Leave No One Behind – The International Civil Society Centre

Support for making Voices Heard and Count by the Robert Bosch Stiftung

3rd August 2020 by Outi Ruuska

We are pleased to share with you that Robert Bosch Stiftung recently agreed to support the Leave No One Behind Partnership. The support agreement will see €150.000 between July 2020–June 2021 go towards making the most marginalised voices heard and count in sustainable development goals achievement, ensuring no one is left behind.

Specifically, the money will seed fund some of our national level LNOB projects in Bangladesh, India, Kenya, or Nepal. In addition, it will advance our global level work on the development of online data tools and capacity building for our country team. This work is being co-led by our partners from IISD and Development Initiatives.

The Leave No One Behind partnership was launched in late 2017 as a partnership of 12 international civil society organisations (ICSOs). In 2018, the partnership set up national coalitions in 5 pilot countries (Bangladesh, India, Kenya, Nepal and Vietnam). The partnership further brings together national NGOs and civic platforms, as well as community-based organisations with the goal of making the voices of marginalised groups heard and count in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The partnership puts marginalised communities at the forefront of its project design: they are involved in generating monitoring data at the local level. Partners in the action countries have entered into a dialogue with local and national governments, aiming for the official recognition of this data to make it a source of public planning. Marginalised communities are empowered to take part in this dialogue, enabling them to address their needs and challenges face-to-face with authorities.

Between 2020 and 2022, the partnership wants to scale up its activities, globally promoting the use of community-driven data and other unofficial data sources in the SDG context, and establishing additional communities of action at country level. To underline the universality of the promise to “leave no on behind”, collaborative action with a focus on marginalised communities will also take place in countries of the ‘global north’. By 2022, partners aim to have jointly reached 100.000 people with the project, helping to making their voices heard and count.

Clemens Spiess, Program Director Inequality, Robert Bosch Stiftung

“Generating community-driven data on marginalized groups and feeding the data into dialogues with local and national governments and the international community is a necessary step to make the implementation of the Sustainable Development goals more effective and more inclusive. As Robert Bosch Stiftung, we see the efforts made by the Leave No One Behind Partnership not only as a crucial building block for creating a knowledge base to tackle inequality more effectively, but also to increase the visibility of those most affected by inequality thus making voices heard and count in a true sense.”

The Robert Bosch Stiftung GmbH is one of Europe’s largest foundations associated with a private company. In its charitable work, it addresses social issues at an early stage and develops exemplary solutions. For this purpose, it plans and implements its own projects. Additionally, it supports third-party initiatives that have similar goals. The Robert Bosch Stiftung is active in the areas of health, science and research, education, active citizenship, as well as international understanding and cooperation.

To hear more about the Leave No One Behind partnership and its Making Voices Heard and Count project in the pilot countries, contact Peter Koblowsky, Senior Partnership Manager at pkoblowsky@icscentre.org.

Outi Ruuska

Executive Assistant

International Civil Society Centre

Outi joined the Centre in January 2018. She supports the Executive Director in organisational matters and coordinates the Centre’s governance and legal processes. Her background is in Social Sciences and Environmental Policy. She holds a BA in Social Sciences awarded by the University of Lapland from her native Finland and an MA in Environmental Policy and Planning from the Technische Universität, Berlin. In her master’s thesis, Outi studied the framing of urban climate change adaptation to heat stress in Europe.

Join Making Voices Heard and Count at the UN’s High Level Political Forum

6th July 2020 by Peter Koblowsky

Event Title: Community-driven data as transformative means for accelerated action and SDG delivery
Call link: https://bit.ly/2VFzz6s
Wisembly: https://app.wisembly.com/hlpf2020#stream
Date: 9 July 2020
Time: 8.00-10.00am (EDT)
Facilitation: Wolfgang Jamann, International Civil Society Centre

Download the Agenda

Note:
We will record this event! Room capacity is limited to 300! We advise our audience to arrive at the virtual room before the official starting time. Moderators will be online in the room as of 7.45am.

Peter Koblowsky

Senior Partnership Manager - Leave No One Behind

International Civil Society Centre

Peter joined the Centre in January 2013, back then as a trainee. He completed the traineeship in the advocacy & campaigning office of World Vision Germany. Peter now coordinates the Leave No One Behind project and contributes to the development and implementation of various other strategic formats. Before joining the Centre, Peter worked for various organisations and think tanks in the development sector, being an expert in multi-stakeholder processes. He studied at the University of Bonn and graduated with an MA in Political Science with a focus on multi-actor advocacy for climate policy.

Join us to help make voices heard and count in SDG implementation

15th January 2020 by Peter Koblowsky

In 2020, The Leave No One Behind global partnership enters a new 3-year phase after successful completing the pilot stage between 2017 and 2019. The focus remains on Making Voices Heard and Count through empowerment of marginalised groups, assessment of their local situation through community-driven data and advocating for sustainable improvement of their livelihoods.

In this new stage, the global partnership is expanding its scope with countries from both the Global South and North. This means a continuation of our scaling up in Bangladesh, India, Kenya, Vietnam and Nepal. Additionally, we are exploring new national partnerships in Denmark, Canada, Malawi and the Philippines. The partnership plans to highlight the importance of implementing the SDGs in different socio-political contexts, demonstrating, that there is considerable room for improvement in countries in the Global North as well, thus recognising the universality of the Agenda 2030.

The International Civil Society Centre remains in the role of a host organisation. The increase in scale of Making Voices Heard and Count means that the Centre is additionally looking for new strategic partners to come on board and contribute to the bigger impact through their expertise. Currently we have 12 global international civil society organisations and national level coalitions, consisting each of numerous CSOs, throughout all action countries.

Join the Partnership

The Centre is expanding both the partnership itself and advisory groups on different topics, such as:

Data generation and analyse,
Working with margilised communities,
Implementation of the SDGs.

If your organisation has expertise in one or more of these fields, or if you want to build a deeper understanding of the project, feel free to contact Peter Koblowsky for further information and framework questions.

Let’s join forces for the practical achievement of the SDGs in a growing number of countries worldwide!

Peter Koblowsky

Senior Partnership Manager - Leave No One Behind

International Civil Society Centre

Leave No One Behind news round-up

5th December 2019 by Thomas Howie

The Leave No One Behind project was launched in late 2017 as a partnership of 12 international civil society organizations (ICSOs). In 2018, the partnership set up national coalitions in 5 pilot countries (Bangladesh, India, Kenya, Nepal and Vietnam), bringing together national NGOs and civic platforms, as well as community-based organisations. Here we round up some news from a couple of our pilot countries:

India: New study published as part of Leave No One Behind

Wada Na Todo Abhiyan (Don’t break your promise) launched a new study: ‘The 100 Hotspots: a snapshot of socially excluded vulnerable population groups and SDGs in India’. It is a first of its kind study on the less recognised population groups in India and their status in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

A recent blog by Wada Na Todo Abhiyan featured on Feedback labs explains what the study shows and how it fits into the Leave No One Behind project

Read the blog: 100 Hotspots: Making Socially Excluded Voices Heard and Count in India

Bangladesh: Leave No One Behind gets national coverage

A recent conference organisaed by the project partners in Bangladesh received widespread national media coverage. With several highprofile contirbutions from NGO Affairs Bureau, UNDP and the Project Partners there was plenty to discuss and to carry forward into future work.

Read news: Speakers: Mindset must change for inclusive development

Read news: Three crore marginalised people out of dev process

Thomas Howie

Communications Manager

International Civil Society Centre

Thomas joined the Centre in June 2017 as the Communications Coordinator. He is responsible for developing and implementing the Centre’s global communication strategy, as well as the Disrupt & Innovate platform – a place for civil society professionals and activists to discuss current innovations and future trends in the civil society sector. Prior to the Centre, Thomas worked for 5 years in the European Parliament firstly as the Digital and Social Media Coordinator for the Socialists and Democrats Group in the European Parliament, and then, after the 2014 European elections, for Jude Kirton-Darling and Paul Brannen as Head of Communications, where he worked on issues such as the EU-US trade deal, issues around Brexit and as a specialist on the Petitions Committee. Thomas graduated from Bristol University with BSci in Geographical Sciences and holds an MA in Peace Studies from the University of Bradford, where he completed research into the role of civil society in the post war peace settlement in northern Uganda.

