G20: Social Summit begins November 14 in Rio de Janeiro

The G20 Social Summit is set for November 14–16 in Praça Mauá, an iconic area in downtown Rio de Janeiro. In a diverse and pluralistic country like Brazil, empowered social participation allows fundamental issues to be addressed. Just ahead of the G20 Leaders' Summit, the voices, struggles, and demands of the people and NGOs from the world’s largest economies will be heard. The group aims to consider civil society's contributions and, where consensus exists, integrate them into the Leaders' Declaration.

Coordinated by Brazil’s General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic (Secretaria-Geral da Presidência da República, SGPR), the G20 Social is an unprecedented initiative introduced under Brazil’s G20 presidency. Its goal is to enhance social participation in the discussions at the G20 Leaders' Summit, centered around three key themes chosen by the Brazilian government: combating hunger, poverty, and inequality; promoting sustainability, climate action, and a just transition; and reforming global governance.

The G20 Social Summit marks the culmination of the social participation initiative launched by President Lula in December 2023 in New Delhi, India, when Brazil symbolically assumed the rotating G20 presidency. Since then, the G20 Social has amplified the diverse voices of Brazilian and international civil society, creating, for the first time, a space for direct engagement between the political and financial tracks of the Leaders' Summit and leaders of engagement groups and social movement.

AGENDA — The G20 Social Summit will feature fairs organized along the Olympic Boulevard, based on three thematic paths: Sustainability, with crafts and services; Fighting Hunger, with food and agroecological products; and People's Culture, with literature, publications, and social outreach. There will be 150 stalls selected in a process that received 264 applications.

Moreover, the Central Stage set up at Praça Mauá will host the “Global Alliance Against Hunger” Cultural Festival with a daily program starting at 6 pm. The CRIA space will be a central point for connections between content creators, communicators, and activists.

Day 1 - The first day of the Social Summit, November 14, will include self-managed activities proposed by civil society and its most diverse voices. These will consist of debates, conversations, and thematic tables organized by social movements, engagement groups, international organizations, councils, universities, governments, and the private sector, among others, from Brazil and abroad. Altogether, 852 applications were received and, in an initial call, 164 activities were selected. The General Secretariat is working to include new activities in other spaces.

Day 2 – The program for the second day of the Social Summit, November 15, will be organized around the three thematic axes — Hunger and Poverty Eradication, Sustainability, and Global Governance — with the approval of one document per axis. Activities coordinated by civil society will then continue in the afternoon.

Day 3 - On the last day of the Social Summit, November 16, the synthesis of the activities carried out for the G20 Social will be presented. The final plenary session will result in the approval of a document to be delivered at the Summit of Heads of State and Government. The program also includes a closing ceremony, in the afternoon, on the Central Stage at Praça Mauá.

PUBLIC CONSULTATION — The G20 Social Participatory Public Consultation is open until October 31, allowing people from all over the world to submit their recommendations regarding the three priority themes of the G20: Combating Hunger and Inequality; Sustainability, Climate Change and Just Transition; and Global Governance Reform. Contributions can be submitted in Portuguese, English, and Spanish. Visit the Public Consultation website here.  

PARTICIPATION OF MOVEMENTS — The 13 engagement groups that are part of the G20 Social are the following: C20 (civil society); T20 (think tanks); Y20 (youth); W20 (women); L20 (labour); U20 (urban contexts); B20 (business); S20 (science); Startup20 (startups); P20 (parliaments); SAI20 (supreme audit institutions); and the newest J20 (judiciary) and O20 (oceans).

Giving continuity to the social participation process, the Brazilian presidency — through its General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic — unprecedently invited national grassroots social movements to participate in building the processes leading to the Summit. The Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (Articulação dos Povos Indígenas do Brasil / Apib); the Brazilian Association of Non-Governmental Organizations (Associação Brasileira de Organizações Não Governamentais / Abong); the Unified Central of Workers (Central Única dos Trabalhadores / CUT); the Black Coalition for Rights (Coalizão Negra por Direitos); the World March of Women (Marcha Mundial das Mulheres / MMM); the Unified Central of Favelas (Central Única das Favelas / Cufa); and the Landless Workers' Movement (Movimento de Trabalhadores Rurais sem Terra / MST) are part of the G20 Social Summit organizing committee, presenting the colors and prisms of Brazilian popular struggles to the planet.

The G20 agenda includes other topics of interest to the world population, such as trade, sustainable development, health, agriculture, energy, the environment, climate change, and the fight against corruption.