Science education

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Science education is the field concerned with sharing science content and process with individuals not traditionally considered part of the scientific community. The learners may be children, college students, or adults within the general public; the field of science education includes work in science content, science process (the scientific method), some social science, and some teaching pedagogy. The standards for science education provide expectations for the development of understanding for students through the entire course of their K-12 education and beyond. The traditional subjects included in the standards are physical, life, earth, space, and human sciences.

Historical background

The first person credited with being employed as a Science teacher in a British public school was William Sharp who left the job at Rugby School in 1850 after establishing Science to the curriculum. Sharp is said to have established a model for Science to be taught throughout the British Public Schools.

The next step came when the British Academy for the Advancement of Science (BAAS) published a report in 1867. BAAS promoted teaching of "pure science" and training of the "scientific habit of mind." The progressive education movement of the time supported the ideology of mental training through the sciences. BAAS emphasized separately pre-professional training in secondary science education. In this way, future BAAS members could be prepared.

The initial development of science teaching was slowed by the lack of qualified teachers. One key development was the founding of the first London School Board in 1870, which discussed the school curriculum; another was the initiation of courses to supply the country with trained science teachers. In both cases the influence of Thomas Henry Huxley was critical. John Tyndall was also influential in the teaching of physical science.

In the US, science education was a scatter of subjects prior to its standardization in the 1890s. The development of a science curriculum in the US emerged gradually after extended debate between two ideologies, citizen science and pre-professional training. As a result of a conference of 30 leading secondary and college educators in Florida, the National Education Association appointed a Committee of Ten in 1892 which had authority to organize future meetings and appoint subject matter committees of the major subjects taught in U.S. secondary schools. The committee was composed of ten educators (all men) and was chaired by Charles Eliot of Harvard University. The Committee of Ten met, and appointed nine conferences committees (Latin, Greek, English, Other Modern Languages, Mathematics, History, Civil Government and Political Economy, and three in science). The three conference committees appointed for science were: physics, astronomy, and chemistry (1); natural history (2); and geography (3). Each committee, appointed by the Committee of Ten, was composed of ten leading specialists from colleges and normal schools, and secondary schools. Each committee met in a different location in the U.S. The three science committees met for three days in the Chicago area. Committee reports were submitted to the Committee of Ten, which met for four days in New York, to create a comprehensive report. In 1894, the NEA published the results of work of these conference committees.

According to the Committee of Ten, the goal of high school was to prepare all students to do well in life, contributing to their well-being and the good of society. Another goal was to prepare some students to succeed in college.

This committee supported the citizen science approach focused on mental training and withheld performance in science studies from consideration for college entrance. The BAAS encouraged their longer standing model in the UK. The US adopted a curriculum was characterized as follows:

• Elementary science should focus on simple natural phenomena (nature study) by means of experiments carried out "in-the-field."
• Secondary science should focus on laboratory work and the committee's prepared lists of specific experiments
• Teaching of facts and principles
• College preparation

The format of shared mental training and pre-professional training consistently dominated the curriculum from its inception to now. However, the movement to incorporate a humanistic approach, such as inclusion of the arts (S.T.E.A.M.), science, technology, society and environment education is growing and being implemented more broadly in the late 20th century (Aikenhead, 1994). Reports by the American Academy for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), including Project 2061, and by the National Committee on Science Education Standards and Assessment detail goals for science education that link classroom science to practical applications and societal implications.

Fields of Science Education

Science is a universal subject that spans the branch of knowledge that examines the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment. Science education is most commonly broken down into the following three fields: Biology, Chemistry, and Physics.

Physics Education

Demonstrates a free body

Physics education is characterized by the study of science that deals with matter and energy, and their interactions.

Physics First, a program endorsed by the American Association of Physics Teachers, is a curriculum in which 9th grade students take an introductory physics course. The purpose is to enrich students' understanding of physics, and allow for more detail to be taught in subsequent high school biology and chemistry classes. It also aims to increase the number of students who go on to take 12th grade physics or AP Physics, which are generally elective courses in American high schools.

Physics education in high schools in the United States has suffered the last twenty years because many states now only require three sciences, which can be satisfied by earth/physical science, chemistry, and biology. The fact that many students do not take physics in high school makes it more difficult for those students to take scientific courses in college.

At the university/college level, using appropriate technology-related projects to spark non-physics majors’ interest in learning physics has been shown to be successful. This is a potential opportunity to forge the connection between physics and social benefit.

Chemistry Education

Chemistry education is characterized by the study of science that deals with the composition, structure, and properties of substances and the transformations that they undergo.

Children mix different chemicals in test tubes as part of a science education program.

Chemistry is the study of chemicals and the elements and their effects and attributes. Students in chemistry learn the periodic table. The branch of science education known as "chemistry must be taught in a relevant context in order to promote full understanding of current sustainability issues." As this source states chemistry is a very important subject in school as it teaches students to understand issues in the world. As children are interested by the world around them chemistry teachers can attract interest in turn educating the students further. The subject of chemistry is a very practical based subject meaning most of class time is spent working or completing experiments.

Biology Education

Biology education is characterized by the study of structure, function, heredity, and evolution of all living organisms. Biology itself is the study of living organisms, through different fields including morphology, physiology, anatomy, behavior, origin, and distribution.

Depending on the country and education level, there are many approaches to teaching biology. In the United States, there is a growing emphasis on the ability to investigate and analyze biology related questions over an extended period of time.

Pedagogy

While the public image of science education may be one of simply learning facts by rote, science education in recent history also generally concentrates on the teaching of science concepts and addressing misconceptions that learners may hold regarding science concepts or other content.  Science education has been strongly influenced by constructivist thinking. Constructivism in science education has been informed by an extensive research programme into student thinking and learning in science, and in particular exploring how teachers can facilitate conceptual change towards canonical scientific thinking. Constructivism emphasises the active role of the learner, and the significance of current knowledge and understanding in mediating learning, and the importance of teaching that provides an optimal level of guidance to learners.

The guided-discovery approach to science education

Along with John Dewey, Jerome Bruner, and many others, Arthur Koestler offers a critique of contemporary science education and proposes its replacement with the guided-discovery approach:

To derive pleasure from the art of discovery, as from the other arts, the consumer—in this case the student—must be made to re-live, to some extent, the creative process. In other words, he must be induced, with proper aid and guidance, to make some of the fundamental discoveries of science by himself, to experience in his own mind some of those flashes of insight which have lightened its path. . . . The traditional method of confronting the student not with the problem but with the finished solution, means depriving him of all excitement, [shutting] off the creative impulse, [reducing] the adventure of mankind to a dusty heap of theorems.

Specific hands-on illustrations of this approach are available.

Research

The practice of science education has been increasingly informed by research into science teaching and learning. Research in science education relies on a wide variety of methodologies, borrowed from many branches of science and engineering such as computer science, cognitive science, cognitive psychology and anthropology. Science education research aims to define or characterize what constitutes learning in science and how it is brought about.

