enca - 7 hours ago

#KnowYourG20 | C20: Driving a global agenda for collective prosperity Estelle.Bronkhorst Thu, 10/16/2025 - 10:50 JOHANNESBURG - The G20, or Group of Twenty, is an international forum of major economies—both developed and emerging—that collectively represent approximately 85% of global Gross Domestic Product, 75% of international trade, and about two-thirds of the world’s population.Over time, the G20 has evolved into a central forum for addressing a wide range of global challenges, including climate change, poverty, digital transformation, food security, and inclusive development.South Africa, as the sole African G20 member state and now the host of the G20 Presidency, plays a crucial role in facilitating and amplifying African agency in this forum. South Africa’s presidency is particularly important because it offers a platform to recentre the G20’s focus on development outcomes for the Global South, particularly Africa. It is also a platform for Africa to reshape its engagement with the global community.With the theme “Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability,” South Africa has pledged to push for collective global responses that reflect the principles of justice, equity, and inclusiveness— values deeply rooted in the African philosophy of Ubuntu.In our view, the essence of the theme is co-existence, collaborations and partnerships.You cannot be in solidarity with yourself. You cannot be equal to yourself. Measures of sustainability outlive oneself.This further suggests that as Social Partners we can play different but complementary roles.The South African G20 presidency has promised to promote a people-centred, development-oriented G20 that fosters inclusive economic transformation rather than economic dominance by the few.The establishment of non-state actors into various G20 Engagement Groups gives practical expression to the notion of a people-centred approach.The Civil20 (C20) is a platform of engagement for civil society on G20 processes.The C20 South Africa is led by a network of national apex organisations that represent a broad range of sectors and activism, including youth, women, the disabled, civics, cooperatives, the informal sector, traditional leaders, faith-based organisations, coalitions and campaigns, social movements, NPO/NGO networks, and Issue-based formations.From December 2024 to date, we have registered more than 3000 civil society organisations that have have declared their interest of participating in C20 processes. These range from national formations to grassroots organis drawn from South Africa, Africa, and the rest of the G20 countries.In all our engagements, the Civil Society Engagement Group has been guided by the C20 principles of global character, transparency, independence, collaboration, inclusiveness, human rights-gender equality-women empowerment, continuity, and predictability.The substantive work of C20 is organised into 14 Working Groups that are in turn consolidated into six Clusters, namely:Finance, Trade, Global Financial Architecture and Sustainable DevelopmentPoverty Alleviation and Food SustainabilityHuman Capital DevelopmentTransformative ImperativesJust Transitions InnovationGlobal GovernanceThese Working Groups and Clusters have been meeting to consider a number of high impact policy proposals, which have been packaged into policy briefs, which were in turn consolidated into a civil society policy pack that is being used to influence the G20 governments.In all our policy proposals, we advocate for the mainstreaming of the plight of the vulnerable and marginalised populations and communities across all the thematic policy areas that are covered by the G20.Equality cannot be achieved without raising the base of marginalised people through deliberate implementation of measures that support empowerment and transformation.We must spare no effort in advancing the transformation and democratisation of global structures of governance and global financial architecture that are fit-for-purpose of driving collective action for collective prosperity.In order to yield collective ownership of the outcomes of G20, its structures, processes and outcomes should continue to promote active citizenry through People-to-People diplomacy, emphasising the role of ordinary citizens and non-state actors in promoting mutual respect, cultural exchanges, and international cooperation.In order to mitigate the trust deficit and build confidence between citizens and governments, the G20 member countries should consider implementing “Legacy Projects” linked to the outcomes of G20 – 2025.Ours is a call to collective ACTION in driving a global agenda for collective prosperity.Thulani Tshefuta is the Chairperson of C20 South Africa

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