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Dear friends,

Greetings from the High Level Political Forum for Sustainable Development (HLPF) in New York!
We have been busy here this week week to bring Faces of Inequality into the discussion on SDG 10. And we have some big plans in the coming months.

In 2019, we are not just mobilizing a Global Day of Action to #Act4SDGs, but a whole Global Week of Action from 20 to 27 September to demand:

This is part of the “Faces of Inequality” campaign and the global “Stand Together” action. As GCAP we will be sending strong statements on inequalities to decision makers to push for greater action on the SDGs. The key dates are:

Globally:

• 20-27 Sept – GLOBAL WEEK OF ACTION
• 20 Sept (Fri) – Global Climate School Strike for the Future
• 21 Sept (Sat) – World Peace Day
• 27 Sept (Fri) – Climate Strike

In New York:

• 23 Sept (Mon) – UN Climate Summit
• 24-25 Sept (Tues-Wed) – SDG Summit (Heads of State HLPF)
• 24-25 Sept (Tues-Wed) – People’s Assembly
• 26 September (Thurs) – Financing for Development High Level Dialogue
• 26-27 Sept (Thurs-Fri) – GCAP General Assembly

We are at a critical turning point – in September 2019 heads of state will meet again to review progress on the Agenda 2030. We demand that they set out a much more ambitious roadmap for practical action. This moment has the potential to foster irreversible momentum for greater accountability, enhanced ambition and clear action in the following 10 years to deliver on the promise of a just transition.

In order to deliver this momentum, we are working together across movements and across borders, to push for wider change, amplifying voices of local communities, and sharing the demands for transformational change coming from people from all across the globe.

This broad movement includes the climate and youth movements and a wide range of civil society partners, and GCAP has been playing a leading role along with Action for Sustainable Development (A4SD). You can read the full Stand Together statement here and sign up.

GCAP Global Co-Chair Beckie Malay said today: “Many national coalitions of civil society actively engage with the UN’s High Level Political Forum, they provide real evidence and clear recommendations but in many cases they don’t see these proposals reflected in government action plans. Unfortunately since 2015 it seems that there is regression on the key areas of inequality, rights and climate. We cannot stand by and let this happen, that is why we are standing together in countries around the world over the coming months to demand real action.”

The mobilizations include:

1. Organizing People’s Assemblies at local and national levels to mobilize and to formulate demands in until September;
2. Joint public actions in capital cities in front of government buildings or direct actions to send messages to the presidents and prime ministers before leaving for the summits in New York;
3. Amplifying marginalized voices, local stories & events in the media and on social media; and
4. Writing open letters and/or organizing press conferences to highlight key demands and marginalized voices.

We also want to ensure that these grassroots voices from all over the world are heard directly in New York. Therefore, in parallel to the SDG Summit, we are holding a People’s Assembly on 24 and 25 September – just opposite of the UN Headquarters. We want to bring a diverse group of civil society together, so join us! Please get in touch if you are interested.

Finally, we are planning to come together to reflect, discuss and to plan ahead on the future of GCAP. What do GCAP, the National Coalitions and the Constituency Groups need? Together we can create the next steps to build our global movement. Therefore, we will be holding the GCAP General Assembly on 26 and 27 September 2019 in New York. We hope as many National Coalitions and Constituency Groups representatives as possible will be able to participate.

As part of GCAP’s Faces of Inequality campaign, WNTA (GCAP India) has published a new inequality study The 100 Hotspots: Excluded Communities and SDGs in India, which captures the structural aspects of vulnerability of some most neglected communities in India.

We have also recently published a comprehensive SDG10 report on inequalities in Europe –Falling through the cracks: Exposing inequalities in Europe and beyond, which was also created through GCAP’s Faces of Inequality campaign, in close collaboration with SDG Watch Europe, and with the contributions of 58 organizations.

We are looking forward to not only jointly strengthening GCAP and all our work, but also bringing movements together globally. Together we can bring transformative changes needed for people and planet!

In Solidarity,

Ingo
GCAP Director