The Arab Forum for Sustainable Development (AFSD) is an annual high-level regional platform, where multiple stakeholders discuss coordination pathways for the implementation, follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the Arab region. Its findings and recommendations, conveying key messages from the region and its countries, will be presented at the 2019 High-Level Political Forum (HLPF).
This year, AFSD-2019 will be held during the fourth year following the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The year 2019 marks the end of the first four-year cycle of follow-up and review whereby the global review of all Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will be completed. In addition to the HLPF in July held under the auspices of ECOSOC, a Leaders’ Summit will be held under the auspices of the UN General Assembly in September 2019 in New York.
Over three days, the programme of the AFSD-2019 on the theme “Empowering People and Ensuring Inclusiveness and Equality in the Arab Region” features a variety of plenaries, special sessions and workshop-style special events. The main components of the Forum are as follows:
Component 1 – Global and regional progress including reviews of specific goals
This component takes stock of global and regional progress on the 2030 Agenda and includes reviews of specific SDGs. Through plenary and special sessions, this component will build on some initial findings of the Arab Sustainable Development Report 2019 and will focus on the SDGs under review this year; namely, SDG4, SDG8, SDG10, SDG13, SDG16 and SDG17.
Component 2 – Thematic focus: Empowering People and Ensuring Inclusiveness and Equality in the Arab Region
A key component of the Forum will focus on this year’s theme; unpacking each of the three elements of AFSD-2019 thematic focus on empowering people and ensuring inclusiveness and equality. The thematic focus will address policy interlinkages, policy coherence, mechanisms, and lessons learned. It will also highlight case studies from the Arab region and beyond.
Component 3 – National, regional and global processes including VNRs and messages to the global summit
This component will highlight national, regional and global follow-up and review processes. In an interactive special event, VNRs will be discussed as the key national follow-up and review process with due consideration regional trends, lessons learned, and the way forward. At the regional and global levels, this component will chart the input of the Arab Region into the HLPF-2019 at ECOSOC and GA levels. For the latest VNR reports from the Arab region, please click here.
AFSD 2019: Event Details
- Information Note
- Logistics Note
- Preliminary Organization of Work
- Biographies of moderators, speakers and panelists
Special Sessions Details
- Special Session1: Inclusion, Empowerment and Equality as Pathways to Peace and Development
- Special Session 2: SDG13: Advancing Climate Action in the Arab Region
- Special Session 3: Ensuring Sustainable and At-Scale Engagement of Adolescents and Youth in the Arab region (An Interactive Dialogue)
- Special Session 4: The future of work and impacts on gender equality – motherhood, work, and the care economy in Arab States
- Special Session 5: The Regional Consultation on the Plan of Action to Integrate Volunteering into the 2030 Agenda in ESCWA Region
- Special Session 6: Rethinking Inequality in Arab Countries
- Special Session 7: Advancing Social Justice and Social Cohesion through Inclusive Social Protection in Conflict-Affected States
- Special Session 8: Strengthened partnerships to support coherence of national policies & strategies for disaster risk reduction & sustainable development
- Special Session 9: Leaving No One Behind: Policy approaches to recognise intersectionality and promote inclusivity for women and girls with disabilities in sustainable development
AFSD 2019 Opening Session
- Statement of Ms. Rola Dashti, Under Secretary-General, Executive Secretary, ESCWA
- Statement of H.E. Mr. Noori Al-Dulaimi, Minister of Planning, Iraq (in Arabic)
- Statement of H.E. Mr. Ahmad Aboul Gheit, Secretary General, League of Arab States (in Arabic)
- Statement of Ms. Amina J. Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General, United Nations
AFSD 2019 Final Report & Key Messages
- Arab Forum For Sustainable Development 2019 - Final Report
- Arab Forum for Sustainable Development 2019- Key messages presented to the High Level Political Forum 2019 (in Arabic)
AFSD 2019 Presentations- Plenary Sessions
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a- Opening Session
b- Plenary Session 1: Setting the Scene “Toward Achieving the SDGs in the Arab Region”
- Mounir Tabet, ESCWA, Introduction (in Arabic)
- Mohamad Mohsen El Sayyed, Iraq, Achieving the SDGs in Iraq (in Arabic)
c- Plenary Session 3: Inclusion: Policies and Opportunities
- Abdulkhaleq Touhami, Morocco, Poverty & Inequality in Morocco (in French)
- Lotfi Ben Said, Tunisia, Decentralization: A tool for inclusive Policies (in Arabic)
d- Plenary Session 4: Empowerment: Policies and Opportunities
- A Thousand Lives Initiative, Yemen (Video)
- Advancing Mobile Literacy Learning Project, Egypt (Video)
- Foued Aouni, Tunisia, Youth and Sustainable Development (in Arabic)
e- Round Table Discussion: Lessons learned from VNRs
f- Plenary Session 5: Empowering People and Ensuring Inclusiveness and Equality for
Sustainable Development: Harnessing Means of Implementation- Hamza Ould Bakar, Mauritania's Experience (in Arabic)
- Kinda Hattar, Financing Sustainable Development (in Arabic)
- Qusai Al Shatti, The Role of ICT in Empowerment, Inclusion and Equality (in Arabic)
g- Plenary Session 6: Preparatory Regional Consultations for Sustainable Development:
Outcome Messages to the 2019 AFSD and HLPF- Karima El Korri, Preparatory Consultations for Sustainable Development (in Arabic)
h- Plenary Session 7: AFSD in a regional and global context
- Maisaa Youssef, ESCWA, AFSD in the Regional & Global Context (in Arabic)
- Mohammed Khalil, SDG10: Inequality Among Countries
- Ahmad Al Qabany, IsDB, Where Do We Stand on Climate Action
AFSD 2019 Presentations- Special Sessions
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a- Special Session 2: SDG13: Advancing Climate Action in the Arab Region
b- Special Session 3: Ensuring Sustainable and At-Scale Engagement of Adolescents
and Youth in the Arab region: An Interactive Dialogue- Jayathma Wickramanayake, SG’s Envoy on Youth, Video Message
- Hager Ebaid, Egypt, Youth Peer Education & Electronic Resources (in Arabic)
c- Special Session 6: Rethinking Inequality in Arab Countries
- Documentation
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- Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development
- Critical milestones towards coherent, efficient and inclusive follow-up and review at the global level- A/70/684
- General Assembly resolution 70/1 – Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
- Global indicator framework adopted by the General Assembly (A/RES/71/313)
- Global indicator framework- annual refinements contained in E/CN.3/2018/2 (Annex II)
- Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the Arab States [in Arabic only].
- Report of the Inter-Agency and Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goals Indicators to the 49th Session of the United Nations Statistical Commission
- The Paris Agreement
- UNRISD Flagship Report, 2016 for Policy Innovations Transformative Change
- Voluntary National Reviews Handbook, 2019
- Outcome of AFSD 2014-2018
- Regional Consultations in Preparation for AFSD & HLPF
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- Regional Consultation on Climate Change for the 2019 Arab Forum on Sustainable Development and High-Level Political Forum
- Second Arab High-level Forum on WSIS and 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
- Regional Consultation on the Environment and Natural Resources for the 2019 Arab Forum for Sustainable Development and High-Level Political Forum
- Arab Region Parliamentary Forum on the 2030 Agenda
- The International Conference on “Financing Sustainable Development: Curbing Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs)
Beirut, Lebanon
