Regional Workshop 2018 - Building Resilience through Participation

The 2018 edition of the Embassy of Sweden’s Annual Regional Workshop was hosted in collaboration with United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), and aimed for a meaningful conversation and action around the theme of “Building resilience through participation”. Resilience is key to sustainable development in Asia and the Pacific – a region exposed to a multitude of environmental, climate, social and economic risks.

The workshop was held back-to-back with the Asia-Pacific Forum for Sustainable Development (APFSD), organized by ESCAP from 28-30 March which was held under the 2018 theme for follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, “Transformation towards Sustainable and Resilient Societies”.

To highlight the importance of inclusiveness in achieving resilience and sustainable development, the workshop addressed the role of participation to strengthen resilience. This regional workshop 2018 was used to highlight the significance of participation when building resilience. We explored successful participatory models and found new, innovative participatory approaches for building resilience.

The workshop had two objectives:

1.     To enhance the implementation of the Strategy for Sweden´s regional development cooperation in Asia and the Pacific through cooperation and co-creation between partner organizations.

2.     To support the Asia-Pacific region and countries to implement Agenda 2030 and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, through linking to the theme of the APFSD and the Regional Roadmap for implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific.

The Strategy for Sweden’s regional development cooperation encourages mutual interaction between human rights, democracy, gender equality, environment and climate change and increased regional collaboration for poverty reduction and sustainable development in Asia and the Pacific.

You can find the report from the workshop and more information in the documents below.