After a week of negotiations,  the Open Working Group concluded its thirteenth session on Saturday 19th July and adopted a final proposal for the Sustainable Development Goals of the Post-2015 Agenda, which will be presented for consideration at the next United Nations General Assembly in September 2014.

The report gives Global Taskforce partners a number of reasons to celebrate. The first is the inclusion of Goal 11: “Make Cities and Human Settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”. This is an important achievement and testament to the successful advocacy of among others, the Global Taskforce and its partners throughout 2013.

HIGHLIGHTS and CHANGES to Goal 11 (since the revised draft was circulated two weeks ago):

• We are happy to see our suggested target on culture included (11.4 “strengthen efforts to protect and safeguard the world’s cultural and natural heritage”).

• Language on “slum elimination” changed to “upgrade slums” in Target 11.1. We hope this can be strengthened in the future with adequate indicators.

• Strong acknowledgement of the importance of “participatory, integrated and sustainable” urban planning in Target 11.3 and of regional development planning in Target 11.a. The reference to urban sprawl in 11.3 has been lost in the latest draft, however.

• Further, we see a lot of potential for implementation in the references to disaster management in 11.6, but we will need to work on a greater approach towards prevention, which is currently missing.

• Recognition of the importance of governance at all levels in Goal 16 as per our suggested amendments, which provides further potential to strengthen sub-national governments in this regard: “Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.” See also new Targets 16.6 and 16.7 to “develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all levels” and “ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels”.

• Concerning the means of implementation of targets, we are happy to see wording under 11.b that can serve as bases to further promote the territorial approach that we have been trying to include, which make reference to “supporting positive economic, social and environmental links between urban, peri-urban and rural areas by strengthening national and regional development planning”.

• Retaining the references to public spaces is also an important achievement that will allow for localized implementation.

• Finally, despite the conservative language related to gender equality, we can celebrate that the recognition of the full and effective participation of women in all levels of public life has been maintained in Target 5.5. We are also pleased to see the references to the relevance of unpaid work, targeting sexual violence and protecting reproductive rights.

• It is worth noting the number of references to “all levels”, “local levels” or to local responsibilities (access to basic services) in different targets (see goals on poverty, education, gender, water and sanitation management, and ecosystems).

Read more : http://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/focussdgs.html

Outcome Document - Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals: http://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/4518SDGs%20FINAL_approved_19%20July%20at%201320hrs.pdf