John D. Bransford, et al., summarized massive research into student thinking as having three key findings:

Preconceptions 

Prior ideas about how things work are remarkably tenacious and an educator must explicitly address a students' specific misconceptions if the student is to reconfigure his misconception in favour of another explanation. Therefore, it is essential that educators know how to learn about student preconceptions and make this a regular part of their planning.

Knowledge Organization

In order to become truly literate in an area of science, students must, "(a) have a deep foundation of factual knowledge, (b) understand facts and ideas in the context of a conceptual framework, and (c) organize knowledge in ways that facilitate retrieval and application."

Metacognition 

Students will benefit from thinking about their thinking and their learning. They must be taught ways of evaluating their knowledge and what they don't know, evaluating their methods of thinking, and evaluating their conclusions. Some educators and others have practiced and advocated for discussions of pseudoscience as a way to understand what it is to think scientifically and to address the problems introduced by pseudoscience.

Educational technologies are being refined to meet the specific needs of science teachers. One research study examining how cellphones are being used in post-secondary science teaching settings showed that mobile technologies can increase student engagement and motivation in the science classroom.

According to a bibliography on constructivist-oriented research on teaching and learning science in 2005, about 64 percent of studies documented are carried out in the domain of physics, 21 percent in the domain of biology, and 15 percent in chemistry. The major reason for this dominance of physics in the research on teaching and learning appears to be that understanding physics includes difficulties due to the particular nature of physics. Research on students' conceptions has shown that most pre-instructional (everyday) ideas that students bring to physics instruction are in stark contrast to the physics concepts and principles to be achieved – from kindergarten to the tertiary level. Quite often students' ideas are incompatible with physics views. This also holds true for students’ more general patterns of thinking and reasoning.

Science education in different countries

Australia

As in England and Wales, science education in Australia is compulsory up until year 11, where students can choose to study one or more of the branches mentioned above. If they wish to no longer study science, they can choose none of the branches. The science stream is one course up until year 11, meaning students learn in all of the branches giving them a broad idea of what science is all about. The National Curriculum Board of Australia (2009) stated that "The science curriculum will be organised around three interrelated strands: science understanding; science inquiry skills; and science as a human endeavour." These strands give teachers and educators the framework of how they should be instructing their students.

A major problem that has befallen science education in Australia over the last decade is a falling interest in science. Fewer year 10 students are choosing to study science for year 11, which is problematic as these are the years where students form attitudes to pursue science careers. This issue is not unique in Australia, but is happening in countries all over the world.

China

Educational quality in China suffers because a typical classroom contains 50 to 70 students. With over 200 million students, China has the largest educational system in the world. However, only 20% percent of students complete the rigorous ten-year program of formal schooling.

As in many other countries, the science curriculum includes sequenced courses in physics, chemistry, and biology. Science education is given high priority and is driven by textbooks composed by committees of scientists and teachers. Science education in China places great emphasis on memorization, and gives far less attention to problem solving, application of principles to novel situations, interpretations, and predictions.

United Kingdom

In English and Welsh schools, science is a compulsory subject in the National Curriculum. All pupils from 5 to 16 years of age must study science. It is generally taught as a single subject science until sixth form, then splits into subject-specific A levels (physics, chemistry and biology). However, the government has since expressed its desire that those pupils who achieve well at the age of 14 should be offered the opportunity to study the three separate sciences from September 2008. In Scotland the subjects split into chemistry, physics and biology at the age of 13–15 for National 4/5s in these subjects, and there is also a combined science standard grade qualification which students can sit, provided their school offers it.

In September 2006 a new science program of study known as 21st Century Science was introduced as a GCSE option in UK schools, designed to "give all 14 to 16 year old's a worthwhile and inspiring experience of science". In November 2013, Ofsted's survey of science in schools revealed that practical science teaching was not considered important enough. At the majority of English schools, students have the opportunity to study a separate science program as part of their GCSEs, which results in them taking 6 papers at the end of Year 11; this usually fills one of their option 'blocks' and requires more science lessons than those who choose not to partake in separate science or are not invited. Other students who choose not to follow the compulsory additional science course, which results in them taking 4 papers resulting in 2 GCSEs, opposed to the 3 GCSEs given by taking separate science.

United States

In many U.S. states, K-12 educators must adhere to rigid standards or frameworks of what content is to be taught to which age groups. This often leads teachers to rush to "cover" the material, without truly "teaching" it. In addition, the process of science, including such elements as the scientific method and critical thinking, is often overlooked. This emphasis can produce students who pass standardized tests without having developed complex problem solving skills. Although at the college level American science education tends to be less regulated, it is actually more rigorous, with teachers and professors fitting more content into the same time period.

In 1996, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences of the U.S. National Academies produced the National Science Education Standards, which is available online for free in multiple forms. Its focus on inquiry-based science, based on the theory of constructivism rather than on direct instruction of facts and methods, remains controversial. Some research suggests that it is more effective as a model for teaching science.

"The Standards call for more than 'science as process,' in which students learn such skills as observing, inferring, and experimenting. Inquiry is central to science learning. When engaging in inquiry, students describe objects and events, ask questions, construct explanations, test those explanations against current scientific knowledge, and communicate their ideas to others. They identify their assumptions, use critical and logical thinking, and consider alternative explanations. In this way, students actively develop their understanding of science by combining scientific knowledge with reasoning and thinking skills."

Concern about science education and science standards has often been driven by worries that American students lag behind their peers in international rankings. One notable example was the wave of education reforms implemented after the Soviet Union launched its Sputnik satellite in 1957. The first and most prominent of these reforms was led by the Physical Science Study Committee at MIT. In recent years, business leaders such as Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates have called for more emphasis on science education, saying the United States risks losing its economic edge. To this end, Tapping America's Potential is an organization aimed at getting more students to graduate with science, technology, engineering and mathematics degrees. Public opinion surveys, however, indicate most U.S. parents are complacent about science education and that their level of concern has actually declined in recent years.

Prof Sreyashi Jhumki Basu  published extensively on the need for equity in Science Education in the United States.

Furthermore, in the recent National Curriculum Survey conducted by ACT, researchers uncovered a possible disconnect among science educators. "Both middle school/junior high school teachers and post secondary science instructors rate(d) process/inquiry skills as more important than advanced science content topics; high school teachers rate them in exactly the opposite order." Perhaps more communication among educators at the different grade levels in necessary to ensure common goals for students.

2012 science education framework

According to a report from the National Academy of Sciences, the fields of science, technology, and education hold a paramount place in the modern world, but there are not enough workers in the United States entering the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) professions. In 2012 the National Academy of Sciences Committee on a Conceptual Framework for New K-12 Science Education Standards developed a guiding framework to standardize K-12 science education with the goal of organizing science education systematically across the K-12 years. Titled A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas, the publication promotes standardizing K-12 science education in the United States. It emphasizes science educators to focus on a "limited number of disciplinary core ideas and crosscutting concepts, be designed so that students continually build on and revise their knowledge and abilities over multiple years, and support the integration of such knowledge and abilities with the practices needed to engage in scientific inquiry and engineering design."

