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The United Nations General Assembly unanimously declared 2 April as World Autism Awareness Day to highlight the need to help improve the quality of life of children and adults, who are affected by autism, so they can lead full and meaningful lives.

Since then, there has been a growing public awareness about autism and Autism Spectrum Disorders and an increase in public services to those affected. Greater understanding allows parents to seek early intervention therapies. It encourages policy-makers to prompt schools to open their doors to students with autism who, with adequate support, can be educated in the heart of their communities.

This year, World Autism Awareness Day (WAAD) will highlight the unique talents of people with autism and what is required to promote growth in employment opportunities. People with autism often possess in greater abundance than ¡°neurotypical¡± workers do ¨C such as, heightened abilities in pattern recognition and logical reasoning, as well as a greater attention to detail. These exceptional and unique skills make them valuable employees to organizations. Such qualities make them ideally suited to certain kinds of employment, such as software testing, data entry, lab work and proofreading, to name just a few examples. The hurdles that need to be overcome to unleash this potential include: a shortage of vocational training, inadequate support with job placement, and pervasive discrimination.

Article 27 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on Work and Employment calls upon States Parties to promote and protect the right of persons with disabilities, to work on an equal basis with others and to an environment that is open, inclusive and accessible. The Convention also works to enable persons with disabilities to have effective access to general technical and vocational guidance programmes, placement services and training.

However, certain issues have not received due attention that are a cause for concern. For example, what happens when a young person with autism has completed school and prepares to face life as an adult? It is estimated that even in those parts of the world where awareness about autism is most advanced, more than 80% of adults with autism are unemployed or underemployed.

To help realize ¡°the autism advantage¡±, there will be a ¡°¡± launched at the United Nations on 2 April, inviting businesses to make pledges and commitments to employ persons with autism as well as to create work zones where people with autism can excel. Businesses are encouraged to use the platform established by the .

The will include a discussion by a panel of experts that will cover: inadequate support with job placement, pervasive discrimination and a shortage of vocational training.

World Autism Awareness Day aims to help improve the quality of life of those who are affected by autism so they can lead a full and meaningful life as valuable members of their communities.

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UN DESA and the Republic of Korea are co-hosting a?High-level Symposium themed ¡°Development cooperation for people and planet: What will it take?¡± on 9 ¨C 10 April in Incheon, the Republic of Korea. As the first high-level Symposium in preparation for the 2016 DCF, the symposium will explore what it will take in terms of means of implementation to deliver on the proposed sustainable development goals, integrating the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development.

For the successful implementation of the post-2015 development agenda, a renewed global partnership for development is needed for implementing this transformative agenda. New ways must be found to mobilize, allocate and use unprecedented amounts of financial resources and other means of implementation more effectively. This calls for aligning the financial and non-financial means of implementation, securing an enabling policy environment at all levels and strengthening coherence of international monetary, financial and trading systems.

The event will gather together approximately 180 participants including high-level representatives from national and local governments, international organizations, parliaments, civil society organizations, foundations, academia and the private sector, expected to attend interactive dialogues and workshops discussing questions such as aligning means of implementation approaches at country level, implications of a universal development agenda, improving ODA allocation as well as technology facilitation and capacity building.

Essential contributions to key inter-governmental processes in 2015

The Development Cooperation Forum high-level symposium in the Republic of Korea is expected to generate key recommendations and messages as an input to the Third International Conference on Financing for Development in Addis Ababa on 13-16 July, and the Summit to Adopt the Post-2015 Development Agenda in New York on 25-27 September.

Paving the way for the 2016 DCF

The Development Cooperation Forum provides an inclusive policy space for all stakeholders to discuss the implications for international development cooperation on a unified and universal global development agenda and gives policy guidance and recommendations on the role of development cooperation in all its forms to promote lasting results for sustainable development.

The narrative of development cooperation in a post-2015 setting should be strengthened, including the vital role ODA continues to play in many countries. The Development Cooperation Forum assists developing countries and other stakeholders to engage more effectively in this debate.

In the 2014-2016 cycle, UN DESA and its partners are supporting the work of the DCF to help shape the development cooperation aspects of a renewed global partnership for sustainable development and to examine how the Forum can help forge new dynamism to mobilize development cooperation and address evolving development cooperation needs.

