UN Financing for Development Process / Overview
Between January and May of 2015, Regions Refocus collaborated with Arab NGO Network for Development, DAWN, Latindadd, TWN-Africa, TWN, and Women and Media Collective to influence the Third International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD3). This included four regional convenings in Africa, Asia, and Latin America (English, Spanish). At the culmination of the regional convenings, building on analysis that emerged from the discussions, Regions Refocus, TWN, and DAWN co-produced a critical analysis of government positions on issues related to the Financing for Development agenda. ‘Geopolitical Analysis of Financing for Development’ was launched by the co-authors and the Permanent Missions of Uruguay and Egypt at an event on the sidelines of the intergovernmental FfD negotiations, which took place in April 2015 at the UN Headquarters in New York.
The final negotiations for FfD3 took place in Addis Ababa on 14 July 2015, where Regions Refocus, TWN, Social Watch, TWN-Africa, Arab NGO Network for Development, Latindadd, DIVA, and DAWN convened a cross-regional roundtable discussion to track the global uptake of progressive policy proposals from the regional consultations. One proposal included in the global outcome draft was from the Africa regional consultation, which sought to ensure governments relying heavily on extractive industries dominated by multinational corporations were able to negotiate terms that actually benefit African economies. However, no progressive proposals around debt restructuring from Africa or Latin America and the Caribbean made it into the outcome draft.
In the period following FfD3, Regions Refocus engaged deeply with South-based civil society groups and movements, including by collaborating on convenings, research, and advocacy under the umbrellas of our two main initiatives, the Gender and Trade Coalition (GTC) and Post-Colonialisms Today (PCT). After launching a series of four feminist trade ‘explainer’ articles in early 2024, Regions Refocus joined the UN Civil Society FfD mechanism’s Trade workstream. As one of five Co-Facilitators of the workstream, Regions Refocus has been actively shaping its advocacy positions leading up to the Fourth International Conference on FfD (FfD4). Scheduled for the end of June, 2025, in Seville, FfD4 is a crucial arena to secure action on long-standing calls for trade justice. Specific proposals from the workstream include: a multilateral agreement banning the Investor-State-Dispute-Settlement (ISDS) mechanism; a ban on unilateral financial, trade, and economic measures; and the redesigning of international trade rules and commitments to ensure policy space for pursuing public policy goals.
