Tuesday, August 23, 11:00-12:30

WBU-ICEVI Concurrent Session 6: UN Post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals

Topic 2: How we mobilise implementation of the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals

Speaker: Andrew Griffiths, Head of Advocacy, Sightsavers

Andrew Griffiths: “How we mobilise implementation of the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals”

Thank you for having me and letting me speak on what I think is an incredibly important topic.

Before I start though, you are probably wondering who I am!

I am Head of Advocacy for Sightsavers, and I was co-chair of the Beyond 2015 campaign for two years. Beyond 2015 brought together over 1,500 civil society organisations from over 150 countries in order to achieve two goals:

One: A global, overarching, cross-thematic framework to succeed the Millennium Development Goals, reflecting Beyond 2015’s policy positions

​Two: A participatory and inclusive process to develop this framework, responsive to the voices of those directly affected by poverty and injustice

We were recognised by the UN Secretary General, amongst others, as the pre-eminent civil society influencing group – and our independent evaluation showed that we fully reached our goals.

As Sightsavers, like the International Disability Alliance, we were aiming to ensure that people with disabilities were not left out of the new sustainable development framework.

And with the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including the Sustainable Development Goals, we were really pleased with the progress that had been made: in seeing inequality, injustice and discrimination as the key drivers of poverty – including for people with disabilities – in recognising the importance of integrating rights frameworks into development; and accepting the indivisibly of the governance, economic development, social development and environmental protection.

So, that’s all good then?

We can clearly sit back and rest on our laurels…

Well, you won’t be surprised to hear that I do not believe that the work is done – indeed, to quote Winston Churchill, “this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."

The Sustainable Development agenda is incredibly important for three reasons, each of which show why we cannot believe that the work is done:

Firstly, it is a normative framework – by which I mean that it outlines the principles for global development. This is really important, because even where things are ambitious, it describes what a fair world should look like.

Secondly, it is a guiding framework for governments and development stakeholders. In the disability rights context, it outlines how the UNCRPD can be realised practically within the context of sustainable development.

Thirdly, it is an opportunity. There is, at the moment, a lot of interested in the SDGs, and frankly no one really knows how to implement them – this is a concern, but also an opportunity for us to push for change in our areas.

And they are extremely strong on educations as well. Goal 4 is to “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all."

And within this goal, we have target 4.5: “By 2030, eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable, including persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and children in vulnerable situations”

What does this mean? What do we have to do, and how do we help to turn this into a reality.

I think, at the moment, we need to push 5 key messages

1. Policy focus has to be at the national level

Governments hold the primary responsibility for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. International efforts need to focus on information and provide support to national level implementers, and policy development should be focused likewise.

A key concern is the lack of understanding about how the universal nature of the 2030 Agenda should be translated into national policy contexts which are shaped by multiple agendas, including the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions outlined at the Paris COP21, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda for Financing Sustainable Development.

Within this context, many countries will need significant support to integrate the 2030 Agenda into their national policy – the UN, civil society and the private sector all have a role to play in this, and should be held accountable for doing so.

We have been working with Sierra Leone, and frankly this is a massive challenge for the government there. They are extremely open and willing to engage, but not all countries are the same, and I believe that they will soon flounder – governments need our support, even if they don’t realise it yet.

At the resent meeting of the High-level Political Forum – the home of the SDGs – it was clear that lots of countries are being left behind. And the result is that they are leaving vulnerable and marginalised populations behind… and the theme of the HLPF was “leave no one behind” – depressing and ironic!

2. The 2030 Agenda needs to start impacting on the lives of people with disabilities

For the first time, a global development framework has included people with disabilities, recognising the role they play in sustainable development and the importance of ensuring that they are not left behind. This is extremely welcome, but the 2030 Agenda will not be a success unless it positively impacts on the lives of people with disabilities, especially those living in poverty.

The policy agenda, therefore, needs to be quickly translated into action.
Sightsavers’ experience, as we develop new programmes, is that our partners are interested in translating the 2030 Agenda into local and national action – we see this in our Inclusive Eye Health projects in India, Tanzania and Sierra Leone, our political participation programmes and our inclusive education programmes around the world and our new inclusive education projects in Uganda and Kenya.

It is incredibly important that a conscious effort is made to reach people who could be more marginalised than others – such as people with intellectual disabilities, people who are deafblind, people with mental health issues, etc. They are the often the hardest to reach and must not be left behind.

3. Inclusion is about voice and agency

Inclusion is not just about ensuring access to services, but about ensuring that people with disabilities are given a voice and agency in decisions that affect them. This includes consultation, but also ensuring that decision making is devolved to those immediately affected by change. For example, our programmes are working to ensure people with disabilities are able to engage with political processes, either through voting or as elected officials. Without representation, disability issues will not be addressed in policy. We need to strengthen this link with the UNCRPD, especially the provisions in article 29 of the UNCRPD and SDG target 10.2.

An example from our work is the Voices of the Marginalised research project, a qualitative research project to share the experiences and perspectives of people with disabilities and older people living in developing countries, using a community-based participatory approach. The stories shared highlight not only the stigma and discrimination people with disabilities are often faced with, but also their challenges in claiming their rights, finding employment, and accessing health care and other public services. The pilot was first conducted in Bangladesh with the results published in 2015, while the second phase of the study is currently being undertaken in Tanzania.

4. Accountability requires information – data disaggregation

Central to the 2030 Agenda is the pledge to ‘ensure that no one is left behind’. In order to achieve this Member States will be obliged to collect disaggregated data against a number of goals and targets. However, a lack of evidence on disability, including on where people with disabilities are and whether they are participating in development programmes has long been a barrier to ensuring inclusive practice. Lack of data on disability is frequently cited by policymakers as an obstacle to delivering inclusive action, but to meet the ambition of the 2030 Agenda – and its subsequent goals and targets – better data on disability is essential.

We need to build a bigger evidence base, and also build the capacity of governments: for example, we can share our work on testing the Washington Group Short Set of Questions in our eye health and NTD programmes in India, Tanzania and Ghana, and discuss the learning with governments and national statistical offices. We believe our work shows that data disaggregation is possible with the right planning and flexibility, and can be built into existing data collection systems.
It is critical that the international community starts to collect and report disability disaggregated data.

5. Civil society inclusion needs to be fought for

Civil society will continue to play a key role in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. There is increasing concern that space for CSOs to influence the agenda is becoming more and more restricted in some countries and with some governments. The important role, and recognition of that role, of CSOs during the process to agree the 2030 Agenda is in danger of slowly vanishing.

That is why we are building a new initiative, called Together 2030, which, even though it only launched in December, has over 450 civil society organisation from over 85 countries as members. This initiative is about ensuring that civil society is informed and able to work together on implementation.

And, I will finish with a related plea – please work with others on this. Do not just focus on inclusive education and not engage with other civil society working on other issues. That is how we get divided, and that is how we are conquered. The beauty of this new development framework is that it supposed to be universal and indivisible – that means that ALL governments have to do ALL of it.

Thank you for letting me share my thoughts, and I hope this was helpful!