African Union

The pre-events for the 2018 session of the African Regional Forum on Sustainable Development (ARFSD) were held throughout the day on Wednesday, 2 May 2018, at the King Fahd Palace in Dakar, Senegal. Participants gathered in four workshops on: Strengthening integrated and Voluntary National Review (VNR) and reporting of the 2030 Agenda and Agenda 2063; Preparatory and capacity-development for Major Groups and other Stakeholders (MGoS) in the Africa region; What does leaving no one behind in Africa actually look like; and The UN Economic Commission for Africa’s (UNECA) approach in supporting the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) and the New Urban Agenda in Africa. The workshop on Strengthening Integrated and VNR and Reporting of the 2030 and 2063 Agendas discussed key issues emerging from the VNR process; the extent of convergence and divergence between the implementation of the SDGs and the African Union’s Agenda 2063; innovative ways to present VNR reports; and the importance of support from UN partners to facilitate the VNR process. The workshop on “What Does Leaving No One Behind in Africa Actually Look Like” aimed to define what “leaving no one behind” means and what measures need to be taken to ensure the participation of vulnerable groups in achieving the 2030 and 2063 Agendas. Key recommendations included the need to focus less on aggregated data and instead have targeted, national and local data to help understand the needs and gaps of vulnerable groups. In the session dedicated to MGoS, participants discussed the strengthening and formalization of the engagement of MGoS in the work of the ARFSD and the High-level Political Forum, engaged in a roundtable discussion on peer learning in the implementation of the 2030 and 2063 Agendas, and formulated key inputs into this year’s ARFSD. IISD Reporting Services, through its ENB+ Meeting Coverage, has provided daily digital web coverage and a summary report from the 4th Session of the Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Development. The summary report is now available in HTML and PDF. Photos by IISD/ENB | Franz Dejon For photo reprint permissions, please follow instructions at our Attribution Regulations for Meeting Photo Usage Page Workshop on "What Does Leaving No One Behind in Africa Actually Look Like?" L-R: Karima Bounemra Ben Soltane, Director, African Institute for Economic Development and Planning (IDEP), UNECA; Bassirou Samba Niasse, Secretary-General, Ministry for Economy and Finance, Senegal; and Moderator Minh-Thu Pham, Executive Director, Global Policy, UN Foundation (UNF) Karima Bounemra Ben Soltane, IDEP, UNECA Minh-Thu Pham, Executive Director, Global Policy, UNF L-R: Moustapha Sadni Jallab, African Institute for Economic Development and Planning (IDEP), UNECA; Moubarack Lo, Chief Economist, Office of the Prime MInister, Senegal; and Moderator Minh-Thu Pham, Executive Director, Global Policy, UNF Angela Kageni, Development Initiatives Grace Onubedo, Centre for the Studies of the Economies of Africa, Nigeria Preparatory and capacity-development workshop for Major Groups and other Stakeholders in the Africa region View of the preparatory and capacity building workshop for major groups and other stakeholders L-R: Bartholomew Armah, UNECA; Moderator Adam Elhiraika, Chief, Macroeconomic Policy Division, UNECA; and Riina Jussila, UN Division for Sustainable Development, Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) Bartholomew Armah, UNECA Riina Jussila, UNDESA L-R: Judith Kaulem, Poverty Reduction Forum Trust, Zimbabwe; Annick Andriamampianina, Africa 21, Switzerland; Said Kambi, Africa Corporate Governance Network, Tanzania; and Nozipho Wright, International Network on Gender and Energy, Botswana Nozipho Wright, International Network on Gender and Energy, Botswana Moderator Lucy Mulenkei, Indigenous Information Network, Kenya L-R: Priscilla Achakpa, Women Environmental Programme, Nigeria; Cheik Mboup, Head of Agronomy Research and Development, Nestlé; and Moderator Lucy Mulenkei, Indigenous Information Network, Kenya Strengthening Integrated and Voluntary National Review (VNR) and Reporting of the 2030 Agenda and Agenda 2063 L-R: Ben Idrissa Ouedraogo, Economic Affairs Officer, Office of the Special Adviser on Africa; Moderator Gervais Meatchi Tchaou, Togo; and Fatima Denton, Director, Special Initiatives Division, UNECA Aurélien Atidegla, Reid Consulting, Benin Barry Aminata Touré, Alliance Contre la Pauvereté, Mali L-R: Samba Harouna Thiam and Mamadou Kane, UN Environment Programme Moderator Ayoup Elrashdi, AUC Rajae Chafil, Director, Ministry of Sustainable Development, Morocco Multi-Stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the SDGs View of the multi-stakeholder forum on science, technology and innovation Alexander Shestakov, Convention on Biological Diversity Willem Fourie, South African SDG Hub, Pretoria University UNECA's Approach in Supporting the Implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) and the New Urban Agenda in Africa Participants during the session