About Us

Andrew Griffiths (Sightsavers, Global) is Head of Advocacy at Sightsavers. His work involves leading on Sightsavers’ international advocacy priorities and supporting the development of effective advocacy in all Sightsavers Country Offices. Andrew leads a team of Global Advocacy Advisers and a UK-focused Parliamentary Adviser. Andrew is also on the Core Group of Together 2030, a civil society initiative promoting and tracking progress of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and was previously co-chair of the Beyond 2015 campaign from 2014-2016. Andrew’s background is primarily in health policy and advocacy and he has worked in and with colleagues in countries around the world, including Uganda, Kenya, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, Peru and Afghanistan. He is published on a number of topics including nutrition in fragile states, reform of the World Health Organization and the SDGs. He has also worked with World Vision, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and a UK Member of Parliament. He is based and works in the UK.

Arelys Bellorini (World Vision, Global) is currently United Nations Representative (Child Rights and Sustainable Development) for World Vision in New York. Most recently, she led World Vision NY-engagement on the post-2015 development agenda. In addition, she manages the organization’s relations and partnerships with key UN agencies, in particular UNICEF as well as the inter-governmental relations and civil society partnerships.

Arelys Bellorini is a sociologist graduated from Columbia University in New York and holds Graduate degrees from New York University and the Nicaraguan National Autonomous University. She has led national programmes and strategies on the promotion and full realization of children rights in Nicaragua and at sub-regional and regional level in Latin America.

She has worked in Plan International, the Swedish Agency for Development Cooperation in Nicaragua, the Norwegian Agency for Cooperation Development, the Nicaragua Foreign Affairs Ministry, among others. She has managed national and local NGOs and has been a Professor on advocacy and multilateral organizations in her home country. Arelys Bellorini has also managed humanitarian programs and disaster risk reduction strategies at municipal and community level.

Busani Sibindi (Save Matabeleland, Zimbabwe) is a dynamic development and human rights activist with more than seven years’ experience in NGO programming, leadership, and management, with a particular focus on marginalized communities. The founding director of Save Matabeleland Coalition, a member of the Together 2030 Core Group, he also runs the SDG Digest. He is a board member of the International Institute for Global Leadership and has served at the YOCIC (Youth for a Child in Christ) board since 2007. He has coordinated various high-level programs locally and globally. He was the national coordinator of the Beyond 2015 campaign in Zimbabwe, and participated in the post-2015 UN Intergovernmental negotiations, having presented in sessions in New York. Busani is a 2016 Mandela – Washington Fellow (University of California Berkeley) under President Obama’s flagship program for Young African Leaders. Busani continues his work in sustainable development with a strategic focus on Goals 1, 10, 13, 16 and 17 through amongst many the National Coordination on the Implementation (NACOS 2030) and the #SDGSFOREVERYONE Project.

Gomer Padong (PhilSEN, Philippines) leads the Philippine Social Enterprise Network’s (PhilSEN) development cooperation and advocacy unit. He represents the Network in the United Nations Civil Society Advisory Committee, a 15-seat civil society platform to engage the Philippine UN country team on policy and strategy. He is also the focal person of the Social and Community Enterprises constituency of the Asia Pacific Regional Civil Society Engagement Mechanism, also a civil society platform for engagement across the UN system.

He served in the Beyond 2015 Executive Committee and was head of secretariat of Beyond 2015-Philippines. His competencies include training and facilitation, policy support and lobby, campaign management and advocacy, communications and partnership-building.

John Patrick Ngoyi (JDPC Ijebu-Ode (Nigeria) is the Director of the Justice, Development and Peace Commission of the Catholic Diocese of Ijebu-Ode, Nigeria. JDPC is a grassroots based organization that sought adequate representation of  people’s voices in the outcome of the post 2015 processes through participation in the Beyond 2015 Campaign and its Executive Committee for 4 years. He is now committed to securing the implementation of the SDGs at the global, regional and national levels through the JDPC of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Africa and the African CSOs engaging the African Union on the post 2015 and the 2063 Agendas

Philipp Schönrock (Cepei, Colombia) is the Director of CEPEI, an independent, non-profit, data driven think tank, working through field based analysis and high-level advocacy to scale up the participation of Latin America and the Caribbean within the global development agendas.

For 2 years he was co-chairman of the Beyond 2015 campaign, a civil society global initiative for the negotiation of the 2030 Agenda. Currently, he is a member of the GPSDD and Together 2030 Boards. Recently, he was appointed to the academic committee of the UN World Data Forum. He represents CEPEI as a member of the Colombian Confederation of NGOs Board.

Core Group Documents

2017 Elections

• Revised – T30 Elections Report – Public Version – August 2017 (UPDATED VERSION)
• Voting Guidance – For Together 2030 Members
• Revised -Guidance Note: Together 2030 Core Group Elections – 2017
• Eligible Candidates – Together 2030 Core Group Elections 2017
• Eligible Candidates – More information from February 2nd Webinar

Together 2030 and Core Group Documents

• The international landscape, civil society engagement and the role of Together 2030
• Together 2030 Protocol for Policy Development – April 2016
• Together 2030 Principles Document (2016)
• Letter from the Together 2030 Core Group to the Initiative’s Membership – 2nd Anniversary – December 2017

Core Group Meetings 

2018

• Minutes – Core Group Meeting – January 24 2018
• Minutes – Core Group Meeting- October 3 2018

2017

• Minutes Core Group Meeting – February 1 2017
• Minutes Core Group Meeting – February 22 2017
• Minutes Core Group Meeting – March 15 2017
• Minutes Core Group Meeting – April 19 2017
• Minutes Core Group Meeting – May 17 2017
• Minutes Core Group Meeting – June 21 2017
• Minutes Core Group Meeting – August 16 2017
• Minutes Core Group Meeting – September 13 2017
• Minutes Core Group Meeting – October 18 2017
• Minutes Core Group Meeting – November 15 2017
• Minutes Core Group Meeting – December 6 2017

2016

• Summary of the Core Group Face-to-Face Meeting, Bogota, Colombia (25-27 January)
• Minutes Core Group Meeting February 10 2016
• Minutes Core Group Meeting – February 24 2016
• Minutes Core Group Meeting – March 9 2016
• Minutes Core Group Meeting March 23 2016
• Minutes Core Group Meeting, April 6 2016
• Minutes Core Group Meeting – May 4 2016
• Minutes Core Group Meeting – May 18 2016
• Minutes Core Group Meeting- June 1 2016
• Minutes Core Group Meeting- June 15 2016
• Minutes Core Group Meeting – July 5 2016
• Minutes Core Group Meeting – July 18 2016
• Minutes Core Group Meeting – August 31 2016
• Minutes Core Group Meeting – September 14 2016
• Minutes Core Group Meeting – October 5 2016
• Minutes Core Group Meeting – November 2 2016
• Minutes Core Group Meeting – November 30 2016
• Minutes Core Group Meeting – December 14 2016

The International Secretariat

Margie Simo is a Dominican- American professional with experience at national and global levels in sustainable development and humanitarian affairs. Most recently, she supported World Vision’s UN representation in its engagement with Agenda 2030 and Child Rights in New York. Margie has worked with UN Agencies such as UNHCR, UNDP, WFP and UNESCO, and has relevant programmatic and monitoring experience working for various organizations in the US, Dominican Republic, Haiti and Peru.

Margie holds a master’s degree in Development and International Cooperation from Universidad del Pais Vasco.

Contact the Secretariat: Margie Simo