The outcome of the symposium will contribute to the Development Cooperation Forum of the United Nations Economic and Social Council, to be held in New York in the summer of 2016.

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The fourteenth session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues will be held at?UN Headquarters in New York from 20 April to 1 May.

The UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues meets for 10 days each year in accordance to the ECOSOC resolution that established the Forum. It is a high-level advisory body that deals with indigenous issues related to economic and social development, culture, environment, education, health and human rights.

In addition to these six areas, each session has thematically focused on a specific issue. During the Forum’s first six sessions, a specific theme was discussed each year. Since 2008, the Forum has adopted a bi-annual working method of one year with a specific theme and the next year focusing on review of implementation.

Some of the topics on this year’s agenda include the outcome of the high-level plenary meeting of the General Assembly known as the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples, the post-2015 development agenda, and youth, self-harm and suicide.

At the September 2010 UN Summit on Millennium Development Goals, Member States initiated steps towards advancing the development agenda beyond 2015. Indigenous peoples have consistently called for the recognition of their distinct cultural identities and political status of indigenous peoples ¨C as rights holders and agents of change ¨C in the post-2015 development agenda.

The indigenous peoples¡¯ major group has clustered its concerns in six main areas: the need for disaggregation of data; rights to lands, territories and resources; free prior and informed consent; special measures that include health, education, etc.; access to justice and redress mechanisms; and participation and representation in decision-making in relevant bodies. They have also specifically recommended that the negotiations and related processes of post-2015 development agenda ensure indigenous peoples meaningful participation and access to the mechanisms tasked with the development of indicators, national policies, monitoring and evaluation.

There are over 70 million indigenous youth globally and available data suggests that indigenous peoples experience disproportionately high rates of youth suicide. Indigenous youth today face the challenge of striking a balance between their place within their indigenous community, and within the mainstream society of the country in which they live. They may feel marginalized from both, resulting in a sense of socio-cultural isolation. This isolation, compounded by contemporary manifestations of discrimination, such as disproportionately high levels of poverty and unemployment, may contribute to the high rates of suicide experienced by certain indigenous peoples.

There will also be a regional focus on the Pacific region, which is home to a diverse range of indigenous peoples speaking 19 per cent of the world¡¯s estimated 5,000 languages. Indigenous peoples in the Pacific are still linked to their communal lands, belief systems, spirituality and customary laws which forms the basis of their social, economic and political systems.

Due to the diversity of Pacific countries and territories, there are significant variations in the social, political and economic situation of indigenous peoples in the region. The small developing States of the Pacific face specific environmental, social and economic challenges that have significant impacts on indigenous peoples exercising their human rights.

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As the international community heats up with the advent of the post 2015 development agenda underway, there can be no denying that multi-stakeholder partnerships (MSPs), will be central to the effective implementation. At special event hosted by ECOSOC on 27 February, the focus was squarely on multi-stakeholder partnerships and making them work for the Post 2015 agenda, specifically in terms of alignment and in examining models that work.

The President of ECOSOC stressed that for two decades partnerships have become an integral part of the UN¡¯s work with increased efforts to mobilize partnerships in order to promote development. He added that while being important on a global level, it was important to ensure that partnerships worked effectively at the national level and deliver results.

In his remarks, Ambassador Sajdik discussed the mushrooming of partnerships which are ¡°voluntary by nature, rarely the same, and often with variable reporting and other requirements.¡± He suggested that we must look for new and innovative ways to harness multi-stakeholder partnerships and we must ask ourselves what partnerships should look like in order to best link to the post 2015 agenda.

The first panel ¡°Aligning Partnerships with the post 2015 development agenda: how and where should this be done?¡± with Michael Shank of Climate Nexus moderating offered an overview on the different partnerships and cited finding from a recent survey by the International Civil Society Centre (ICSC) in 2014 examining 330 partnerships. It noted that 38% were not active or demonstrating measurable impact. At the same time, 26% of the partnerships were active, but conducted activities that were not directly related to their public goals. The survey served as a clear reminder that there is work to do in the partnership landscape.