Leave No One Behind buzzing ahead

25th July 2019 by Thomas Howie

The Leave No One Behind project is lifting off. With concrete results and recommendations from the five pilot countries, there is continued energy among the project partners and allies to continue this joint initiative to make voices heard and count.

At the annual project partners meeting in Berlin, the partnership confirmed that the novel approach to Sustainable Development Goal monitoring and implementation represents an important stepping stone for the realisation of the promise to leave no one behind in SDG implementation. Recognition of this comes from the highest levels, too. In July, the project was invited to present at the United Nation’s High Level Political Forum (HLPF). By participating in the HLPF new connections are made in our shared mission to make all people’s voices heard and count in SDG implementation.

Project Partners Meeting

In late June project partners presented, discussed and evaluated the results of the pilot phase of the project that sees twelve leading ICSOs joining forces to make the voices of marginalised people heard and count in SDG implementation. The five pilot countries are Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Kenya and Vietnam.

The principle at the heart of the SDGs, to leave no one behind is yet to be fully realised in current monitoring and implementation. The pilot project shows that the novel approach taken by the project partners is capable of ‘building a bridge’ between gaps in statistical monitoring and policymaking. Community-driven data has proven its potential to identify specific drivers of vulnerability at the local level and to develop purposeful policy recommendations to address these local issues.

The project partners will now define the concrete next steps to move ahead towards a collective four-year engagement until the mid-point of SDG delivery in 2022. Together with partners from across the sectors, we want to work towards a more inclusive, accountable and participatory SDG implementation in a growing number of countries worldwide.

High Level Political Forum

The partnership presented its results at the High Level Political Forum in New York. In addtion, the partnership were central to two well attended side events where there were in depth discussions about our unique approach and futre collaboration.

As a result their input, the partnership is invited to contribute to the Voluntary National Review labs of the HLPF. They will present the approach to an international expert audience of statistics agencies and political decision-makers. Also, the UN Deputy Secretary General’s SDG strategy hub is keen to explore how we can work together.

Leave No One Behind

Thomas Howie

Communications Manager

International Civil Society Centre

Leave No One Behind Partnership at the SDG Global Festival of Action

3rd May 2019 by Thomas Howie

The Leave No One Behind Partnership is excited to be at the Sustainable Development Goal Global Festival of Action in Bonn, Germany from 2 to 4 May 2019. The SDG Global Festival of Action brings together more than 1,500 political decision-makers, activists, experts, business leaders and creatives from over 130 countries at the World Conference Centre.

Thao Hoang, Country Director of ActionAid Vietnam, representing the Partnership at the Festival, participated in a panel discussion about how to make SDG implementation and review processes more inclusive.

Thao Hoang participating in the panel on “Leaving No One Behind: How to make SDG Implementation & Review More Inclusive?” at the Sustainable Development Goal Global Festival of Action in Bonn, Germany from 2 to 4 May 2019

An influential partnership of a dozen of the world’s largest international civil society organisations (ICSOs), ‘Leave No One Behind’ partnership brings together actors from the local up to the international level to realise a more participative and inclusive SDG implementation. The coalition aims to fill knowledge gaps about marginalisation and to advocate for evidence-based policy-making at national and global levels. Put simply, Make Voices Heard And Count.

Thao Hoang, Country Director of ActionAid Vietnam, said:

“SDG implementation by government alone is not possible. They can only be achieved with the inclusion of civil society, private sector, academia and, most importantly, with the most marginalised people’s voices being heard. We need to all work together.

“SDGs are not one size fits all, they mean something different to each person, education for one person and safe cities for others. To address this diversity, we need to work together.

“Change takes time, you just won’t wake up finding all the SDGs implemented. Its time to stop asking ‘why’ and ‘how’ and, instead work on the why and how now – that’s why we attend the SDG Global Festival of Action.”

