A thirty member open working group charged with setting new development goals for the United Nations finished a round of meetings in New York this week, marking out initial progress on following up to the Rio+20 meetings last year and setting the groundwork for new standards that will impact the way the growing NGO sector performs its work.

“The General Assembly working group is mandated to submit a report, containing a proposal for sustainable development goals for consideration and appropriate action to the 68th Session of the General Assembly, which would start in September 2013,” the UN said in announcing the end of the meetings. “By late 2014,” General Assembly President Vuk Jeremic said, “member states should be in a position to promulgate the Sustainable Development Goals-the single most important element of the post-2015 agenda.” Keep reading →