The report says that in the 21st century Americans need science education in order to engage in and "systematically investigate issues related to their personal and community priorities," as well as to reason scientifically and know how to apply science knowledge. The committee that designed this new framework sees this imperative as a matter of educational equity to the diverse set of schoolchildren. Getting more diverse students into STEM education is a matter of social justice as seen by the committee.

2013 Next Generation Science Standards

In 2013 a new standards for science education were released that update the national standards released in 1996. Developed by 26 state governments and national organizations of scientists and science teachers, the guidelines, called the Next Generation Science Standards, are intended to "combat widespread scientific ignorance, to standardize teaching among states, and to raise the number of high school graduates who choose scientific and technical majors in college...." Included are guidelines for teaching students about topics such as climate change and evolution. An emphasis is teaching the scientific process so that students have a better understanding of the methods of science and can critically evaluate scientific evidence. Organizations that contributed to developing the standards include the National Science Teachers Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Research Council, and Achieve, a nonprofit organization that was also involved in developing math and English standards.

Informal science education

Young women participate in a conference at the Argonne National Laboratory.

 

Young students use a microscope for the first time, as they examine bacteria a "Discovery Day" organized by Big Brother Mouse, a literacy and education project in Laos.

 

Informal science education is the science teaching and learning that occurs outside of the formal school curriculum in places such as museums, the media, and community-based programs. The National Science Teachers Association has created a position statement on Informal Science Education to define and encourage science learning in many contexts and throughout the lifespan. Research in informal science education is funded in the United States by the National Science Foundation. The Center for Advancement of Informal Science Education (CAISE) provides resources for the informal science education community.

Examples of informal science education include science centers, science museums, and new digital learning environments (e.g. Global Challenge Award), many of which are members of the Association of Science and Technology Centers (ASTC). The Exploratorium in San Francisco and The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia are the oldest of this type of museum in the United States. Media include TV programs such as NOVA, Newton's Apple, "Bill Nye the Science Guy","Beakman's World", The Magic School Bus, and Dragonfly TV. Early examples of science education on American television included programs by Daniel Q. Posin, such as "Dr. Posin's Universe", "The Universe Around Us", "On the Shoulders of Giants", and "Out of This World". Examples of community-based programs are 4-H Youth Development programs, Hands On Science Outreach, NASA and After school Programs^[53] and Girls at the Center. Home education is encouraged through educational products such as the former (1940-1989) Things of Science subscription service.

In 2010, the National Academies released Surrounded by Science: Learning Science in Informal Environments, based on the National Research Council study, Learning Science in Informal Environments: People, Places, and Pursuits. Surrounded by Science is a resource book that shows how current research on learning science across informal science settings can guide the thinking, the work, and the discussions among informal science practitioners. This book makes valuable research accessible to those working in informal science: educators, museum professionals, university faculty, youth leaders, media specialists, publishers, broadcast journalists, and many others.

Declaration of Human Duties and Responsibilities

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Declaration of Human Duties and Responsibilities (DHDR) was written for reinforcing the implementation of human rights under the auspices of the UNESCO and the interest of the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights and was proclaimed in 1998 "to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights"(UDHR) in the city of Valencia. Therefore, it is also known as the Valencia Declaration. 

 

Considering that the major challenge for this new century is the effective and efficient realisation of human rights for all people, and that at the same time is needed that all members of the human family strive for its fulfilment, the DHDR formulates related duties and responsibilities for our current interdependence. Its preamble states categorically: The effective enjoyment and implementation of human rights and fundamental freedoms is inextricably linked to the assumption of the duties and responsibilities implicit in those rights.....

After fifty years of the adoption of the UDHR and following human rights instruments, the point of departure of the DHDR Preamble is the shared concern regarding the lack of political will for enforcing globally human rights. Moreover, the DHDR takes into account the new challenges of the global scenario for translating semantically rights into duties and responsibilities. “Recognising the changes that new technologies, scientific development and the process of Mondialisation have brought about, and aware of the need to address their impact upon and potential consequences for human rights and fundamental freedoms“, states in its Preamble.

Its 12 chapters and 41 articles can be compared with the human rights such as formulated in the UDHR and recent initiatives that reflect a similar preoccupation for the formulation of duties and responsibilities, such as the United Nations Millennium Declaration, the Statute of Rome, the Global Compact, The Earth Charter, the Kyoto Protocol, and UNESCO declarations and conventions.

History

The drafting of the declaration has been the result of the committed and disinterested work of a group of experts integrated by Nobel laureates - Joseph Rotblat, Wole Soyinka and Dario Fo -, scientists, artists and philosophers representing all the regions of the world –among them, Federico Mayor Zaragoza, Richard Falk, Ruud Lubbers, Lord Frank Judd, Sergey Kapitsa, Jakob von Uexküll, Fernando Savater-, and the judicious chairmanship of Richard Goldstone from South Africa and among its members. This process was inspired by the need –in words of Justice Goldstone- of the transition from a “formal equality” to a “substantial equality, with a shared concern of the situation of millions of ignored and marginalised people in our globalised world: “the recognition of human rights is insufficient, … if such so rights are to be realized it is necessary that they are enforceable... There must be a duty on all relevant authorities and individuals to enforce those rights.” With a convergent perspective, Norberto Bobbio has entirely supported the initiative and the text of the DHDR, in particular taking into account the main concern for humanity of reinforcing the international systems. In that context he has established an interesting comparison between the transition from “moral rights” to “legal rights” and the need to transform “moral duties” into “legal duties” (See: Norberto Bobbio, Declaration of Human Duties and Responsibilities, page 98).

This Declaration proposes comprehensively the implicit system of duties and responsibilities contained in our human rights systems, in particular that enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and in subsequent international human rights instruments and establishes consequently their bearers.

The DHDR Chapter I: The General Provisions

In the DHDR Article 1 “duty” and “responsibility” are defined for the purpose of the declaration: "duty" means an ethical or moral obligation; and "responsibility", an obligation that is legally binding under existing international law. The DHDR explains in details the complexity of the exercise of responsibilities. The bearers are the members of the global community that have collective, as well as individual duties and responsibilities, to promote universal observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms. “Global community" means both States and non-States actors: international, regional and sub-regional intergovernmental organisations, non-governmental organisations, public and private sector (trans)national corporations, other entities of civil society, peoples, communities and individuals taken as a collective.