Peter Koblowsky, Senior Partnership Manager, said:

“Being at the SDG Global Festival of Action shows that there is a strong global level focus on SDG implementation. Likewise, there is an appetite to work more locally, and across sectors and organisations. Our multi-stakeholder Leave No One Behind coalition serves this need, bringing in marginalised communities and advocating for their needs both on a global and local level. This is how we will make voices heard and count.”

Thomas Howie

Communications Manager

International Civil Society Centre

The Leave No One Behind Project is moving ahead – Here is how!

4th January 2019 by Maria Kohutova

The ‘Leave No One Behind’ project is approaching the finishing line of its pilot phase. Five country teams have actively worked towards engaging their local communities as well as leading the dialogue with the governmental institutions. The local partners are currently preparing to collect data in the selected marginalised communities.

So what are the local partners up to?

In Bangladesh, the project will map out the needs of migration-affected groups with regard to universal healthcare.
The Indian partners will reach up to 1,200 households, monitoring the progress in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) with 13 groups of vulnerable communities.
Kenyan project partners will lead a five-county dialogue, collecting evidence on the needs of marginalised groups such as women and youth in remote regions, people with disabilities and elderly people.
In Nepal, the project strives for gender equality and empowerment of women through collecting data on vulnerable groups of women and girls in 3 Nepali provinces
Vietnam will gather both quantitative and qualitative data from marginalised groups such as ethnic minorities, people with disabilities, low-income women, elderly and youth in Ha Giang and Quang Tri provinces in order to promote social, economic and political inclusion for all.

How did the Leave No One Behind project all start?

The project itself was launched in September 2017 as a collaboration between 12 and local partners from five countries. Since then, we have worked together to empower marginalised communities whose needs are underrepresented or ignored in the national and international monitoring.

But we are not done yet! We are still planning to promote more evidence-driven approach and mainstream the inclusion of the vulnerable groups. After the project pilot phase, in February 2018, we aim to use this approach for up to 20 countries by 2022. We do not want to leave anyone behind and we strive for accountable decision-making and monitoring of SDG implementation for all groups in the society.

Are you with us?

If you are interested in getting involved with the project or have a question, please email Project Manager, Peter Koblowsky at pkoblowsky@icscentre.org.

Leave No One Behind

Maria Kohutova

Leave No One Behind Intern

International Civil Society Centre

Leave No One Behind – failure is not an option

18th September 2018 by Åsa Månsson and Peter Koblowsky

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were a crucial first attempt to set ambitious goals for a successful development in the 21^st century. Their key shortcoming was that the poorest 20% of the global population was largely ignored in the race to improve statistical averages. The new set of goals – the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – were thus created in the spirit of “leaving no one behind”. This means that the SDGs require all goals to be reached, for everyone – especially those at the margins of society.

However, the UN 2017 SDG report emphasises that data identifying who is vulnerable or what their needs are is often unavailable. This poses a great challenge if the SDGs are to be fully implemented, as we currently don’t have a full understanding of who is in danger to be left behind and what these communities would need, in order to benefit from the promises made on the global level. How can we tackle this problem?

Several of the international civil society organisations (ICSOs) that we at the International Civil Society Centre are working with – such as Save the Children, BRAC, WWF, CARE International or Plan International – have a clear ambition to contribute to the implementation of the SDGs. And as a basis for this work, they have a great wealth of data and evidence.

And yet, while all these organisations alone are making great strides, imagine:

…these organisations came together to share the data they have and jointly set out to gather the data that is lacking?
… marginalised groups and communities were actively involved in the gathering of new data that described their needs?
…the data generated this way were recognised and included in the official SDG monitoring processes?
… government, ICSOs and citizens would sit together to develop programmes and services that can help to solve the problems of marginalised groups?

Since September 2017, the Centre together with 12 ICSOs is making this a reality. Our Leave No One Behind project aims to give voice and agency to marginalised groups and communities within SDG implementation and monitoring processes, through a diverse and globally coordinated approach using community-based data.

In the current pilot phase (ending February 2019), we are focusing on national level collaboration in five countries: Bangladesh, India, Kenya, Nepal and Vietnam. In each country, the national offices of ICSOs, as well as local partners and civic platforms, come together in an unprecedented effort to create collective impact. These country teams have jointly agreed to focus on a specific aspect of the SDGs, relevant to their country’s context.

