National Consultation: Making COVID-19 Vaccine Accessible for Marginalised Communities in India

In this webinar collaboration with Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) and Oxfam India, WNTA hosted a national consultation to take forward the global campaign calls of the People’s Vaccine Alliance (PVA) and promote equitable access for the vulnerable communities across India.

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The session was concluded with the plan to take the learnings from this session and come back to continue this conversation with concrete strategies that work towards increasing and improving access to vaccines for the marginalized groups in India.

launch of open sdg clubs, india, 2020

The civil society in India has been in the process of conceptualising and setting up common spaces of engagement on the Sustainable Development Goals. In collaboration with GIZ, ‘Open SDG Clubs’ were set up where different stakeholders and professionals can come together to develop actionable strategies to support the inclusion of vulnerable communities in achieving the SDGs (under the Leave No One Behind principle).

As part of the same, four regional (East, North-East, South and West) and one national club (Delhi) were initiated and engaged in networking and capacity-building, while undertaking research with more actors in the civil society to bring everyone together on a common platform and promote inclusive SDGs at the regional and national levels. 

The “Open SDG Club India: Bringing Civil Society Together” brought together our regional and global civil society partners on one platform to have an exchange about the experiences, learnings and good practices to make the SDG Clubs more efficient and meaningful in the long-run.

SOUTH ASIA PEOPLE’S FORUM ON THE SDGS 2020- SIDE EVENT

The South Asia People’s Forum (SAPF) in coordination with the Asia Pacific Regional Civil Society Engagement Mechanism (APRCEM) organized the SAPF on 22-23 November 2020. The forum brings together the 8 countries in the SA region – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Pakistan, Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. 

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On November 23, 2020, WNTA and DHRUBA Bangladesh anchored a side event session: ‘Leaving No One Behind in Covid times’. Speakers from six countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka participated. The session focused on capturing the narratives of the pandemic from the perspective of marginalized communities in the South Asian region. Key policy demands and recommendations were shared to protect and fulfill the rights of South Asian Peoples for effective COVID 19 response and just recovery. Conclusions of the sessions have been noted down by the forum which will be included in the south Asia People Declaration 2020.

100 Hotspot: Release 2020

Release of The 100 Hotspot Vol. II Report: Snapshot of Socially Excluded and Vulnerable Communities vis-a-vis sustainable Development Goals, which was produced with the vision of making SDGs more relevant for vulnerable communities, was released as part of the occasion of Global Week of Action on September 24, 2020. WNTA had organized an online launch event inviting community based organisations who collected the data, partners from India and  international NGOs and civil society coalitions to a panel discussing the findings of the report in context of ‘Leave No One Behind’ and it’s increased relevance in the Covid-19 pandemic.

Global Week of Action:

19-26 September 2020

In the backdrop of civil society coming together for SDGs globally, WNTA mobilised public gatherings (following social distance protocol) in the week of action across India with twelve state partners from Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Delhi, alongside online sessions on ‘‘Climate Action’ and ‘Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions in the Indian context’. The 100 Hotspots Vol. II report was also released as part of the occasion. WNTA also shared a charter of demands with the state government.

Citizen’s Report on Year 1 of the NDA II Government- Promises and Reality: Release 2020

The civil society collaborative report reviewing governance along 25 sectors of socio-economic relevance including parliament budgetary priorities, climate, civic space, water and sanitation, human rights and more between 2019-2020 was released on 10 September 2020. The virtual release was followed by a discussion among an eminent panel consisting of Mr. Sandeep Dikshit; Member of Indian National Congress, Mr. Manoi Jha; Member of Parliament, Com. D Raja; General Secretary, Communist Party of India, Avinash Kuma; Executive Director, Amnesty International India, Anjali Bharadwaj; Co-Convenor, NCPRI, Saba Naqvi; Journalist and Author. Press statements and policy asks from the report were also shared with several dignitaries by our national and state civil society partners.

Voluntary National Review 2019-2020

WNTA, in collaboration with UN India, participated in the process of Voluntary National Review 2020 being done by Niti Aayog, Government of India.

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There were 16 national consultations held for different vulnerable communities in January 2020 as part of the process. The findings from these consultations were then shared with the government for their presentation at the UN HLPF 2020 in July.

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A civil society report of the findings is to be released soon.