Civil Society Organizations

The Stakeholders Roundtable for Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) aims to:

• Create an enabling environment for meaningful dialogue around the implementation of the New Urban Agenda at local, national and regional levels across urban sectors;

• Bring forward the voice of implementers to hear about their successes and hurdles to pushing the New Urban Agenda forward in their unique urban contexts;

• Support dialogue across regions for CSOs to share their experiences, learn from one another, and get insights from technical experts on their experiences and barriers to success;

• Provide critical real-world insight into the ongoing efforts to bring into action the New Urban Agenda with a view to further support its implementation.

Civil Society Organizations, considering their expressions of diversity and representation of transversal areas, were key contributors to the New Urban Agenda. At Habitat III, the Civil Society Organizations Roundtable focused on how CSOs could catalyze and contribute to the continuous improvement of action to achieve inclusion in the implementation of the New Urban Agenda - putting commitments into action. Now, over a year since its adoption, it is time to reflect on the progress made, the successes, challenges and questions that have arisen from efforts to implement the New Urban Agenda across unique global and urban contexts.

With a focus on the WUF9 theme, CSOs will share real-world stories in a coordinated format to inspire a collaborative and constructive dialogue, to establish synergies with other agendas such as the Sendai Framework, the Paris Agreement and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, in a holistic manner. Presenters will represent all regions and thematic areas of the New Urban Agenda including housing, urban basic services, equality, safety, resilience, prosperity, climate change, human rights, and connectivity. These cross-regional and thematically varied presentations will highlight the commonalities among various CSOs in their experience to implement their unique initiatives in support of the New Urban Agenda. In doing so, we hope to encourage thoughtful awareness of the common challenges in implementation, and new means to overcoming them in order to achieve sustainable urban development.

Q1: What is your organization doing to implement the New Urban Agenda or other global goals in your community?

Q2: What are the key challenges or obstacles you face in the implementation of the New Urban Agenda in your community?

Q3: What successes are you achieving?

Q4: What are the lessons learned that can be applied as a best practice in other regions? How will you share them?

Q5: What partners are you working with – public, private, academia, civil society?