Cai Yiping represented DAWN at the North-East Asia Multi-stakeholder Forum on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) held on 5-6 September 2018 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. It is part of the preparatory process for the 6th Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development (APFSD) that will take place in 2019 as one of the regional consultations towards High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) 2019.
The theme of the forum was “Empowering people and ensuring inclusiveness and equality”. In line with this focus, the discussion focused on six SDG Goals: quality education (Goal 4), decent work and economic growth (Goal 8), reduced inequalities (Goal 10), climate action (Goal 13), and peace and justice (Goal 16) as well as the means of implementation and partnership (Goal 17).
DAWN joined the CSO representatives from China, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mongolia and Russia to develop a CSO statement. In the intervention, DAWN emphasizes the need to address the severe gender gap and demographic change and militarization in the region.
The Forum was attended by key stakeholders from government, academia, civil society, and the business sector in the North-East Asia – Japan, China, Mongolia, Russia, Democratic Republic of Korea and Republic of Korea, as well as the representatives from UNESCAP staff and various UN agencies in Mongolia.
While in Mongolia, Yiping also met with DAWN alumna Zola Batkhuyag (DTI 2011), founder and director of the feminist group “Women for Change”, which trains young women professionals and conducts innovate events discussing feminist issues, such as political participation, body and sexuality, amongst others.