing organisations from the UK that span the business, civil society, academic and public spheres, irrespective of their interests, size or location.
As IACD members will know, governments across the world have been requested by the U.N. to prepare national plans for addressing the SDGs. In November, IACD in partnership with the EuCDN, CDAS and CWI organised a conference on the implication of the SDGs for European countries. This was one of the roadshow of awareness raising events we ran during 2016, starting in India and which forms a central feature of our February conference in New Zealand, in partnership with ACDA.
It was clear from the November event, that few civil servants, local authorites, ngos or indeed community development workers in the UK had much of an idea what the SDGs were, assuming that it was a programme for developing countries.
For IACD the UKSSD is an example of what civil society organisations across the world could be initiating. We believe that this is a positive initiative, also presenting IACD with a platform to promote the contribution that community development practice and research can bring to ways in which vulnerable communities are mobilised and supported in the UK.
We will be attending the UKSDD conference on March 1st and will report on this.
If members know of similar initiatives taking off in other countries and where community development expertise is round the table, please let us know.
You can find more about UKSSD from its website:
