International Advocacy Training Working Groups

 Working Groups for the preparations for and follow up of the

Second World Summit for Social Development

44 young researchers from 18 countries (Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Cameroon, Ecuador, France, Greece, Italy, Lebanon, Mexico, Mongolia, Nepal, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Uganda, United Kingdom, and United States) have participated in the Working Groups for the preparations for and follow-up of the Second World Summit for Social Development, coordinated by the International Federation for Family Development (IFFD).

Their work extended from April 2024 to February 2025 and included a review of the literature on some of the initially suggested topics (see below). Some of their contributions have been reflected in various IFFD publications and events related to the preparations for the Summit.

Contributions and publications by members

IFFD statement delivered during the informal stakeholder hearing on the ‘Food for Thought’ paper, convened by the Co-Facilitators of the intergovernmental preparatory process, 22nd April 2025.

Oral Statement by Timothy O’Neill (University of Warsaw – Poland) on behalf of IFFD during the Commission for Social Development 2025, about the Second World Summit for Social Development.
 
More information about the Commission …

Krishna Prasad Sapkota (Miami University – Ohio, USA) participated in the Interactive Discussion at the IFFD Briefing celebrated during the Commission for Social Development 2025.
 
More information about the event …

IFFDPapers by Samita Mwanicky (Strathmore University – Nairoby, Kenya) on Family-Centered Cities – Urban Planning Response to Family Needs.
 
More information …

IFFDPapers with the extract of the official Food for Though Paper: A Global Social Contract – Elements for the II World Summit for Social Development.
 
More information …

IFFDPapers by Jotham Njoroge (Strathmore University – Nairoby, Kenya) on Enhanced Family Life
Flexible work arrangements shaping the modern workplace.
 
More information …

“This would be an opportunity to hold a different form of global deliberation and to live up to the values, including trust and listening, that underpin the social contract. The Summit outcome could be an update of the 1995 Copenhagen Declaration on Social Development, covering issues such as universal social protection floors, and give momentum towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.”
António Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General

The social summit will take place almost 30 years after the historic first World Summit For Social Development, where heads of state and government set out an ambitious common vision of social development aimed at social justice, solidarity, harmony and equality within and among countries, placing people at the center of development.
Efforts have continued yearly at the Commission for Social Development to advance these goals, focusing in 2025 on “Strengthening solidarity, social inclusion and social cohesion to accelerate the delivery of the commitments of the Copenhagen Declaration on Social Development and Programme of Action of the World Summit for Social Development as well as the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”.

“Some Member States have expressed a legitimate concern about creating new Agendas in the current context, when the task of realizing the SDGs and the Copenhagen commitments is not yet done. This is not the time to change course. Rather, the Social Summit is an opportunity to accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the programme of action of the first Summit, five years ahead of 2030.”
Amina J. Mohammed, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General

This is another historic milestone in the social action of the United Nations and will give momentum towards the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Despite progress in eradicating poverty and reducing multidimensional inequalities, the global scenario faces overlapping crises and makes it necessary to review strategies, reaffirm commitments, and mobilize resources. We now face rising geopolitical tensions, growing geoeconomic fragmentation, intensifying effects of climate change, demographic shifts, technological disruptions, the threat of pandemics, wars and conflicts.

“We are at an inflexion point. Insecurity about the future and distrust in institutions are increasing, eroding our social fabric and our ability to collectively achieve common goals. It is time to respond by paving the way towards a resilient, inclusive and sustainable future, with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Copenhagen Declaration on Social Development as our foundations.”
Paula Narváez, President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)

When it established the World Day of Social Justice, the General Assembly recognized that social development and social justice are indispensable for the achievement and maintenance of peace and security within and among nations and that, in turn, social development and social justice cannot be attained in the absence of respect for all human rights and fundamental freedoms. As a matter of fact, many people around the world are not able to see their human rights respected and are not able to be free because they are not respected as a family.

“Stronger international cooperation is urgently needed for immediate progress. The Summit is a critical milestones for advancing the SDGs. The Second World Summit for Social Development will be very uniquely positioned to build on previous commitments and deliver a meaningful outcome that addresses social issues and also generates more impact on people’s lives and livelihoods.”
Li Junhua, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations

The pivotal role of the family in social development is an issue of social justice, and the nexus between attention to families and the promotion of human rights and freedoms is incontrovertible. As we reflect upon the global landscape, it becomes evident that the right to form a family remains precarious for many, particularly marginalized groups such as women and youth.

“The Second World Summit for Social Development in 2025 will be an important opportunity to assess progress, share what works and focus on accelerating towards the SDGs. As ever, the World Health Organization remains committed to supporting our Member States in every way possible to build a healthier, safer and fairer future in Latin America, the Caribbean and everywhere.”
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO)

Background Information

The 2025 World Social Summit presents a valuable opportunity to promote inclusion. Its agenda and outcomes should reflect the perspectives of diverse participants, including civil society organizations, local governments, the private sector, financial institutions, and other key stakeholders. The Summit must prioritize broad participation to create truly inclusive outcomes that address the needs of all societal groups.

Inclusion in family policies focuses on ensuring that everyone, regardless of their family situation or whether they have a family, has equal access to social, economic, and caregiving resources. These policies embrace the diversity of family structures, such as single-parent families, childless couples, extended families, and individuals who live alone. By recognizing this variety, inclusive family policies ensure that no one is left out.

This also means that benefits typically designed for families —like parental leave, childcare, housing support, and healthcare— are adapted to meet the needs of individuals without children, single adults, and those in non-traditional living arrangements. The goal is to create a more inclusive social safety net that respects individual choices while acknowledging families’ vital social and economic roles in society.

Therefore, promoting family policies shouldn’t be perceived as non-inclusive if it prioritizes family-based structures at the expense of those who choose not to have a family or live in different arrangements. A truly inclusive approach supports families and individuals, ensuring that people who remain single or child-free still receive equal access to opportunities, resources, and social services. The key is balancing the needs of all citizens.

The previous considerations also acknowledge that having children is beneficial for society as it ensures population renewal, contributing to workforce sustainability and economic growth. Children grow into adults who support aging populations through taxes, social security contributions, and caregiving roles. Families also nurture social cohesion and pass down cultural values. However, benefits depend on broader societal support systems, such as education, healthcare, and social welfare, to ensure that the next generation is well-prepared to contribute positively. Societies with balanced family policies and inclusive frameworks tend to reap these long-term benefits more effectively.

Initially Suggested Topics and References

Therefore, central to our advocacy at the International Federation for Family Development is the recognition of the interplay between the objectives of the Declaration of Copenhagen and the International Year of the Family. These dimensions underscore the multifaceted nature of attention to familial welfare, warranting concerted action.

1. Early childhood development

“Provide inclusive and equitable quality education at all levels throughout the life course – early childhood, primary, secondary, tertiary and distance education, including technical and vocational training – so that all people, particularly those in vulnerable situations, may have access to lifelong learning opportunities that help them to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to exploit opportunities to participate fully in society and contribute to sustainable development.” [A/C.3/79/L.13/Rev.1, 81]

2. Youth social integration

“Address the high rates of youth unemployment, underemployment, vulnerable employment, informal employment and young people not in employment, education or training by developing and implementing targeted and integrated local and national youth employment policies for inclusive, sustainable and innovative job creation, improved employability, skills development and vocational training to facilitate the transition from school to work and to increase the prospects for integrating youth into the sustainable labour market, and through increased entrepreneurship, including the development of networks of young entrepreneurs at the local, national, regional and global levels that foster knowledge among young people about their rights and responsibilities in society, and encourages Member States to invest in education, support lifelong learning and provide social protection for all youth and to request donors, specialized United Nations entities and the private sector to continue to provide assistance to Member States, including technical and funding support, as appropriate.” [A/C.3/79/L.13/Rev.1, 25]

3. Climate change awareness and adaptation

“Recognize that the negative effects of climate change and environmental disasters have differential impacts, with people in vulnerable situations, poor and rural communities and low-income countries being disproportionately exposed to floods, droughts and other natural disasters, and that they have a lower capacity and assets to recover from such external shocks, and expresses concern that climate change may cause high and volatile food and commodity prices and hit them hardest.” [A/C.3/79/L.13/Rev.1, 29]

4. Flexibility in workplaces

“Family policies are most effective when addressing the family unit and its dynamic as a whole, including taking into consideration the needs of its members, and notes that family-oriented policies aim in particular at strengthening, and should be designed to enhance, a household’s capacity to escape poverty, ensure financial independence and support work-family balance to help to manage family functions and foster child development.” [A/C.3/79/L.13/Rev.1, 17]

5. Urban planning response to family needs

“Reaffirm the New Urban Agenda,25 which envisages cities and human settlements that fulfil their social function, including the social and ecological function of land, with a view to progressively achieving the full realization of the right to adequate housing, as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, without discrimination, universal access to safe and affordable drinking water and sanitation, as well as equal access for all to public goods and quality services in areas such as food security and nutrition, health, education, infrastructure, mobility and transportation, energy, air quality and livelihoods.” [A/C.3/79/L.13/Rev.1, 27]

6. Value of unpaid care work

“Adopt measures to recognize, reduce and redistribute women’s and girls’ disproportionate share of unpaid care and domestic work and the feminization of poverty, which was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, including through poverty eradication measures, labour policies, public services and gender-responsive social protection programmes.” [A/C.3/79/L.13/Rev.1, 7]

7. Overcoming the intergenerational digital gap

“Continue to take action to bridge the digital divides and spread the benefits of digitalization, expand participation of all countries, in particular developing countries, in the digital economy, including by enhancing their digital infrastructure connectivity, building their capacities and access to technological innovations through stronger partnerships and improving digital literacy, leverage digital technology to expand the foundations on which to strengthen social protection systems, build capacities for inclusive participation in the digital economy and strong partnerships to bring technological innovations to all countries, and reaffirms that the same rights that people have offline must also be protected online.” [A/C.3/79/L.13/Rev.1, 55]

8. Parental education and support

“Invest in family-oriented policies and programmes that enhance strong intergenerational interactions, such as intergenerational living arrangements, parenting education, including for family caregivers, and support for grandparents, including grandparents who are primary caregivers, in an effort to promote inclusive urbanization, active ageing, intergenerational solidarity and social cohesion.” [A/C.3/79/L.12/Rev.1, 26]

9. Healthy active ageing

“Recognize the challenges related to the enjoyment of all human rights that older persons face in different areas and that those challenges require in-depth analysis and action to address protection gaps, and calls upon all States to promote and ensure the full realization of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for older persons, including by progressively taking measures to combat age discrimination, neglect, abuse and violence, as well as social isolation and loneliness, to provide social protection, access to food and housing, health-care services, employment, legal capacity and access to justice and to address issues related to social integration and gender inequality through mainstreaming the rights of older persons into sustainable development strategies, urban policies and poverty reduction strategies, bearing in mind the crucial importance of intergenerational solidarity for social development.” [A/RES/75/131, 4]

10. Family reunification for migrants

“Promote reunification policies under national law related to migration, with the best interest of the child as the basic concern, while also taking into consideration the overall wellbeing of the family.” [A/C.3/79/L.12/Rev.1, 13]

Final Recommendations

The process for drafting recommendations based on the contributions of the Working Groups was agreed upon as follows during the final meeting held on April 22, 2025.

1. Early childhood development

• The foundation of lifelong learning and social integration begins with equitable access to early childhood development (ECD) programs.
• Governments should integrate responsive caregiving interventions into national healthcare systems, ensuring parents receive guidance on nurturing practices such as interactive play and age-appropriate stimulation.
• Maternal mental health services must be prioritized through routine screenings during pediatric visits and accessible psychosocial support networks, as untreated maternal depression correlates with developmental delays in children.
• Public-private partnerships should expand subsidized childcare infrastructure in marginalized communities and community-based parenting education workshops, emphasizing culturally relevant caregiving practices.
• Early learning frameworks must align with the WHO’s nurturing care guidelines, mandating caregiver training for healthcare workers and embedding developmental milestones into national curricula.
• Longitudinal data collection systems should track ECD outcomes across socioeconomic groups to address disparities in access to quality early education.
• Support families in creating a healthy home environment and actively work to minimize children’s exposure to Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs).

2. Youth social integration

• To combat youth unemployment and social exclusion, policymakers must scale apprenticeship program models that combine vocational training with guaranteed job placements in high-demand sectors like green technology and basic VET studies.
• Digital literacy initiatives, including AI literacy, such as virtual reality-enhanced vocational modules, should target NEET (Not in Education, Employment, or Training) populations to bridge skills gaps.
• Flexible education pathways, including micro-credentialing for informal sector workers, can validate non-traditional skills and improve employability.
• Mental health support must be integrated into youth employment services, offering subsidized counseling and peer mentorship networks to address workplace anxiety.
• Governments should also establish youth-led innovation hubs in urban and rural areas, providing grants for entrepreneurial ventures that address local sustainability challenges, while corporate tax incentives could incentivize hiring young workers in tech-driven industries.

3. Climate change awareness and adaptation

• Encourage families to participate in local and national climate policymaking processes, such as citizen assemblies or co-drafting adaptation plans, to ensure their voices are heard in shaping climate policies.
• Provide families with tools to advocate for sustainable practices in their communities, such as promoting renewable energy adoption or biodiversity conservation efforts.
• Design adaptation programs that address the specific needs of families, including disaster preparedness plans, access to early warning systems, and relocation support for those in high-risk areas. Climate adaptation strategies require participatory risk assessments to identify region-specific vulnerabilities, particularly for smallholder farmers and coastal communities.
• Early warning systems powered by AI-driven weather modeling must prioritize linguistically diverse alerts to reach marginalized groups.
• School curricula should integrate climate literacy modules emphasizing localized impacts, while vocational training programs reskill workers for roles in renewable energy and disaster response.

