Invitation: Web conversation "Building better without building back a broken system"

Web conversation in the run-up to the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development
Building better without building back a broken system
Lessons from the global COVID-19 crisis and its impact on the SDGs

Monday, 6 July 2020, 8:30-10:00am EDT

Please register here

The COVID-19 pandemic will have a massive impact on the implementation of the SDGs and the fulfilment of human rights. The looming global recession will dramatically increase unemployment, poverty and hunger worldwide. Moreover, the crisis threatens to further deepen discrimination and inequalities. In many countries the macroeconomic situation had already deteriorated before the outbreak of the virus. A vicious circle of debt and austerity policies undermined socio-economic development in many countries.

Many now demand to build back better. But does “building back” really lead to the urgently needed transformational change? What kind of policies and strategies are necessary to ensure that human rights, gender justice and sustainability goals form integral components of all stimulus packages and government responses to the current crisis? How to revalue the importance of care and to rebuild global public services?

These questions will be discussed in this year's report Spotlight on Sustainable Development 2020. It is closely related to the theme of the HLPF 2020. With this virtual side event, we will present preliminary findings to be found in the report later this year.

Brief Statements by

Roberto Bissio, Coordinator of Social Watch
María Graciela Cuervo, General Co-coordinator of Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN)
David Boys, Deputy General Secretary of Public Services International
Kate Donald, Director Human Rights in Economic and Social Policy at the Center for Economic and Social Rights

Comments by

Ziad Abdel Samad, Executive Director of the Arab NGO Network for Development
Stefano Prato, Executive Director of the Society for International Development
Barbara Adams, President of Global Policy Forum

Moderator/Facilitator

Bodo Ellmers, Director of Sustainable Development Finance, Global Policy Forum Europe
Elisabeth Bollrich, Global Economy Expert at Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung

Please register here. Participants will receive the login details for the web conversation upon registering for this event.