For example, in Bangladesh the focus is on ensuring a universal health care for people living at the margins of society, mainly talking to people with disabilities, ethnic minorities, migrants and the ultra-poor. The colleagues in Kenya are exploring how to strengthen community-led monitoring of SDG implementation, and in India the focus is on measuring the overall SDG progress for marginalised groups across 100 ‘hotspots’, making 10,000 families in the country.

As we all know, collaboration is a tough one and it has been a challenge to figure out the right approach and level for this collaboration. One year into the project we – thanks to the commitment of so many parties – are thrilled to see the commitment of the ICSOs and several other organisations to make this initiative a success. Our clear ambition in the upcoming months is: a) finalise and evaluate the results of the national level work, b) based on these insights develop an ambitious “blueprint” for setting up evidence-driven partnerships bringing together actors across the sectors, jointly fighting for the full inclusion of marginalised people in the SDG delivery and c) secure funding for a scaled-up version of this initiative that will be expanded to more countries until 2022.

We see a lot of potential in this initiative and we also know that there just is no other way: In order to ensure nobody is left behind in the delivery of the SDGs, actors across the sectors must join forces and pool strengths and knowledge. The ICSOs can play a key role in this, working across the globe with structures that reaches from the grassroots to the international level. One of the sector’s key strengths is this wide reach and influence and the resulting ability to trigger and shape change. The project is a key lever for showing the sector’s capabilities to make the SDGs a success for everybody, including the people who live at the margins of society – hence, failure is not an option!

We are looking forward to hearing from anyone who is interested in being part of this collaboration.

Leave No One Behind

Åsa Månsson

Special Projects

Wikimedia Foundation

In May 2020 Åsa left the Centre and joined Wikimedia Germany in a role working on organisational development’. Between 2010 and 2013, Åsa acted as manager of the INGO Accountability Charter (Accountable Now). In September 2013, Åsa took up the role as Director of Development, innovating the Centre’s fundraising and communication efforts. Since October 2016, Åsa has been Director of the Global Standard and has additionally taken on the role as the Centre’s Programme Director in mid-2017. Originally from Sweden, Åsa earlier worked for a consultancy, evaluating social projects within the public and civil society sector. Åsa studied European Studies and Sociology at universities in Gothenburg and Berlin. She completed her education with a Master’s thesis on the role of civil society in European governance.

Peter Koblowsky

Senior Partnership Manager - Leave No One Behind

International Civil Society Centre

Leave No One Behind Annual Meeting – ICSOs connecting to go beyond organisational limits

11th May 2018 by Thomas Howie

Over 30 representatives from International Civil Society Organisations gathered in Dhaka, Bangladesh for the Leave No One Behind Annual Meeting between 2 – 3 May. The group focussed on the progress made in the project’s pilot countries* and developing a joint political message, for the high-level political forum, from the initial key findings.

The next phase of the project pilot will involve rolling out the projects unique data collaboration between country offices of ICSOs. The aim is to ensure the recognition and validation of community-based data in the official SDG implementation of the five pilot countries. This will achieve the project’s main target: to make sure that people’s voices are heard, understood and acted upon.

Wolfgang Jamann, International Civil Society Centre Executive Director, said:

“The SDGs were created in the spirit of “leaving no one behind”. This means that they will only be considered fulfilled if all goals are reached, for everyone – especially those who live at the margins of society.

“This project is about raising the voices of those marginalised people around the world. By bringing together the wealth of evidence that is being collected by international civil society organisations we can put their voices at the centre of SDG implementation.

“Collectively, as a coalition, we have made some huge strides since this project started last year. The project shows that when leading ICSOs connect, they can go beyond organisational limits. By collaborating, we stand a better chance of reaching the SDG targets in more places. That can only be a positive thing.”

