Andre and Erin had a chance to talk to a fascinating person named Wardarina about civic engagement, especially focusing on the Asia-Pacific Regional CSO Engagement Mechanism (APRCEM). Simon joined the discussion to provide additional insights, as he too has a lot of experience engaging in this space.

Wardarina (or Rina, as she is often known) is currently one of the co-chairs, of the APRCEM. The APRCEM is a self-organised platform to support grassroot and marginalized constituency engagement with Agenda 2030 in the Asia-Pacific region and globally. The platform currently has more than 600 affiliated organisations from across the region. 

Rina shared her views on why stakeholder voices need to be heard in SDG-related processes. She also spoke about how APRCEM and others are working to further strengthen civic engagement and ensure that a broad range of views, knowledge, and experiences are included in Agenda 2030. This is a frank, open discussion that should also be educational to anyone unfamiliar with how major groups and other stakeholders factor into global forums on sustainable development. 

A side note: in shortening this conversation for brevity, we cut out when Rina mentioned that major groups don’t need to wait their turn to speak after governments at certain forums. Andre referred to this toward the end of the episode.

Helpful resources:

• About Sustainability… podcast episode on APFSD and HLPF
• IGES’ APFSD 2022 Special Webpage
• APRCEM Website

About our guest:

Wardarina (“Rina”) is a feminist and activist, originally from Indonesia. She has worked in the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD) for 10 years, and now takes the position of Deputy Regional Coordinator. She is currently the women constituency focal point and co-chair of Asia Pacific Regional CSO Engagement Mechanism (APRCEM), and also acts as Women Major Group Organising Partner at the global level. 

"About Sustainability..." is a podcast brought to you by the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), an environmental policy think-tank based in Hayama, Japan. IGES experts are concerned with environmental and sustainability challenges. Everything shared on the podcast will be off-the-cuff discussion, and any viewpoints expressed are those held by the speaker at the time of recording. They are not necessarily official IGES positions.