Assam: NEADS participates in 13th Asia-Pacific Forum on sustainable development

A CORRESPONDENT

JORHAT: North-East Affected Area Development Society (NEADS), a grassroots civil society organization based in Jorhat, Assam, participated in the 13th Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development (APFSD), being convened by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) from February 24 to 27, 2026, at the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok.

Tirtha Prasad Saikia, Director of NEADS, represented the organization at the forum. He also participated in his capacity as the Constituency Focal Point for People Affected by Conflicts and Disasters and as a regional coordinating committee member of the Asia Pacific Regional CSO Engagement Mechanism (APRCEM).

During the forum, Saikia delivered an intervention statement on behalf of the constituency of People Affected by Conflicts and Disasters, drawing attention to the lived realities of communities facing recurrent disasters, displacement, and climate-induced vulnerabilities across the Asia-Pacific region. He emphasized the urgent need to localize the Sustainable Development Goals through community-led planning and action, recognize grassroots knowledge and frontline responders in resilience-building processes, and strengthen social protection, risk-informed development, and inclusive governance for vulnerable populations. He further highlighted the importance of ensuring that policies and financing mechanisms reached communities most affected by disasters and conflicts, while building stronger partnerships between civil society, governments, and regional institutions to accelerate equitable recovery and sustainable development.

Saikia called upon stakeholders to deliver on Grand Bargain commitments by advancing localization through predictable, flexible, and direct funding to rights holders at the local level. He stressed that resilience and humanitarian actions must be localized by recognizing communities as equal partners and by strengthening local capacity through sustained public investment in institutions, knowledge exchange, and community-led innovation. He underlined that those most affected were not passive recipients of aid but are the first responders and custodians of contextual knowledge, and that their leadership must be recognized as central to sustainable development, peacebuilding, and climate action. He also emphasized the vital need to integrate the humanitarian-development-peace-climate nexus within Global Humanitarian Response Plans to address root causes and deliver durable solutions.        

Also Read: NEADS and SNASM launch campaign against gender-based violence