Latest content: Social development

The Commonwealth Secretary-General, Rt Hon Patricia Scotland KC, is in Papua New Guinea this week where she met with Prime Minister the Hon James Marape to discuss issues of mutual interest and strengthen partnerships between the Commonwealth and Papua New Guinea. The Prime Minister and Secretary-General also had fruitful discussion on gender issues, climate action and youth empowerment.
Read news - Commonwealth Secretary-General visits Papua New Guinea to strengthen partnerships and encourage action on gender issues
This report contributes to the Commonwealth study on online violence against women and girls (OVAWG) and considers the prevalence of online violence and the role of bystanders as well as therelevant laws, institutions, policies and practices to address the problem in the European region of the Commonwealth, namely Cyprus, Malta and the United Kingdom of Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) and Northern Ireland (UK).
Read publication - Addressing Online Violence Against Women and Girls in the Commonwealth Europe Region
As countries recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, and face the compounding challenges of global inflation, debt, climate change and sociopolitical scenarios, there is a need to explore new investment strategies to accelerate economic development, build resilience and balance competing environmental, economic and social pressures. In this context, the concept of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) as a framework for sustainable growth has gained new relevance. This paper discusses the potential benefits of ESG in terms of enabling sustainable economic growth in the Commonwealth, including possible technical assistance, capacity building and policy development on ESG for public debt management and improved public sector sustainability, including collaboration with International Financial Institutions financing standards.
Read publication - Environmental, Social and Governance Practices for Value Creation in the Commonwealth
This report, updated from the first edition published in 2021, presents a macro-level overview of the extent of gender integration in Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), and new or revised Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) by Commonwealth member countries submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) under the 2021 revision cycle. Since the first edition of this report was published, a further 27 updated NDCs have been submitted, and Gabon and Togo have joined as Commonwealth member countries, bringing the total updated NDCs submitted to 47 of the 56 member countries.
Read publication - Gender Integration for Climate Action
As the 2022 Commonwealth Games opens in Birmingham today and the Commonwealth Decade of Sport commences, the is working to leverage the vital role that access to sport can play in promoting peace, better health, equal rights and sustainable development across the Commonwealth’s 56 member countries.
Read news - The Commonwealth Games are an opportunity to promote inclusion and advance human rights through sport