IFACCA joins other culture networks to press for recognition of culture in the SDGs. IFACCA and six other key international culture networks have written to the Co-Chairs of the UN’s Open Working Group (OWG) on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) regarding the place of culture in the goals for development in the next 15 years.
The letter to the OWG, sent on 12 June, resulted from several months of consultation and advocacy by the joint-networks and was also informed by work done by UNESCO with whom the networks have maintained regular contact.
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which conclude next year did not mention the word ‘culture’ at all. The draft of the next goals and targets will be concluded by the OWG very soon and the culture networks having been advocating for organisations and individuals to act via the OWG process and their representatives at the UN to ensure that place of culture is appropriately recognised.
The latest update on the processes at the UN were described in the previous ACORNS newsletter and are available at http://www.ifacca.org/announcements/2014/06/05/place-culture-zero-draft-sdgs/.
The ‘informal’ consultation with member states took place prior to the ‘OWG 12’ which was held on 16-20 June. The final session of the OWG will be on 14-18 July. For information on the OWG process see http://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/owg.html
The advocacy campaign in which IFACCA has played a leading role, “The Future We Want Includes Culture”, has garnered over 1600 signatures from organisations and individuals in over 120 countries. Many important organisations have given their support to the campaign as listed here: http://www.culture2015goal.net/index.php/home/signed. The global campaign to sign the Declaration #culture2015goal has been conducted in several languages on an entirely voluntary basis with each team organisation contributing freely and collabroatively its own time, expertise, network contacts, translations, design etc.
Please note that UNESCO is co-leading together with UNFPA and UNDP, the global thematic discussions on Culture and Development in the framework of the elaboration process of the Post-2015 Development Agenda.
More information is available here: