LAUNCH SPOTLIGHT REPORT 2020

Shifting policies for systemic change

Lessons from the global COVID-19 crisis

Friday, 18 September 2020, 9:00-10:00am EDT

The COVID-19 pandemic has a massive impact on the implementation of the SDGs and the fulfilment of human rights. The looming global recession will dramatically increase unemployment, poverty and hunger worldwide. Moreover, the crisis threatens to further deepen discrimination and inequalities.

In the Declaration on the Commemoration of the 75th Anniversary of the United Nations, to be adopted on 21 September 2020, Heads of State and Government will promise “to mobilize resources, strengthen our efforts and show unprecedented political will and leadership” in response to the current crisis.

The call to “build back better” has become a leitmotif of intergovernmental responses to the crisis. But does “building back” really lead to the urgently needed systemic change? What kind of policies, strategies and structural changes are necessary to ensure the primacy of human rights, gender justice and sustainability goals in all policy areas?

These questions are discussed in this year's report Spotlight on Sustainable Development 2020. Its fundamental message is that the multiple crises can only be overcome if the massive power asymmetries within and between societies can be reduced.

With this virtual launching event, we will present key findings of the report.

Brief snapshots by

• Roberto Bissio, Coordinator of Social Watch
• Ziad Abdel Samad, Executive Director of the Arab NGO Network for Development (ANND)
• Vanita Mukherjee, Member of the Executive Committee of Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN)

Policy conclusions by

• Ignacio Saiz, Executive Director of the Center for Economic and Social Rights
• Barbara Adams, President of Global Policy Forum

Moderator/Facilitator

• Bodo Ellmers, Director of Sustainable Development Finance, Global Policy Forum Europe
• Elisabeth Bollrich, Global Economy Expert at Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung

The recording of the launching event is below.

The Spotlight Report is published by the Arab NGO Network for Development (ANND), the Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR), Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN), Global Policy Forum (GPF), Public Services International (PSI), Social Watch, Society for International Development (SID), and Third World Network (TWN), supported by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES).