As the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) reach their tenth anniversary of their adoption in 2025, progress towards the SDGs has stagnated and even seen significant backsliding on many fronts. Further exacerbating these challenges to progress, civil society around the world is confronting a convergence of compounding and existential threats. These negative threats around closing civic space and a rise in anti-democratic trends are working to stifle civic participation, eroding democratic institutions, impeding inclusive governance, and weakening global development efforts on all fronts. Meanwhile, many civil society organizations, especially those from marginalized communities, face chronic underfunding and resource insecurity as a result of recent draconian aid cuts, further limiting their ability to respond to crises and community needs and to organize.

This side event will look to create an inclusive space for civil society actors and other key champions from other stakeholder groups to speak candidly and constructively about these existential threats to civil society, to share best practices and strategies to respond to these increasingly prevalent challenges. This event will serve as one in a series of dialogues on these topics throughout 2025, with an aim to identify potential opportunities for collective mobilization, campaigning, advocacy or financing. 

Please note that advance registration is required by no later than 15 July.

Register for online participation here