The DHDR reflects the gamma of both states and non-states actors that have to be mutual supportive bearers of duties and responsibilities. On the contrary, the UN Millennium Declaration (MD), recent international document of the governments, is focused primarily on the States responsibilities that is shared and collective: “We /heads of State and Government / recognize that, in addition to our separate responsibilities to our individual societies, we have a collective responsibility to uphold the principles of human dignity, equality and equity at the global level. As leaders we have a duty therefore to all the world’s people…”

The DHDR Article 2 is dedicated to postulate exhaustively the bearers of duties and responsibilities: “Members of the global community have collective, as well as individual duties and responsibilities, to promote universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms.…” This declaration considers the existence of collective responsibilities inside the limits traced by the universally recognized rights, with the implicit consequences of accountability that would be fairly distributed. The DHDR addresses simultaneously the responsibilities of individuals and groups. It states: “As the holders of human rights and fundamental freedoms, all individuals, peoples and communities in the exercise of their rights and freedoms, have the duty and responsibility to respect those of others, and a duty to strive for the promotion and observance thereof”. This statement continues appropriately the way initiated by the UDHR in Article 29 and reiterates the interaction of duties, responsibilities and rights of the International Covenants on Human Rights of 1966.

DHDR Chapter 2: The right to life and human security

Most of the titles of the DHDR chapters enunciate a right or fundamental freedom that will be the thematic focus of the related duties and responsibilities. Chapter 2 begins the list of duties and responsibilities with the right to life and human security, rights to be secure for the present and also future generations in the awareness that for the first time in human history the humankind survival is in peril due to human action. Following the UDHR Article 3 “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person”; this chapter draws our attention to the intergenerational responsibility.

The DHDR Article 3 is dedicated to the duty and responsibility to protect the life of every member of the human family and ensure the survival of both present and future generations. That means “to take reasonable steps to help others whose lives are threatened, or who are in extreme distress or need”. A key element of the formulation of the DHDR has been the present duty and responsibility for the potential consequences of our actions for the future generations. “The rights of these future generations are the duties of present generations” summarises correctly Federico Mayor, the then Director General UNESCO. Therefore, the right to peace and the right to live in a balanced ecological environment have to be recognized and guaranteed. In a broader sense, the Earth Charter, a declaration of principles for a sustainable world, emphasises the urgency of sharing responsibility for caring for the community of life, including the well-being of human family.

The DHDR Article 4 enunciates the duty and responsibility to promote collective security and a culture of peace of all members of the global community. War and conflict prevention, fostering international peace, global security and cooperation are needed for this purpose. The responsibility of States, according to UN Chapter 7, is underlined and also their duty strengthening mediation, conflict prevention and post-conflict peace-building mechanisms and peace-keeping capacities.

The DHDR Article 5 is dedicated to the duty and responsibility to promote rapid and effective disarmament in the interests of peace. Primarily the States are in charge of reducing military expenditure in favour of human development, and together with no-States actors to carry our nuclear disarmament, to cease any production or use of all chemical and biological weapons, and use of landmines.

The Duty to intervene to prevent gross human rights violations is stated in the DHDR Article 6 that means the commission of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and other gross or systematic human rights abuses in all circumstances. States are mainly in charge of preventing and also punishing such violations, and there is also a collective duty of the States to intervene in the case where individual State fails to prevent such abuses. UN Chapter 7 remains general framework for this responsibility. For defining gross human rights violations and the need of prevention and punishment this chapter has been inspired by the Rome Statute that was adopted some months before this Declaration was finalised.

The DHDR Article 7 enunciates the duty and responsibility unconditionally and in all circumstances to respect international humanitarian law during times of armed conflict. This law, commonly infringed, means for the government forces and insurgents, military or paramilitary forces the obligation to refrain from committing acts of genocide; crimes against humanity, and war crimes, as mass killing, torture or rape.

The focus of DHDR Article 8 is the duty and responsibility of humanitarian assistance and intervention to those in need. In a globalised world with millions of displaced people, it is claimed for the adequate provision of food, shelter, health care and other essential requirements for survival to ensure the right to life for everyone on the world.

The DHDR Article 9 finishes this chapter with the duty and responsibility to protect and promote a safe, stable and healthy environment, promoting respect, protection and preservation of the uniqueness and diversity of all forms of life. An adequate use of resources avoiding excessive exploitation and consumption, and a collaborative scientific research and exchange of information are required. This article promotes similarly to the Kyoto Protocol, an international and legally binding agreement to reduce greenhouse gases emissions worldwide, an urgent change of attitude towards the environment. This duty for the present and future generations has already been confirmed by a broad scientific consensus on the existence of climate change and the human responsibility.

DHDR Chapter 3: Human security and an equitable international order

The DHDR Article 10 emphasises the duty and responsibility to promote an equitable international order for the universal enjoyment of sustainable human, economic, social, cultural, political, scientific and technological development and equitably participation in the decision-making processes for an interdependent and technologically well equipped world, providing an extensive vision of the general formulation of the UDHR Article 28: “Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized”. The DHDR statements are categorical: “Economic policies and development should not be pursued at the expense of human rights or social development” (6), “Economic and social development shall not be pursued at the expense of the environment and natural resources” (7), and “As sovereign and equal members of the international community, all States have the right to participate fully, equitably and effectively in international and global institutions and decision-making processes…(8)” Coincidentally to the DHDR proposals the “millennium development goals” of the MD set an influential agenda for a global partnership to fight poverty, establishing shared goals for a better world by 2015. Their fulfilment is measurable indicated by a progress at quantitative level.

Following the previous article, the DHDR Article 11 enunciates the duty to alleviate usurious debt that would endanger human lives and impede economic and social development.

This Chapter continues with the DHDR Article 12 dedicated to the duty and responsibility to promote safe, responsible and equitable scientific and technological development for the benefit of all humankind. The UNESCO spirit of encouraging universally intellectual and moral solidarity is emphasised, in particular taking into account the condition of the lesser scientifically advanced States. In particular this article has received a good reception by several scientists and related people. Neutrality of science appears today as an illusion, in particular considering formerly scientific advances such as in genetics or cybernetics. This DHDR approach reinforces fully the importance of the recent UNESCO ethical documents for biosciences, and also other efforts for codifying ethical principles for the use of science.

The DHDR Article 13 enunciates duties and responsibilities of public and private sector corporations, indicating as common criteria the respect for sovereignty of host countries and simultaneously fully respect and promotion of universal human rights and international labour standards. For having an ethical code of the corporations and for promoting a more sustainable and inclusive global economy, the then UN General Secretary, Kofi Annan, has proposed the Global Compact, an international initiative bringing companies together with UN agencies, labour and civil society to support universal environmental and social principles, that was finally launched in 2000.

The DHDR Article 14 enunciates the duty and responsibility to prevent and punish international and organised crime as a shared task of the members of the global community. This article also has the innovative approach of global cooperation of the Statute of Rome, for combating of international crimes, transnational crimes and organised crime and assisting international criminal tribunals.

The focus of the DHDR Article 15 is the duty and responsibility to eradicate corruption and build an ethical society in both the public and private sectors, implementing codes of conduct and training programmes, and promoting accountability, transparency public awareness of the harm caused by corruption. This emphasis in code of ethics was also encouraged by the Global Compact, in particular for the private sector.

DHDR Chapter 4: Meaningful participation in public affairs

The DHDR Article 16 expresses the duty and responsibility to ensure meaningful participation in public affairs, for ensuring that the authority of government is based upon the will of the people and the rule of law. This promoted participation reiterates the universal right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives of the UDHR Article 21 at different levels, in local, national and global governance.

DHDR Chapter 5: Freedom of opinion, expression, assembly, association and religion

Following the content of the UDHR Article 19 on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, the DHDR Article 17 reformulates the duty and responsibility to respect and ensure freedom of opinion, expression, and the media, providing concrete measures for the world today, affirming the pursuit of truth as unhindered, and condemning any degrading treatment of individuals and the presentation of violence as entertainment. And Article 17 also insists that "the media and journalists have a duty to report honestly and accurately to avoid incitement of racial, ethnic or religious violence or hatred.

The DHDR Article 18 establishes duties and responsibilities concerning information and communications technologies with the aim of ensuring universal access to basic communication and information infrastructure and services. Similarly, UNESCO has already made a recommendation on information promoting universal access to cyberspace.

Complementing the UDHR Article 20 on the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association the DHDR Article 19 enunciates the duty and responsibility to take all necessary steps to ensure the substantive realisation of the rights to free assembly and freedom of association.

Finally, the DHDR Article 20, following the UDHR Article 18 on the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, formulates the related duty and responsibility to respect and ensure freedom of religion, belief and conscience, and of having or not having a religion or belief.

DHDR Chapter 6: The right to personal and physical integrity

The DHDR Article 21 focused on formulating the duty and responsibility to respect and ensure the physical, psychological and personal integrity of all members of the human family in all circumstances, including in situations of armed conflict, reformulate the UDHR articles 10-12 dedicated to the rights to personal integrity and respect for privacy.

The DHDR Article 22 enunciates the duty and responsibility to take all necessary measures to respect and ensure the right to personal liberty and physical security, in first place by the States, preventing arbitrary arrest and detention and ensuring that all arrests and detentions are carried out in accordance with universally recognised standards of fairness and due process.

The DHDR Article 23 emphasises today the duty and responsibility to prohibit and prevent slavery and institutions and practices similar to slavery and slave-like practices including child prostitution, child exploitation, enforced prostitution, debt bondage, serfdom, and other forms of enforced labour inconsistent with international law, punishing such practices; instituting effective controls to prevent the illegal trafficking of persons; creating greater public awareness through education of the human rights abuses associated with such practices. The UDHR Article 4 states that “no one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms”. Today slavery is still not eradicated from the world, although universally condemned.

The DHDR Article 24 enunciates the duty and responsibility to condemn torture and to take all necessary measures to prevent torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment, declaring criminal and punishing all acts of torture, cruel and inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment, enforcing strict controls over places and conditions of custody of persons deprived of their liberty. This enunciation specifies the duty for achieving the content of UDHR Article 5: “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”.

DHDR Article 25: The duty and responsibility to condemn and to prevent and eradicate enforced disappearances declaring criminal and punishing all acts of forced disappearances, ensuring that persons deprived of their liberty are only held in officially recognised places of detention, and that they have adequate access to judicial officers, legal representation, medical personnel and family members during the course of their detention.

DHDR Chapter 7: Equality

After trying to meet the major global challenges of our interdependent world, that are affecting today humankind as a whole. The DHDR Chapter 7 rethinks the principle of equality, such as states in the first UDHR articles. With a similar approach the UNESCO has already approved two meaningful documents promoting cultural diversity, the UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity (2001) and the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (2005). The DHDR Article 26 enunciates in general the duty to respect, ensure and promote the right to equal treatment and to eradicate discrimination in all its forms.

The DHDR Article 27 states the duty and responsibility for the States, in primary place, to respect and ensure the substantive equality of every member of human family, not only ensuring equality before the law, but also taking positive action to prevent direct or indirect discrimination.

In the DHDR Article 28 is enunciated the duty and responsibility to ensure substantive racial and religious equality, that means to ensure the effective enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms without discrimination on the basis of race, religion or ethnicity, and to condemn all forms of racial and religious discrimination and respect racial, ethnic and religious diversity; promoting equal opportunities for all.

The DHDR Article 29 formulates the duty and responsibility to ensure sex and gender equality and the recognition of women's rights as human rights. In particular the States have to ensure the effective enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms without discrimination on the basis of sex or gender, promoting the equality in the representation and participation of women in the public and political life, the eradication of cultural, religious and social practices which discriminate against women; the economic empowerment of women and the recognition of the full legal capacity of women.

The DHDR Article 30 is dedicated to the duty and responsibility to ensure the substantive equality of persons with a disability, and to ensure the enjoyment and exercise of all human rights and fundamental freedoms without discrimination on the basis of disability.

Some progress towards the accomplishment of this duty can be observed at international level. In March 2006, the UN Programme on Disability has been consolidated into the Secretariat for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

DHDR Chapter 8: Protection of minorities and indigenous peoples

Reinforcing the fulfilment of equality, the aim of the Chapter 8 is to emphasise the need for protection of minorities and indigenous peoples. Both the global community and the States are considered by this Declaration as the major responsible, collectively and individually for ensuring the rights of these vulnerable groups.

The DHDR Article 31 formulates the duty and responsibility to respect and protect the existence, identity and rights of national, ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities, having the States a primary duty and responsibility to take adequate measures. The above referred efforts of the UNESCO for protecting the value of cultural diversity and cultural expressions are a reflection of this obligation.

The DHDR Article 32 enunciates the duty and responsibility to respect, protect and promote the rights of indigenous peoples, in particular their right to preserve, maintain and develop their identities and to protect their means of livelihood, in a general context of respect of universal human rights. Indigenous rights are diversely protected at national level, but it is much needed that the international community assumes collectively their responsibility. It is also expected that the proposed declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples will be again considered for approval in September 2007 by the UN General Assembly in order to protect these rights universally.

DHDR Chapter 9: Rights of the child and the elderly

The chapter 9 deals also with the implementation of the principle of equality taking into account the primary responsibilities of the States for the children and elderly rights.

The DHDR Article 33 emphasises the duty and responsibility to respect, protect and promote the rights of the child, following the content of the almost universally ratified UN Convention on the Right of the Child (1989) and aware, that although this excellent document is shared broadly by the international community, today million of children are still innocent victims of armed conflict, extreme poverty and hunger.

The DHDR Article 34 is dedicated to the formulation of the duty and responsibility to promote and enforce the rights and wellbeing of the elderly, trying to ensure the full and effective enjoyment by elderly people of all human rights and fundamental freedoms without discrimination on the basis of age, and to respect the well-being, dignity and physical and personal integrity of the elderly. Although major efforts are being made by the United Nations, such as the International Year of Older Persons (1999) and the formulation UN Principles addressing the independence, participation, care, self-fulfillment and dignity of older persons, and regional and national efforts, it does not exist by now a recognised framework for securing their rights. Therefore, the DHDR constitutes a very interesting contribution for enforcing the rights of the elderly.

