by: The Sunday Times Sri Lanka

Six research teams from the global south – Ghana, Nigeria, Bolivia, Peru, India and Sri Lanka – along with a core group of experts, met in Negombo, Sri Lanka on July 18-20.

The meeting was expected to launch their country studies to feed into the upcoming ‘State of the Sustainable Development Goals’ Report, according to local partner, the Centre for Poverty Analysis (CEPA).

The report “State of the SDGs” will focus on ‘Leave no one Behind’ within country and the global context, CEPA said in a media release.

Inclusion is at the core of the Sustainable Development Goals and is reflected in the pledge and vision of a “just, equitable, tolerant, open and socially inclusive world in which the needs of the most vulnerable are met”.

The report will explore who is being excluded from clean and affordable energy, high quality education, and decent and productive jobs. It will also seek to identify the underlying causes of deprivations: are they economic or political; intended or unintended; policy-induced or systemic.

The Southern Voice “State of the SDGs” initiative will provide evidence-based analysis and recommendations to improve the delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As a collaborative initiative, the programme will compile a broad range of perspectives that are usually missing from international debates.

“We are embarking on a momentous undertaking. It is a unique opportunity for development scholars from the South to use our expertise and experience to influence policy in favour of those people who may get left behind in our countries” says Dr. Debapriya Bhattacharya, Chair of Southern Voice.

The final “State of the SDGs” report is scheduled to be launched at the UN High Level Political Forum at Summit level in New York in 2019.

Southern Voice is a network of 50 thinks tanks from across Africa, Asia and Latin America. It serves as a platform for the Global South to promote evidence-based dialogue on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and its impact on the South.