With less than five years remaining to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, civil society leaders convened on 11 March 2026 for the CSW70 side event “Leading Change: Women, Youth, and Civic Action for SDG Acceleration.” The discussion focused on how local action driven by women and youth can accelerate progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), emphasizing that global commitments alone are insufficient without grassroots leadership. Participants highlighted that women and young people are taking initiative in their communities to address the compounded challenges of climate change, economic pressures, conflict, and inequality, turning local action into tangible progress where it is most needed.
Speakers from Paraguay, Pacific Island nations, China, Pakistan, Nepal, and Zambia shared practical experiences demonstrating how participation must evolve into genuine influence. In Paraguay, civil society networks like POJOAJU work with local governments to implement climate action plans despite limited funding, showing that women’s leadership ensures climate policies prioritize vulnerable populations. In the Pacific, gender-responsive environmental governance initiatives highlighted that visibility in decision-making spaces is not enough; women must hold real power to shape policy outcomes, while local communities called for decentralized, culturally informed adaptation strategies.
In rural China, CANGO empowered women’s informal networks to form structured associations, enabling access to markets, financial resources, and sustainable livelihoods. By embedding gender perspectives in governance and climate projects, the organization strengthened both community resilience and SDG achievement. In Pakistan, the AWAZ Centre successfully advocated for the Punjab Labour Code, formally recognizing women agricultural workers and securing their rights to fair wages and collective bargaining, illustrating how sustained civil society advocacy can produce structural legal change.
In Nepal, youth activists used digital storytelling and data platforms to hold authorities accountable on gender justice and SDG progress, linking citizen experiences to national policy debates. These efforts emphasized the power of digital tools in amplifying marginalized voices, though systemic barriers such as shrinking civic space, legal restrictions, and funding gaps persist. In Zambia, the Council for Social Development trained communities to track budgets, advocate for resources, and engage policymakers, resulting in concrete policy adjustments that addressed the needs of previously excluded populations.
The event underscored three structural patterns across regions: the persistent gap between formal commitments and funded implementation, the distinction between visibility and actual decision-making power, and the essential role of civil society as the connective infrastructure between communities and policy. For SDG acceleration, women and youth must move beyond consultation roles into positions of genuine influence, supported by institutional backing, resourcing, and scalable initiatives. Civil society organizations are central to this process, ensuring that grassroots leadership translates into measurable progress toward the 2030 goals.
