Role of faith based organization in Sustainable Development Goals

The day long discussion was jointly organized by the University of LEEDS, UK and Jawaharlal University (JNU), Delhi, and ISI on December 9, 2017 to reflected upon Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) framework on reducing marginalities: opportunities and limitations.

Fr. Frederick D’Souza, Executive Director, Caritas India chaired a panel discussion on “Citizenship, Marginalities and Development: Marginalized Communities and Sustainable Development Goals” at Indian Social Institute (ISI). The overall agenda was “leave no one behind”, the civil society organizations are encouraged in popularizing, monitoring the advocating for the SDGs. Over the years, efforts were made to include the voices of the civil society groups while formulating policies and drafting the performance indicators from the perspectives of the poor, especially from the marginalized communities.

“The Involvement of religious organizations in welfare and charitable activities has a long history and they play a crucial role in sustainable development” said Dr. Denzil, the Executive Director of ISI while welcoming different faith based civil society organizations.

The panelists including Swami Agnivesh, Founder and Chairperson, Bonded Labor Liberation Front; Tanveer Fazal, Associate professor, JNU, and Manoj Gorkela, Advocate, Supreme Court of India, deliberated on the contributions made by the faith based organization to the education, health, and humanitarian response.