An Introduction to the High Level Political Forum (HLPF)

Since 2013, the UN has hosted the High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) annually under the authority of the Economic and Social council (ECOSOC) to provide a series of events over the course of eight days (6th – 15th July 2021). During this period, presentations and discussions are held to assess and review the progress of member states towards the Sustainable Development Goals and the Sustainable Development Agenda 2030. These contributions vary from Voluntary National Reviews led by Member States to Expert Group Meetings bringing governments, technical experts and civil society together, thus recognising the importance of collaboration with Major Groups and other stakeholders. The priority theme for this years HLPF is the pertinent “Sustainable and resilient recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic that promotes the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development: building an inclusive and effective path for the achievement of the 2030 Agenda in the context of the decade of action and delivery for sustainable development”.

About Our Parallel Event: ‘Breaking the Cycle of Poverty and Hunger: Our Asks’

In order to engage with the themes of the HLPF and CSocD60 in 2022, the NGO CSocD is hosting an event to supplement the priority themes of resilience and recovery from Covid-19, addressing multidimensional poverty and hunger. The event is titled ‘Breaking the Cycle of Poverty and Hunger: Our Asks’, on the 7th July. True to the spirit of the Copenhagen Declaration of which this committee is guided by, this online webinar features three grassroots speakers from different continents who will share their unique experiences of poverty and  hunger during or prior to Covid-19 and the solutions they have created or propose to overcome these difficulties. After presenting accounts of their lived experiences, there will be reactions to the presentations by UN agencies and Member States. This will form the basis of an authentic dialogue between diverse voices in society.

Situated at a time where 1.3 billion people experienced multidimensional poverty prior to the pandemic and as many as 150 million more people have been victim to poverty since, this webinar provides a much needed visibility of grassroots experiences of poverty and hunger on an international stage. Where the HLPF is centred around the national level of progress towards sustainable development, this type of ground level political forum provides an important balance of including the genuine perspective of those experiencing poverty first-hand. The format takes into account the importance of centring grassroots individuals through basing the discussion of the webinar on the content of their experiences; allowing the grassroots speakers to highlight the success or failings of policy along with placing emphasis on ‘our asks’. In this webinar, the ‘asks’ of the grassroots speakers provides the foundation to addressing key issues marking their lives through tangible policies and interventions. Together, this provides a format where dialogue is created through responding to authentic lived experiences at a global scale and is recognised and addressed by UN respondents. To enrich this dialogue further, the responses from the UN will be followed by a Q&A from civil society which adds another element of collaboration and deeper discussions. In this case, these experiences are more than a footnote at the bottom of a page; they are the page.

This webinar will engage with the priority themes of hunger and poverty in such a way that is a positive contribution to a multi-level dialogue. Through the opportunity to explore meaningful issues, this event shows how collaboration is possible in the pursuit of social justice.

Read More About our event

See Highlights from Our Webinar

A Steeper Climb to Achieve SDG10:

Grassroots Views on a Resilient Recovery post COVID-19

Watch Our Grassroots Subcommittee’s Webinar

Let’s put people at the centre of development and pledge to make the eradication of poverty, full employment, and social integration the overriding objectives of development.