The capital of Rwanda, Kigali is set to host the 8th Session of Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Development (ARFSD-8) next month.
The Forum, which is scheduled to take place from March 3 – 5, 2022, will be held under the theme, Building forward better: A green, inclusive and resilient Africa poised to achieve the 2030 Agenda and Agenda 2063, according to the press statement from the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).
The theme is aligned with the 2022 High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) on Building back better from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) while advancing the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The ARFSD-8 is organized by the United Nations Economic Commission of Africa (ECA) and the government of Rwanda in collaboration with the African Union Commission (AUC), the African Development Bank (AfDB) and other entities of the United Nations System.
It will bring together African Ministers, senior officials, high-level policymakers and experts from ministries and agencies and practitioners from UN member States, private sector, civil society, academia and UN organizations.
The ARFSD-8 will conduct a regional follow-up and review of the implementation of the selected SDGs and Agenda 2063 goals; focus on identifying ambitions strategies and policy actions to build back better from COVID-19 and to dramatically scale up implementation in 2021-2030; facilitate learning, including sharing approaches, experiences and lessons learned from VNRs, VLRs and implementation efforts; deliberate and agree on Africa’ regional input to the 2022 meeting of HLPF to be held in New York.
The Forum will be preceded (March 1st and 2nd) by the Africa ion Regional Collaborative Platform (RCP) of UN agencies operating in the region; the third Africa Regional Forum on Science and Technology; the capacity development workshop on Voluntary National Reviews and Voluntary Local Reviews; and Africa Regional Preparatory workshop for Major Groups and other Stakeholders (MGoS).
Unique to Africa, the ARFSD will undertake integrated follow-up and review of the SDGs and goals of the African Union Agenda 2063. This is because for Africa, the two Agenda provide a synergistic framework for achieving inclusive and people-centered sustainable development in the region.
The ARFSD will also provide a platform for peer learning including on Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) and Voluntary Local Review (VLRs) by subnational entities.
This is Africa’s collective input to the HLPF on all the deliberations of the Forum. The outcome document from the Forum will consists of Africa’s priorities and policy recommendation to accelerate implementation of the two Agendas.
A concise synthesis of these outcomes will be presented to HLPF by the Chair of the Bureau of the ARFSD. In this case Rwanda will present Africa’s position at the high-level segment of the 2022 HLPF to be held in New York, from Tuesday, 5 July, to Thursday, 7 July and Monday, 11 July to Friday, 15 July, and Monday, 18 July 2022.
The ARFSD is an annual multi-stakeholder platform organized jointly by the United Nations Economic Commission of Africa (ECA) and the Host Government in collaboration with the African Union Commission, the African Development Bank and other entities of the United Nations System.
It brings together Ministers, senior officials, experts and practitioners from UN member States, private sector, civil society, academia and UN organizations.
The regional forum is one of the three mechanisms mandated by the UN General Assembly to follow-up, review and catalyze actions to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by UN member States in September 2015.
Seven sessions of the Regional Forum have been held to date. Currently, the Republic of Congo is the chair of the 5-member Bureau of the seventh session of the Regional Forum, held in Brazzaville, Congo in in March 2021.