4. Flexibility in workplaces

• Flexible work policies must balance productivity with employee well-being through role-specific customization, such as hybrid models for knowledge workers and staggered shifts for caregivers.
• Mandatory employer subsidies for home-office ergonomic equipment and childcare vouchers can reduce burnout among working parents.
• Anti-discrimination laws should penalize biases against non-traditional schedules, while “right-to-disconnect” legislation protects off-hours downtime.
• Public awareness campaigns can destigmatize flexible work by highlighting case studies of increased productivity in firms adopting four-day workweeks.
• Governments should also incentivize SMEs through tax rebates for implementing flexi-time policies, paired with grants to develop digital collaboration tools that maintain team cohesion in decentralized environments.

5. Urban planning response to family needs

• Cities must adopt family-centered zoning laws that reserve some of new housing developments for affordable, multi-generational units with proximity to schools and healthcare.
• Participatory budgeting should direct funds toward pedestrian-friendly infrastructure, such as shaded playgrounds and intergenerational community centers that foster social cohesion.
• Data-driven “heat maps” can identify neighborhoods lacking green spaces or public transit, guiding targeted investments in bike lanes and urban gardens.
• Regulations mandating universal design standards —such as wheelchair-accessible parks and noise-reduced housing— ensure inclusivity for families with disabilities.
• Lastly, municipal grants should support grassroots initiatives like community land trusts, empowering residents to co-design resilient, climate-adaptive neighborhoods.

6. Value of unpaid care work

• Recognizing unpaid care requires comprehensive time-use surveys to quantify its economic contribution, informing national accounting reforms that include care work in GDP metrics.
• Social protection systems should offer caregiver pensions and paid family leave parity, with men incentivized through tax credits to assume more domestic responsibilities.
• Public campaigns, such as media spotlights on male caregivers, can challenge gendered stereotypes, while employer partnerships provide on-site daycare and eldercare subsidies.
• Infrastructure investments, like last-mile water access projects, reduce time poverty for women in rural areas, freeing hours for education or entrepreneurship.
• Finally, “care credits” in pension schemes could reward individuals supporting dependents with disabilities or chronic illnesses.

7. Overcoming the intergenerational digital gap

• Bridging the digital divide demands intergenerational co-learning hubs where youth train older adults in e-governance tools, mirroring some already working programs. 
• Adults could also train youth in online responsibility, etc, in a more balanced win-win approach .
• Universal service obligations should mandate telecom providers to offer low-cost broadband packages for seniors, paired with device donation drives, refurbishing old tablets for care homes.
• Public libraries could host AI literacy workshops focusing on telehealth navigation and fraud prevention, while age-friendly app design standards ensure readability and voice-command features.
• Governments must also regulate algorithmic bias in AI hiring tools to prevent age discrimination, requiring transparency reports from firms using automated recruitment systems.

8. Parental education and support

• Holistic parenting support requires universal home-visiting programs where trained mentors provide evidence-based guidance on child nutrition and positive discipline.
• Publicly funded, universally accessible parenting education programs should ensure all parents, regardless of socioeconomic status, can participate without stigma.
• Establish peer-led parenting support programs that foster community engagement and higher retention rates by connecting parents with shared experiences.
• Implement “soft-entry” points such as pediatric offices, schools, libraries, and community centers to provide non-stigmatizing access to parenting resources and support.
• Workplace policies must normalize parental leave for all genders, with corporate grants funding onsite lactation rooms and after-school tutoring.
• Mental health first-aid training for teachers can identify family stressors early, while community kitchens in food-insecure regions alleviate parental burdens through subsidized meal programs.

9. Healthy active ageing

• Age-friendly cities should implement universal accessibility audits, requiring ramps, audible crosswalks, and bench density standards in public spaces.
• Primary care systems must adopt geriatric care models with multi-morbidity management protocols, integrating telehealth for the rural older population.
• Intergenerational volunteer programs, such as pairing retirees with youth mentors in coding boot camps and online active aging tools, combat social isolation while transferring skills.
• Pension reforms could permit phased retirement, allowing older workers to mentor part-time while accessing lifelong learning stipends for digital upskilling.
• National anti-ageism campaigns, featuring older adults in media roles, can shift perceptions of ageing as a period of contribution rather than decline.

10. Family reunification for migrants

• Streamlining reunification requires digital visa portals with multi-language chatbots guiding applicants through document submissions and reducing processing times.
• Legal aid clinics funded by migration taxes can assist refugees in navigating complex bureaucracy, while emergency grants cover DNA testing fees for families lacking birth certificates.
• Host nations should adopt dependency-based family definitions, recognizing de facto guardianships common in conflict zones.
• Post-reunification, municipalities must provide integration packages including language classes and mental health counseling.
• Cooperation frameworks can standardize biometric data sharing to accelerate cross-border reunifications.