DHDR Chapter 10: Work, quality of life and standard of living

The DHDR Chapter 10 complements the system of duties and responsibilities related to the right to work, quality of life and standard of living. For doing that, the DHDR take into account at the same time, the responsibility of the States and the shared responsibility of the world community in the context of the global interdependence.

The DHDR Article 35 formulates the duty and responsibility to promote the right to justly remunerated work, following considerately the UDHR Article 23. Measures such adopting policies designed to promote productive work; ensuring employment security, in particular protection against arbitrary or unfair dismissal; and ensuring equality of opportunity and conditions of work, are proposed by the DHDR.

The DHDR Article 36 emphasises the postponed duty and responsibility to promote quality of life and an adequate standard of living for all. Although in the UDHR Article 22 it states the States obligation of fulfilling “the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality”, today our interdependent world is not free from hunger and there is not universal access to adequate food and clean water for everyone. The DHDR reiterates the shared responsibility for eradicating extreme poverty from the world, in particular if we consider the sufficiency of material resources for meeting this challenge. Similarly, but with a more pragmatic approach, the Millennium Development Goals (2000) establishes an intergovernmental agreement for realising globally human rights. These transitional goals indicate indubitably the correct course for implementing human rights in a continuous process with measurable criteria. However, it would be positive to promote a dialogue on the achievement and evolution of the achievement of those goals with the help of this systematised view on universal duties and responsibilities.

DHDR Chapter 11: Education, arts and culture

The DHDR Chapter 11 is dedicated to formulate duties and responsibilities on the promotion of education, arts and culture, major topics of the UNESCO, such as the programmes “education for all” and its various instruments for securing adequate conditions for education and artistic and cultural activities.

The DHDR Article 37 enunciates the duty and responsibility to promote and enforce the right to education, taking into account that illiteracy still affects millions of people in the developing countries and that is coincident with the already referred Millennium Development Goals.

The DHDR Article 38 emphasises the duty and responsibility to foster arts and culture by the States and the global community in general, similarly to the UNESCO statements.

Declaration of Human Duties and Responsibilities Chapter 12: Right to a remedy

The DHDR finishes with the Chapter 12 dedicated to the right to a remedy where a human right or fundamental freedom is threatened or has been violated.

The DHDR Article 39 enunciates the duty and responsibility, primarily of the States, to provide for and enforce effective national judicial, administrative, legislative and other remedies for these cases, in similarity with the UDHR Article 8.

This Chapter proposes, finally, in article 40 the duty to monitor and implement the Declaration of Human Duties and Responsibilities, by establishing tripartite councils composed of State, civil society and private sector representatives in cooperation with States, relevant civil society organisations, national, regional and international inter-governmental organisations,.

The DHDR Article 41 with a non-derogation clause where it states: “Nothing in this Declaration shall be interpreted as impairing or restricting the rights contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international and regional human rights instruments.”

Post-2015 Development Agenda

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Global conversation on the Post-2015 sustainable development agenda.

The Post-2015 Development Agenda was a process from 2012 to 2015 led by the United Nations to define the future global development framework that would succeed the Millennium Development Goals. The new framework, starting from 2016 is called Sustainable Development Goals.

Background

The current UN development agenda is centred on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that were officially established following the Millennium Summit of the UN in 2000. The MDGs encapsulate eight globally agreed goals in the areas of poverty alleviation, education, gender equality and empowerment of women, child and maternal health, environmental sustainability, reducing HIV/AIDS and communicable diseases, and building a global partnership for development. The MDG’s overall target date is 2015.

At the 2010 High Level Plenary Meeting of the UN General Assembly to review progress towards the MDGs, governments called for accelerating progress and for thinking on ways to advance the development agenda beyond 2015. After the 2010 High Level Plenary Meeting, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has taken several initiatives. He has established a UN System Task Team, launched a High Level Panel of Eminent Persons and appointed Amina J. Mohammed as his own Special Advisor on Post-2015 Development Planning. These processes are complemented by a set of eleven global thematic consultations and national consultations in 88 countries] facilitated by the United Nations Development Group (UNDG).

The United Nations Task Team

The UN System Task Team was established by the Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to support UN system-wide preparations for the Post-2015 UN Development Agenda. It comprises 60 UN agencies, as well as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. In June 2012, it published the report “Realizing the Future We Want for All” which serves as an input to the work of the High Level Panel.

High-level panel of eminent persons

On 31 July 2012, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed 27 civil society, private sector, and government leaders from all regions of the world to a High Level Panel (HLP) to advise him on the Post-2015 Development Agenda. Members of the panel include:

• Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (co-chair), President of Indonesia
• Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (co-chair), President of Liberia
• David Cameron (co-chair), Prime Minister of United Kingdom
• Fulbert Gero Amoussouga, Economic advisor of the President of Benin
• Izabella Teixeira, Minister for the Environment of Brazil
• Yingfan Wang, Member of the Secretary-General’s MDG Advocacy Group, China
• Maria Angela Holguin, Foreign Minister of Colombia
• Gisela Alonso, President of the Agency of Environment of Cuba
• Jean-Michel Severino, Former Director General of the French Development Agency
• Horst Köhler, Former IMF Managing Director and former President of Germany
• Naoto Kan, Former Prime Minister of Japan
• Queen Rania Al Abdullah, Queen of Jordan
• Betty Maina, Chief Executive of the Association of Manufacturers of Kenya
• Abhijit Banerjee, Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics, from India
• Andris Piebalgs, European Commissioner for Development from Latvia
• Patricia Espinosa, Foreign Minister of Mexico
• Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever, from the Netherlands
• Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Finance Minister of Nigeria
• Elvira Nabiullina, Economic advisor to the Russian President
• Graça Machel, Member of The Elders, South Africa
• Sung Hwan Kim, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Republic of Korea
• Gunilla Carlsson, Minister for International Development Cooperation, Sweden
• Emilia Pires, Minister of Finance of Timor-Leste
• Kadir Topbas, Mayor of Istanbul, Turkey
• John Podesta, Chair of the Center for American Progress, United States of America
• Tawakel Karman, Journalist, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Yemen
• Amina J. Mohammed, Nigeria (ex officio, Special Adviser of Ban Ki-moon)

The HLP’s work is guided by 24 framing questions. It held its first meeting on 25 September 2012 on the margins of the annual high level debate of the UN General Assembly and it submitted its recommendations on how to arrive at an agreement on the post-2015 agenda to the Secretary-General in May 2013. The terms of reference of the HLP include the consideration of the findings of the national and thematic consultations at regional and national levels.

