On Thursday, 30 July 2015, just hours before governments began their final negotiations, a Transformative Agenda for Sustainable Development, World Goodwill was represented at a side event, “Preparing for the implementation phase of the post-2015 development agenda.”
There was a visionary air to the gathering.
The Ambassador of South Africa, H.E. Mr. Jeremiah N. Kingsley Mamabolo, emphasized that goodwill must be ensured in order for the goals to be implemented.
All of humanity needs to own the goals, he said, “all hands on deck,” and we all need to feel accountable. He envisioned accountability being strengthened by systemic intergovernmental support, and defined good governance as the responsibility of governments to people and as being at the root of implementation.
“No one can be left behind to be sustainable. We need to look at our structures and no longer ask, “Who has the mandate?” and begin to ask, “Who can empower who?””
The Ambassador of the Republic of Korea, H.E. Hahn Choong-Hee, spoke of the work of implementing the development agenda as a paradigm shift occurring n the process. “It is a universal agenda. We will need to each work on our own strategy, but within global goals. We’re interconnected.” He expressed the need to broaden accountability from a national level to a global level. “No naming. No shaming. What is the problem? Where is the feedback?”
Both Ambassadors left the side-event to begin final deliberations, as they joked about working late into the evening.
As it turned out, the work continued long past what was anticipated. The conference room was full well past midnight on Friday.
The final document outlining the agenda (including the Sustainable Development Goals) was adopted on Sunday evening to long applause as delegates rose to their feet in acclamation.
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/7891TRANSFORMING%20OUR%20WORLD.pdf
The Republic of Korea, for the Presidency of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), pledged to support a robust follow-up and review mechanism and Global Partnership that will bring all stakeholders together to implement the agenda. Calling the document, “historic”, he said, “today we are all winners.”
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