UN Civil Society Conference

FEPS organised a panel in the context of the 2024 UN Civil Society Conference which took place in Nairobi (Kenya) on May 9-10.

This international forum, which hosted 2,158 participants from 115 nationalities, provided preliminary discussions and data ahead of the Summit of the Future in September 2024 at the UN Headquarters in New York.

The Conference offered civil society organisations an opportunity to put a global perspective on a specific issue and brought together senior UN System officials, prominent international civil society organisations, youth change-makers, academia, public opinion makers, and international media to discuss issues of global concern.

FEPS President Maria João Rodrigues spoke on the plenary panel “Civil Society Recommendations on the 5 Chapters of the Pact for the Future, Declaration on Future Generations, and Global Digital Compact” alongside Robeliza Halp, organising partner of Indigenous Peoples Major Group.

In recent years, there has been general backsliding and increasing inequalities in the implementation of the SDGs. Many countries simply lack the means to do so. As proposed in the report of the UN Secretary General “Our Common Agenda”, a New Global Deal is necessary to enable all countries to implement the SDGs, foster the provision of new global public goods and improve life chances for all generations.

The panel organised by FEPS, in partnership with FEPS’ member foundations, brought together civil society experts from various cultural backgrounds to present strategic scenarios to accelerate the SDGs’ implementation and explored how key proposals for global governance reform should inform a New Global Deal and the ‘Pact for the Future’. It particularly scrutinised pivotal policy domains such as social issues, digital transformation, and the imperative for a more coherent UN governance system for SDGs.

We presented insights from our book A New Global Deal: Reforming World Governance, which aims to contribute to open dialogue across all continents concerning the priorities of reforming world governance and policies to address current global challenges.

FEPS panel also tackled the matter of social policy, how a renewed Social Contract should create more space for supporting the multiple transitions experienced by youth, make substantial investments in job creation, require the institutionalisation of universal protection systems, and guarantee tax-funded public spending on other social sectors, in particular quality education and resilient health services.

Finally, in the domain of digital policy, the panel addressed the imperative for establishing a shared human-centric definition of artificial intelligence (AI) that underscores its societal mission and objectives. It advocated for framing AI regulation as a global commonality and champion sustainable practices such as promoting open data initiatives.

For more information regarding this event, please do not hesitate to contact Christian Salm, Head of Office of FEPS President (christian.salm@feps-europe.eu) or Thainá Leite, Project Officer (thaina.leite@feps-europe.eu).