3. Citizenship, Marginalities and Development: Marginalised Communities and the Sustainable Development Goals, New Delhi, India. Following the expiry of the United Nations Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2015, a new set of globally agreed development goals and indicators, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – known more broadly as Agenda 2030 – were formulated. At the core of Agenda 2030 is a heavy emphasis on inclusion within global development practice. Inclusion in development requires that all individuals and groups within society, particularly those that have traditionally been marginalised (such as those less able, the elderly, women, ethnic minorities) and – related to this programmes network, even religious groups – are included in development. This principle has become known as “leave no one behind”. The SDGs are important to a wide range of stakeholders across countries of both the Global South as well as the Global North, from national governments through to the private sector, CSOs and FBOs. National governments are expected to translate these goals and targets into their national policies, to resource and implement these policies, and to measure their implementation. Other non-state actors and individuals also play a significant role in ensuring the achievement of the SDGs and this programmes project seeks to look at religions and the SDGs, specifically in India and Ethiopia. Some progress has been made in India on the implementation of the SDGs at the global and national levels since they were officially adopted on January 1st 2016. This workshop was the second event of a new programmes network funded by the Arts and Humanities Programmes Council on the topic of religions and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), based at the University of Leeds, UK. It was organized by the Indian Social Institute in collaboration with ICSSR (Indian Council of Social Science Programmes, Northern Regional Centre). It sought to bring together individuals and organisations – especially Faith-Based/Civil Society Organisations (FBOs and CSOs) engaged with marginalised communities – to examine the new SDGs. The workshop had three aims:

1. to reflect on the nature of exclusion experienced by different sections of marginalised communities in India, its changing dynamics, and the role of faith in this;
2. to share the ways in which Faith-Based/Civil Society Organisations engage with these communities to reduce marginalisation;
3. to deiberate on levels of knowledge and understandings of the SDGs amongst faith groups and how they are utilised. To what extent were FBOs able to take part in the consultation process to decide on the SDGs and how are they interacting with state actors in their work with marginalised communities in order to achieve the SDGs?

Report available at: https://religions-and-development.leeds.ac.uk/programmes-network/

More from “Keeping Faith in 2030: Religion and the Sustainable Development Goals”:

1. Findings and Recommendations

2. Workshop Report: Religions and Development in Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, September 20th-21st 2018.

4. FBO Workshop on Religions and the Sustainable Development Goals, UK