On 1 August, the Civil Society-UN Prevention Platform was pleased to convene a meeting entitled “The SDGs and Prevention: Beyond the Obvious”. Held a few weeks after the High Level Political Forum, the UN platform for reviewing the 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), this meeting provided a timely opportunity for civil society, Member States and UN agencies to discuss innovative ways of doing prevention within the framework of the SDG). 

Held at Quaker House, this event brought together various actors to discuss practical examples of how to do prevention work in the context of the SDGs. Participants agreed that for prevention to be successful, it must be both permanent and intentional, and carried out far in advance of the onset of a conflict. Architecture and urban design have the potential to be tools for effective and efficient prevention. Likewise, it was agreed that best practices from work in the field of disaster-risk reduction, as well as public health, nuclear non-proliferation (please click here  to see more about Social Science Research Council’s recently released report- “Making Prevention Everyone’s Business: Lessons Learned from Disaster Risk Reduction, Nuclear Nonproliferation, and Public Health”) and community engagement with equity at its heart, all offer potential lessons for prevention. 

Established in 2016, the Civil Society-UN Prevention Platform aims to support the UN’s prevention agenda through strengthening coordination and information sharing between civil society organizations (CSOs) and the UN at all levels. The Platform looks forward to continuing the conversation on how best to think innovatively about prevention and to continue to support the UN on its work on this issue.