High-level panel's report

On 30 May 2013, the High Level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda released “A New Global Partnership: Eradicate Poverty and Transform Economies through Sustainable Development,” a report which sets out a universal agenda to eradicate extreme poverty from the face of the earth by 2030, and deliver on the promise of sustainable development. The report calls upon the world to rally around a new Global Partnership that offers hope and a role to every person in the world.

In the report, the Panel calls for the new post-2015 goals to drive five big transformation shifts:

1. Leave No One Behind. After 2015 we should move from reducing to ending extreme poverty, in all its forms. We should ensure that no person – regardless of ethnicity, gender, geography, disability, race or other status – is denied basic economic opportunities and human rights.
2. Put Sustainable Development at the Core. We have to integrate the social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainability. We must act now to slow the alarming pace of climate change and environmental degradation, which pose unprecedented threats to humanity.
3. Transform Economies for Jobs and Inclusive Growth. A profound economic transformation can end extreme poverty and improve livelihoods, by harnessing innovation, technology, and the potential of business. More diversified economies, with equal opportunities for all, can drive social inclusion, especially for young people, and foster sustainable consumption and production patterns.
4. Build Peace and Effective, Open and Accountable Institutions for All. Freedom from conflict and violence is the most fundamental human entitlement, and the essential foundation for building peaceful and prosperous societies. At the same time, people the world over expect their governments to be honest, accountable, and responsive to their needs. We are calling for a fundamental shift – to recognize peace and good governance as a core element of well-being, not an optional extra.
5. Forge a New Global Partnership. A new spirit of solidarity, cooperation, and mutual accountability must underpin the post-2015 agenda. This new partnership should be based on a common understanding of our shared humanity, based on mutual respect and mutual benefit. It should be centered on people, including those affected by poverty and exclusion, women, youth, the aged, disabled persons, and indigenous peoples. It should include civil society organizations, multilateral institutions, local and national governments, the scientific and academic community, businesses, and private philanthropy.

Regional consultations

Regional organizations are conducting consultations to formulate regional positions on the Post-2015 Development Agenda. Notably, the African Union has mandated the African Union Commission, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the African Development Bank and UNDP Regional Bureau for Africa, to come up with an African Common Position on the Post 2015 Development Agenda. This Common Position will be a result of multiple sub-regional and regional consultations with African policy makers (national and regional), civil society organizations, academia, the private sector and other relevant stakeholders.

In May 2014 the Planet Earth Institute hosted an event at the United Nations in New York where the panel (including Alvaro Sobrinho, Paul Boateng, and Christopher Edwards) spoke on Delivering the Post 2015 applied science and skills agenda for Africa: the role of business.

National consultations

National consultations on the Post-2015 Development Agenda are designed to open to crowd-sourcing the usually closed multilateral negotiation process. The consultations generate inputs into global policy making from individuals and groups in 88 countries through meetings and conferences, on-line discussions, and larger public debates. The consultations are organized by UN teams in the participating 88 countries and will conclude by the end of March 2013. They form an integral part in the elaboration of the Post-2015 Development Agenda. National consultations follow several objectives:

• They help countries build a national position, which can later on facilitate the negotiation for the future framework.
• They increase countries’ empowerment of the future framework. It took several years before the current MDGs, which were not designed in an inclusive way, were recognized by advanced and developing countries.
• They help build national and international consensus on a range of issues.
• They will bring to the UN General Assembly an overall perspective of national and regional priorities on the post-2015 framework, thus facilitating the negotiation between the member states.

The consultations include different stakeholders including civil society organizations, disadvantaged and minority groups, the private sector, academia, women organizations and youth, and other constituencies according to particular national context. The countries selected to participate are a representative sample across several dimensions: regional, country typology, and different types of development challenges. Countries are determining how they want to take the consultations forward, but UNDG provided guidelines in support.

Global thematic consultations

Started in May 2012, the objective of the global thematic consultations is to organize formal and informal meetings with different stakeholders around current and emerging challenges. The consultations focus on eleven themes identified by UNDG: inequalities, health, education, growth and employment, environmental sustainability, governance, conflict and fragility, population dynamics, hunger, food and nutrition security, energy, water.

Several thematic meetings have already taken place. The first thematic meeting on growth, structural change and employment was held in Tokyo, Japan, on 15–16 May 2012.

Post-2015 dialogue

Researchers have discussed that the post-2015 dialogue is an opportunity to develop a practical agenda to ensure the principle ‘leaving no one behind’ translates into real changes to deliver essential services to those in poverty. They called for a potential agenda which must recognise that both institutional capacity and politics matter for the more equitable delivery of these services. They found no blueprint for this, but evidence from the Overseas Development Institute and others points to the need to adopt frameworks which are more flexible, grounded, and innovative service-delivery, which also require changes to donors’ models.

"A Million Voices: The World We Want" report from the global consultations

This report by the United Nations Development Group (UNDG) collects the perspectives on the 'world we want' from over 1 million people around the globe. For almost one year, people engaged in 88 national consultations, 11 thematic dialogues, and through the MY World global survey. As member states consult on the shape and content of a successor framework to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) beyond 2015, it is hoped that the opportunity to listen to these voices will contribute to reaching consensus on what is needed to move towards a common sustainable future.

The report was launched at a press conference by the Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Helen Clark, UNDP Administrator and chair of UNDG on 10 September 2013 in New York.

Paragraph 246 of the "Future We Want" outcome document forms the link between the Rio+20 agreement and the Millennium Development Goals: "We recognize that the development of goals could also be useful for pursuing focused and coherent action on sustainable development. The goals should address and incorporate in a balanced way all three dimensions of sustainable development (environment, economics, and society) and their interlinkages. The development of these goals should not divert focus or effort from the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals". Paragraph 249 states that "the process needs to be coordinated and coherent with the processes to consider the post-2015 development agenda".

Taken together, paragraph 246 and 249 paved the way for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The MDGs were officially established following the Millennium Summit of the United Nations in 2000 and the agreement in the Future We Want outcome document. The Rio+20 summit also agreed that the process of designing sustainable development goals, should be "action-oriented, concise and easy to communicate, limited in number, aspirational, global in nature and universally applicable to all countries while taking into account different national realities, capacities and levels of development and respecting national policies and priorities".

Because the MDGs were to be achieved by 2015, a further process was needed. Discussion of the post-2015 framework for international development began well in advance, with the United Nations System Task Team on Post 2015 Development Agenda releasing the first report known as Realizing The Future We Want. The Report was the first attempt to achieve the requirements under paragraph 246 and 249 of the Future We Want document. It identified four dimensions as part of a global vision for sustainable development: Inclusive Social Development, Environmental Sustainability, Inclusive Economic Development, and Peace and Security. Other processes included the UN Secretary General's High Level Panel on the Post 2015 Development Agenda, whose report was submitted to the Secretary General in 2013.