The panellists reiterated the need to involve actors at all levels of society, and focused on how MSPs are central to supporting the implementation of a new integrated and sustainable approach required for challenges at global, national and local levels. Through partnering capacities, MSPs bring together resources and complementary skills necessary to face complex and cross-sectorial issues. While enhancing the scale of action, MSP¡¯s offer partners a reduction of the transaction costs of activities. Furthermore, what is required is: i) efficient, effective, Government-led multi-stakeholder platforms; ii) strong, specific areas of accountability, and iii) building the capacity of actors as well as their ability to partner effectively.

Representing the private sector, Mr. Klaus Leisinger stated the need to engage top management and reminded the audience that different stakeholders define problems differently and often with different value systems, thus it¡¯s critical to focus on definable solutions and take time to understand partners to build trust and be successful. Charles Badenoch of World Vision iterated the need to focus on 3 key areas for MSP¡¯s; including 1) implementation linked to national development plans, 2) the need for strong accountability to learn what works and to build trust, 3) and the need to build capacity for all sectors.

From her perspective in Zimbabwe at the Center for African Development Solutions, Prof. Hesphina Rukato (via satellite) emphasized that ¡°people need to own the development agenda¡± to create consensus and provide sustainable flow of resources, while the UN should focus on the continuous mechanisms to engage all stakeholders.

The second panel focused exclusively on sharing best practices and ¡°Partnership models that work: monitoring and reviewing in action.¡± Moderator Raj Kumar of Devex reinforced the notion that multi-stakeholder partnerships will be the ¡°critical modality¡± for the post-2015 period and reminded the audience about the need to identify partnership models that work by learning from successful initiatives.

Some suggested for greater partnership involvement with the private sector- incentives could be provided. Other best practices of MSP include: (i.) clarifying the purpose and narrative of partnerships as well as drawing well-defined and understandable goals and targets for all partners; (ii) focusing on core benefits for partners and promoting win-win approach; (iii) giving all partners an active role in the initiative.

Adding to the private sector perspective, Gary Lawrence of AECOM suggested that for partnerships to be successful and to align with SIDS and transform development¡ª¡°partnerships must be technically feasible, economically viable and politically acceptable.¡±

Representing REEEP, Martin Hiller identified the need for strategic and clear goals which has been decisive for the success of REEEP¡¯s many energy partnerships and suggested the need to measure impact on the ground rather than activities as well as establishing a global framework to provide a template for measurement. He felt that government should ¡°work to address market failures and should explore incentives for those who take early risks.¡±

There was discussion about the role that governments play in incentivizing private sector involvement. Private investments require regulation, rules, predictability and stability. While governments can help in creating markets necessary to make these investments possible, the right balance needs to be found between regulation and incentives.

Kandeh Yumkella shared his experience at Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All), a mega partnership working in over 100 countries, citing the need for companies and countries to incubate ideas, especially within the energy space. He pointed out that partnerships are not ¡°simply asking companies to write checks, but to be thinking about developing markets.¡±

The participants seemed to agree that measuring results is decisive for the success of partnerships. Panellists cited the need to focus on measuring impact on the ground and take into account the different levels of action. From the Rotary Foundation, Michael McGovern spoke to the need for stakeholders to have clearly defined roles as in the case of Polio eradication, which although relatively easy to measure ¨Crequires alignment and inclusion of local, regional and national leaders. He suggested a clear document up-front to outline roles and responsibilities as well as an independent body for monitoring and evaluation.

Part of the discussion moved to the central issue of accountability, with an overall prerequisite on building trust. Accountability was viewed as equally important for all partners – especially to prevent conflict of interest and align partners around the common priorities for the new development agenda and making them accountable to the UN.

As such, Member States were encouraged to give strong consideration to ECOSOC as a good place to set the broad rules of engagement. Kathy Calvin of UNF highlighted the central role of accountability and a need for strong country ownership to develop successful multi-stakeholders programs like Every Woman, Every Child, Cookstove Alliance, and GAVI. Discussants cited a need to look at outcomes from various markets and the lessons learned from ¡°when we tried.¡± Calvin highlighted the critical role for public sector in setting standards, norms and coordination.

In Q&A and comments by Member states, there were differing perspectives of the role of governments and whether incentives should be utilized in monitoring of MSP¡¯s and devising effective implementation frameworks. In concluding remarks by the President of ECOSOC, the way forward seems to be a stronger consideration to hone in on what works for evaluating multi-stakeholder partnerships and to explore what learnings were effective related to global oversight mechanisms and potential platform on issues related to measurement.

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