In the year following the adoption of transformative global goals, development cooperation is attracting heightened attention. The 2030 Agenda looks set to test the ability of a diverse range of actors to work together to eradicate poverty and achieve sustainable development.

“We cannot fulfil the transformative potential of the 2030 Agenda with the old approach to development cooperation. The Agenda demands new ways of working and a change of mind-set from all development cooperation actors,” said Mr. Wu Hongbo, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, who chaired the Briefing on the 2016 Development Cooperation Forum (DCF) Preparatory Process, on Monday 22 February.

Organized by UNDESA, the event took place around the theme “Development Cooperation, lever for integrated SDG implementation” and offered the opportunity for delegates and others to raise and debate various issues.

During this fruitful exchange, representatives of governments, international and inter-parliamentary organizations and civil society discussed ways to use development cooperation to drive integrated and effective approaches to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). They looked to the DCF as a distinctive platform for the diversity of actors to share their early experiences and identify the key opportunities and challenges in adjusting development cooperation for implementing the SDGs.

Speakers underscored the fact that development cooperation is vital in all its forms including financial transfers, capacity building, technology development and transfer, policy advice, as well as multi-stakeholder partnerships. Such cooperation was also becoming more and more a two-way street,and would play a crucial role in the localization of the SDGs.

H.E. Mr. Alejandro Palma Cerna, Vice-President of the Economic and Social Council, talked about development cooperation as “impetus for new ways of working” and “driving force behind the Means of Implementation for the 2030 Agenda” and called for honest and inclusive evidence-based discussions that go beyond “formulaic review exercises”.

The briefing also featured presentations by the Permanent Missions of Uganda and of Belgium on the DCF High-level Symposiums in their respective countries, in preparation for the Fifth Biennial High-level Meeting of the Development Cooperation Forum taking place on 21-22 July in New York (for more information on the upcoming DCF Belgium High-level Symposium see here).

The 2016 DCF is expected to foster global policy dialogue and mutual learning on development cooperation in the SDG era and to help propagate the innovative solutions and global partnerships needed to implement the 2030 Agenda.