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Centre on Conflict, Development & Peacebuilding

The Solutions Forum on SDG16+: Towards Implementation

The Solutions Forum on SDG 16+: Towards Implementation was a gathering led by civil society and convened by the CCDP in collaboration with the Center on International Cooperation (CIC) at New York University and with the generous support of the Swiss Confederation. The meeting was held at Geneva’s Maison de la paix on 29-30 May 2017 and many of its resident programmes and institutions, in particular the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF) and the Small Arms Survey, were involved in the planning and implementation phases. The meeting used a unique mix of plenary interviews and parallel sessions in order to build a continuous dialogue across the event themes. At the core of the process were workshops on replication, scaling up and value for money.

Read the full conference report here.

Context

 

The purpose of the Forum was to generate dialogue cutting across stakeholder communities in the conflict and violence prevention and reduction space. In view of deepening and enriching the Pathfinders process on SDG 16+, participants were brought together to capture creative ways to bridge the gap between practical on-the-ground programming experience, and the perspectives and institutional parameters within which policymakers and funders reach their decisions. Know more.

 

Key takeaways
 

  • Recognize the unique nature of SDG 16+: it constitutes a cross sectoral agenda that is quite abstract for advocacy purposes, while being the crucial backdrop for the implementation of many of the other goals.
  • Explore programming entry-points beyond and below the state, going beyond national implementation frameworks in order to generate constructive political coalitions across the public and private sectors, and from the regional to the local levels. The rising prominence of cities is key in this regard.
  • Make the business case for prevention, developing innovative communication strategies that convince stakeholders to invest in programmes the outcomes of which are elusive and difficult to measure, and where the potential for scaling up and transferability to other settings is hard to ascertain.