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[Complete report  - 241Kb ~ 1 min (64 pages)]
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Background of the meeting
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The Forum on Sustainable Development in Southern Africa was held in Johannesburg, South Africa and was organised by the UNDP/Southern Africa Sub Regional Resource Facility with the support of UNDP South Africa, Regional Bureau for Africa and Bureau for Development Policy. The event was the third African Regional Forum on MDGs to be organized by UNDP. The Forum brought together 151 participants from fifteen southern African countries representing government, parliament, private sector, academic and research institutions, civil society organizations, regional groups, donors and UN agencies. The main objective of the Forum was to place the MDGs within the policy environment of Southern Africa in order to provide a platform for further action to promote sustainable development and poverty reduction.
INTRODUCTION
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The Forum was organized around three key themes, each theme introduced by a major presentation and supplemented by discussants. The themes were:
Policy Reforms and MDGs
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The MDGs Forum aimed to explore the links between the MDGs targets and national development objectives and instruments such as Poverty Reduction Strategies and National Long Term Perspectives. Key cross cutting policy issues of food security and the humanitarian crisis, the feminisation of poverty and the HIV/AIDS pandemic were focused on.
Sustainable Development and MDGs: Parameters for Measuring Sustainable Development
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The Forum also provided an opportunity to explore how best to integrate sustainable development issues into the areas of poverty reduction and economic development. These deliberations took into account the outcomes of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) as well as the processes of the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD), the reporting and monitoring of environmental indicators, and critical socio-economic policy linkages.
Partnerships and MDGs
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The Partnerships and MDGs theme reviewed developmental partnerships at the global, national and local levels. At the global level the issues of financing the MDGs as well as global responsibility for the attainment of Goal 8 were reviewed. At the regional Sub-Saharan level the focus was on the engagement of NEPAD and sub-regional bodies within the context of trade, debt and aid flows. At the national level the role of the private sector in domestic resource mobilization and corporate responsibility received particular attention. At the local level the MDGs process was looked at in relation to the engagement of civil society organizations and community groups as key partners in the development process.
Forum Approach
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The workshop was designed to be participative, while at the same time benefiting from global and regional knowledge and expertise. The importance of having a southern Africa perspective on the MDGs was considered to be critical, and presentations were therefore short, with plenary and group discussions accorded ample time.
The Report on the Forum
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This report covers highlights of the opening, keynote speeches and key thematic messages from the Forum. The summary of presentations and discussion are outlined in section three and the recommendations follow in the final section of the report.
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