Peter Koblowsky, Leave No One Behind Project Manager, said:

“I am really pleased with the progress we have made in the two days. Our next steps will focus on consolidating country-level experiences and findings. This will help us to refine our planned activities and develop a scaling-up strategy for the project to be carried out in an increased number of countries, thereby reaching more marginalised communities around the globe. In addition, the outcomes from Dhaka will be used to prepare a joint message to be delivered at the High Level Political Forum. I hope that our common effort will be a success, so that the voices of the most marginalised around the world will be heard and make a difference in the implementation of the SDGs.”

*Bangladesh, Nepal, Vietnam, Kenya and India

Leave No One Behind

Thomas Howie

Communications Manager

International Civil Society Centre

Putting the mantra “Leave No One Behind” into action

8th May 2018 by Wolfgang Jamann

Leave no one behind – a brave and bold ambition that forms the theme of the Sustainable Development Goals, which aim to eradicate poverty and injustice by 2030. The international community, including the civil society sector, takes this as guidance for its programmes and projects. As part of that ambition, one area of focus will include the most marginalised communities and people in every country. And there are many: discriminated ethnic minorities, mutilated war victims, impoverished children, desperate refugees and displaced families, to name but a few.

Last week, the global ‘Leave No One Behind’ (LNOB) coalition met in Dhaka, Bangladesh, bringing together several of the largest international civil society organisations. The aim: to join forces to raise the voices of the most marginalised. The group has been working in five pilot* countries over the past six months and is developing a plan to combine data, distil learnings and use those for better programming and advocacy nationally and globally.

20180503_092540

Bringing together many actors from different national contexts has many complexities, but provides for valuable learning, and hopefully, greater impact through a collaborative approach. In one country, for example, Vietnam, this coalition is already becoming the principal voice of civil society vs the Voluntary National Review which is submitted annually to report progress on SDGs. One overriding theme at the meeting was indeed, how the coalition can input into those government-led monitoring mechanisms, which too often lack disaggregated data and the voice of marginalised communities. And it proved beneficial to have representatives of the Bangladesh Government attend part of the meeting, which was hosted by the influential NGO BRAC, in order to discuss better linkage of monitoring between state and civil society.

Figuring out what marginalisation means is a key, and difficult task, because of its highly contextual nature. Bangladesh, again, is a good example of this, as it is now hosting one of the largest vulnerable and marginalised refugee communities, which fled from neighbouring Myanmar last year. Giving Rohingya people a voice is imperative, without losing consideration of those communities that are less visible.

Inclusive data gathering needs to cover quantitative data according to the many SDG indicators that exist. But every marginalised person has a story, which should be told so that underlying causes for discrimination and injustice are understood and addressed. In a world of increasing use of big and small data, their protection and the concerns for privacy need to be dealt with seriously, especially as marginalisation often has highly political dimensions. The LNOB coalition is seeking expert advice on data use so that people‘s rights are not violated.

The High-Level Political Forum of the UN exchanges progress and challenges on the Goals every year. The LNOB project is aimed at this Forum and will be represented there this year. It will link up with similar initiatives to bring the voices of the most marginalised and poorest into the centre of discussions. Without prioritising them, the international community will not achieve the Goals, nor live up to the needed structural changes that need to happen in social, economic and political terms.

If your organisation is interested in joining the coalition or in finding out more, then please contact the project manager Peter Koblowsky at pkoblowsky@icscentre.org

*Bangladesh, India, Kenya, Nepal and Vietnam

Leave No One Behind

Wolfgang Jamann

Executive Director

International Civil Society Centre

Dr. Wolfgang Jamann is Executive Director of the International Civil Society Centre. Until January 2018 he was Secretary General and CEO of CARE International (Geneva). Before that he led NGO Deutsche Welthungerhilfe and the Alliance 2015, a partnership of 7 European aid organisations. From 2004-2009 he was CEO & Board member of CARE Deutschland-Luxemburg and President of the CARE Foundation. Previously, he worked for World Vision International as a regional representative in East Africa (Kenya) & Head of Humanitarian Assistance at WV Germany. After his Ph.D. dissertation in 1990 he started his career in development work at the German Foundation for International Development, later for the UNDP in Zambia. As a researcher and academic, he has published books and articles on East & Southeast Asia contributing to international studies on complex humanitarian emergencies and conflict management.

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