Civil society as a driver for change towards sustainable societies - models empowering civil society

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is an agenda for multi-stakeholder action and partnership. Sustainable Development Goals need the full engagement of diverse non-governmental actors to put them into practice.

The High-level Political Forum session this year will focus on the theme eradicating poverty and promoting prosperity in a changing world. This side event aims at contributing to this debate by looking into the broader experiences with civil society involvement in the EU and other world regions and defining enabling conditions for a strong and active role of stakeholders. Empowering citizens and civil society groups is the best way to move people out of poverty and achieve sustainable prosperity for all.

The European Economic and Social Committee, as the body representing organised civil society at the EU, feels well positioned to provide with this event an opportunity for knowledge exchange on this important aspect. By promoting the concept of participatory governance and multi-stakeholder partnerships the event also aims at contributing to SDG 17 which is included in the set of SDGs to be reviewed more in depth at the HLPF 2017.