"Delivering the Post-2015 Development Agenda" report from the dialogues on implementation

This United Nations Development Group (UNDG) report picks up from where the “A Million Voices” report left off by looking more in depth at factors within a specific country that will either support or impede implementation. The findings of this report derive from six Dialogues revealing several main principles in order to support the successful implementation of the new development agenda: participation, inclusion, and the need for strengthened capacities and partnerships.

Dialogues on Localizing the post-2015 development agenda:

Lessons learned from the MDGs show the key role of local government in defining and delivering the MDGs, and in communicating them to citizens. Evidence for this includes the multiplication of decentralized development cooperation initiatives and the use of city-to-city cooperation as a cost effective mechanism for implementation.

In February 2014, UNDP and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), on behalf of UNDG, together with the Global Taskforce of Local and Regional Governments for the Post- 2015 Development Agenda were appointed to lead the dialogue on the means of implementation of the Post-2015 agenda at the local level. The process was implemented jointly with national governments, local government and their associations, citizens and communities. The results included valuable contributions from the local level, voicing local issues at national and international levels.

The dialogue’s main objective has been to identify and propose ways of implementing the new development agenda successfully. The results of the national and local dialogues have also informed regional and international events and policy discussions, and have been presented to key decision-makers of the Post-2015 framework.

At the end of the UNDG mandated Dialogue on Localizing the Post-2015 Development Agenda, several of the institutions that led the process expressed an interest in continuing to advocate for the full involvement of LRGs and local stakeholders in the coming weeks and months.

• PRELIMINARY KEY MESSAGES FROM THE DIALOGUE ON LOCALIZING THE POST-2015 DEVELOPMENT AGENDA:
  • Local and Regional Governments (LRGs) are essential for promoting inclusive sustainable development within their territories and, therefore, are necessary partners in the implementation of the Post-2015 agenda.
  • Effective local governance can ensure the inclusion of a diversity of local stakeholders, thereby creating broad-based ownership, commitment and accountability.
  • An integrated multi-level and multi-stakeholder approach is needed to promote transformative agendas at the local level.
  • Strong national commitment to provide adequate legal frameworks and institutional and financial capacity to local and regional governments is required.
  • Call upon national governments and the UN to strongly advocate for the localization of the agenda at the intergovernmental negotiations and to support the involvement of local and regional governments and local stakeholders in the intergovernmental negotiation through their representative networks, including in the Third International Conference on Financing for Development;
  • Encourage the Post-2015 agenda to stress the importance of establishing environments that unlock the development potential of local and regional governments and local stakeholders by creating an enabling institutional framework at all levels and by localizing resources and ensuring territorial approach for sustainable development.
  • Further call for the redoubling of efforts to include reliable targets and indicators for the SDGs that respond to local contexts, needs and concerns, in order to foster transparency and accountability.

Capacities and institutions:

To achieve a transformation agenda, we need transformed institutions that highlight the importance of national-level actors. This new agenda takes into account a diversity of stakeholders with policies and actions derived from a specific national context. When strengthening capacities we should concentrate on existing institutions and national development plans.

Participatory monitoring and accountability:

We need to actively engage with individuals by embedding participation as a principle for the realization of a new post-2015 development agenda. This new development agenda will be aligned with a human rights approach that will improve the quality of and refine policies over time.

Culture:

Utilizing cultural values and culturally sensitive approaches can mediate and improve development outcomes by providing a space where opportunities for education, gender equality and women’s and girls’ empowerment, environmental sustainability, and durable urbanization can be realized.

Private Sector:

Partnerships with the private sector will prove to be useful due to its ability to create an environment favorable to social and environmental impacts. By reinforcing the nature of ethical business practices, businesses can move beyond financial contributions and move towards poverty eradication and sustainability.

Civil Society:

The diversity of civil society can create an enabling environment that will strengthen the impact and trust of multiple stakeholders. By partnering with civil society, a space will be created that is more inclusive and responsive towards the local and global voices of stakeholders. Civil society will also create strong accountability mechanisms that can be used to measure implementation.

The report was launched at a General Assemybly side event with the Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Helen Clark, UNDP Administrator and chair of UNDG on 25 September 2014 in New York.

Governance

Fragile and conflict affected states have been left behind and unchanged in the rapid decline in global poverty since 2000 says a February 2013 paper from the Overseas Development Institute. The researchers report that the outcome statement of the recent Monrovia meeting of the high level panel said - 'Economic growth alone is not sufficient to ensure social justice, equity and sustained prosperity for all people...The protection and empowerment of people is crucial.'

They write that the 'global MyWorld citizen survey also show the extent that people see ‘an honest and responsive government’ as a top priority. This emerged as the second highest of a range of sixteen factors' ... 'second only to ‘a good education’ globally (and within the top five priorities for Low-Human Development Index countries).'

Researchers found that areas gaining traction in the post 2015 conversation include:

• Building accountability for goals into the heart of a new framework
• Ensuring there is transparency for how resources are used
• Commitments on civil and political freedoms
• Supporting effective institutions of the state

They warn against the polarisation of the debate around the strength of the post-2015 goals.

They found that 'some political, governance and accountability features do seem to shape whether and how MDG commitments have been achieved (alongside important issues of resourcing, technical capacities and others)' and identified key factors:

• Credible political commitments between politicians and citizens are essential.
• More inclusive institutions matter, as well as the ability to work together
• States effectiveness is a determinant of development progress, so state capacities and functions do need more attention.

Their findings focus on national level governance 'because of the growing body of evidence relevant to development progress available at this level.'

Global governance is also important to the authors of the report. They recognise a strong interest in bringing on-board multilateral institutions, the private sector and non-governmental organisations in a future framework, based on the 'recognition that they can help or hinder future development outcomes.'

They call for more work on global governance, and for the identification of viable options for doing so effectively, ambitious goals in the global consultation on governance and post 2015 goals and an open conversation and debate with new actors.

Global web platforms

Launched in September 2012, the web platform, is a repository for both the thematic and the national consultations. It allows people from all over the world to participate in the global conversation on the issue they want to highlight in the post-2015 development debate. Moreover, the website hosts a complementary global survey, which asks people to submit their six priorities for a better world.

In February 2014, the UN Special Envoy for Youth and the President of the General Assembly launched the Global Partnership for Youth in the Post-2015 Development Agenda, with a Crowdsourcing platform to consolidate concrete language for youth priorities in the post-2015 goals.

Open working group proposal

At the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), held in Rio de Janeiro in June 2012, 192 UN member states agreed to establish an intergovernmental working group to design Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a successor of the MDGs. The HLP’s work will be closely coordinated with this working group in order to bring together the processes around the Post-2015 Development Agenda and the SDGs. The working group has presented an 'Outcome Document' of 19. July 2014, comprising 17 goals and 169 targets. Activities of the Open Working Group, leading to the Outcome Document, are rendered at its website, the new goals for Sustainable development were announced on Seventieth anniversary of the United Nations, as marked by the Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon with a name "UN70".