The UN post-2015 development agenda – a critical analysis. AWID Friday File

This brief article contains a critical analysis of the post-2015 process so far at the time it was published and discusses the ways that women’s rights advocates are organising to influencing the process. It argues that despite there being little clarity on how the post-2015 process will link to actual policy making, many women’s rights advocates see the process as a possible opportunity to reframe the development model and fight for a more democratic, inclusive and accountable international development system that can tackle the structural factors behind poverty, inequality and crises. It states the importance of joining the post-2015 process to others such as the review of the International Conference on Population and Development or the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. It also points out that the post-2015 process should be genuinely participatory, involving civil society at all stages.

The article lists some of the ways that women’s rights groups have been engaging with the process in different regions, for example through the Africa women’s regional civil society consultation and the regional dialogue on sustainable development and the post-2015 agenda in Bangkok. By taking part in such arenas, women’s groups and gender activists have an opportunity to influence broader civil society messages, the article argues.
Rather than rushing to develop new development goals, care should be taken to address fundamental questions around the type of development we want to see and the ideology that underpins it. The article makes the interesting point that the messages and demands of ongoing mobilisations and struggles such as Indignados, Occupy and others should be introduced into the post-2015 discussion, as a way of ensuring that inclusive development strategies emerge from local resistance and struggles.