For a green and inclusive recovery after COVID-19, broad and deep social support is required. Bringing small enterprises, low income groups and marginalised communities into the investment and policy making process is not merely a ‘nice to have’, it is key in the transition to green and inclusive economies.

This IIED Debates event will hear how citizen-led dialogues can generate more effective policy and accelerate the green recovery.

The full extent of the suffering caused by COVID-19 is still emerging, but poor communities, small and informal businesses, and marginalised communities are bearing the brunt of the crisis.

The pandemic has exposed the scale of global inequalities, and it is likely to exacerbate them. The 'green recovery' has emerged as one of the key solutions to COVID-19, but what are the practical solutions for ensuring that green economic policies leave no one behind?

Over the last four years the Green Economy Coalition (GEC) has supported participatory dialogues led by local civil society partners focused on the transition to a green economy. These dialogues were co-designed with a range of stakeholders to strengthen public support for green and fair programmes, and mainstream social inclusion into policymaking.

Contrary to the assumption is that more participatory policy processes are slow or cumbersome, results from the dialogues show that inclusive process design and outcome results in a faster green economic transition.

This IIED Debates event hosted in partnership with the GEC on Friday, 27 November 2020 will bring together GEC partners from Peru and India to discuss why inclusion is so critical for the green transition post-COVID-19, and how dialogue models can drive results.

What does it take to structure an inclusive transition? How can we recognise civil society and include people’s priorities in green economy policy processes? How can we build public support for green and fair programmes, and mainstream social inclusion into policymaking? And what can donors, governments, and business do to strengthen inclusive green transition policy?

About the speakers

Laura Kelly (moderator) is the director of the Shaping Sustainable Markets research group at IIED

Thibaut Portevin is a policy officer for the green economy at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for International Cooperation and Development (DG DEVCO)

Luis Prado, is the head of production at Libelula, Peru

Zeenat Niazi is the vice president at Development Alternatives, India

Stuart Worsley is the dialogues director at GEC

Najma Mohamed is the policy director at GEC

About the series

This event is part of the IIED Debates series. Through the convening of expert speakers and external stakeholders, IIED brings together an international community to discuss critical issues.

IIED Debates encompass both physical and digital events, including critical themes, breakfast debriefs and webinars. These events are public and are hosted regularly throughout the year in our London and Edinburgh offices and online.

About attending

Webinars are online workshops that people can attend via the internet from their desk or portable internet device.

This webinar will use the Zoom video conferencing platform. For those who have not attended a Zoom webinar before, please read this guide to participation as an attendee.

The event will be recorded to be distributed publicly afterwards. By registering for this event, you agree to give your consent for this.

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Image: The GEC-South Africa Hub partners linked local, grassroots entrepreneurs and communities to policy advocacy and reform efforts at the national level (Photo: Green Economy Coalition)

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