Since 2018, Schools of Public Administration (SPAs) from Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, and South Africa, the United Nations System Staff College (UNSSC) and further partner institutions from the Managing Global Governance (MGG) Network have joined forces to strengthen capacities to train civil servants towards sustainability. Their initiative follows the insight that civil servants play a catalytic role across all dimensions of the 2030 agenda for sustainable development. To work as advocates of transformation towards the achievement of the 2030 Agenda’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), civil servants require relevant skills, competencies and mindsets. SPAs are at the forefront of developing the competencies of civil servants. They provide formats for acquiring the latest knowledge, for reflecting thought processes and mindsets and informing practical strategies for achieving the SDGs.

In continuation of previous activities, the international MGG online conference ‘Training towards sustainability for the public sector during and after the pandemic’ from October 27 to 29 serves the purpose to bring together representatives from all participating institutions in view of the following objectives:

• Discuss the implications  of the COVID-19 pandemic for both the implementation of the 2030 agenda and respective training for civil servants;
• Facilitate the peer-exchange among the cooperation partners on ideas, experiences and good practices during and after the COVID-19 pandemic;
• Reflect on future activities and the role of the ‘New York Programme of Action’.

The conference is organized by the German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik and the UNSSC Knowledge Centre for Sustainable Development as part of the ‘Building back better’ initiative in line with the ‘New York Programme of Action’.