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2025 DCF

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2025 High-level Meeting of the Development Cooperation Forum

Transforming international development cooperation: from global dialogue to action

Date: 12 - 13 March 2025

Location: United Nations Headquarters, New York

A Crucial Moment for Global Development

To navigate the evolving, multiple crises worldwide and rescue the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the quality and impact of international development cooperation must be significantly enhanced. Nearly 600 million people face extreme poverty by 2030, with developing countries grappling with annual SDG financing gaps of up to $4 trillion.

Over the past decade, the international development cooperation landscape has expanded with new actors and approaches, offering fresh opportunities for collaboration and impact. However, this evolving complexity challenges efforts at coordination and efficiency to ensure resource are effectively aligned with countries’ long-term sustainable development priorities.

This milestone meeting will shape policy actions throughout 2025, including at the ECOSOC Forum on Financing for Development, the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FFD4) and the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development.

About the Development Cooperation Forum

Since 2008, the DCF has advanced an inclusive, dynamic approach to international development cooperation among UN Member States and all relevant actors and stakeholders. It serves as the global platform for evidence-based, balanced and forward-looking discussion of the latest trends, progress and emerging issues in international development cooperation.

By providing all relevant actors a space to identify priorities and share knowledge and experiences, the Forum strengths coherence and coordination across diverse development cooperation efforts and modalities.

Core Objectives of the 2025 DCF

  • Sharpen understanding of what international development cooperation must deliver in a world with rapidly evolving needs, priorities and vulnerabilities
  • Promote better alignment between international development cooperation with nationally identified sustainable development needs and objectives
  • Update and strengthen through universal participation the principles for effective, high quality and high impact international development cooperation
  • Generate concrete recommendations for action at country, regional and global levels to create a more coherent and responsive development cooperation system

Who Should Join

The Forum welcomes diverse perspectives from:

  • Government ministers and officials
  • Development cooperation and agency leaders
  • Civil society organizations
  • Private sector representatives
  • Philanthropic organizations
  • Local government leaders
  • Parliamentarians
  • International organizations
  • Multilateral development banks
  • National development finance institutions

 

Registration/Access 

The 2025 Development Cooperation Forum (DCF) will be held in the ECOSOC Chamber of the United Nations Headquarters in New York from 12 to 13 March 2025.

There is no separate registration process for the DCF. UN grounds pass holders, including civil society and other stakeholder representatives who already hold a valid UN grounds pass, may proceed directly to the third floor of the ECOSOC Chamber.

Representatives of organizations that are in Consultative Status with ECOSOC  (for IGOs, please refer to list contained in Annex II of ECOSOC’s report to the GA – pages 92-97 of A/79/3 ), but are without a valid grounds pass will need to apply for a Temporary Pass to enter UNHQ, no later than 28 February 2025. Please note that space is limited and passes will be granted on a first-come, first-served basis and only to accredited entities.

Please note that invited speakers and panelists representing Member States who do not have a grounds pass should make arrangements with their respective Missions for a delegate badge to enter the UN premises.

 

Call for Side Events

The official programme of the Development Cooperation Forum, scheduled for 12 - 13 March 2025, will be complemented by side events. These events will provide an additional platform to advance dialogue on international development cooperation, transforming dialogue into actions.

The form for side events proposals submission is available here

Side events, including financial requirements, are the sole responsibility of the organizers. Submission of a proposal does not guarantee approval. 

The deadline for submitting proposals has been 1extended to 20 February 2025.

For further inquiries, please contact the DCF secretariat at dcf@un.org.

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