The commitment to “leave no one behind” is the cornerstone of the 2030 Agenda and a crosscutting theme of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Inclusion and reduction of inequalities form the core of six SDGs:

SDG 4: Quality Education
SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities
SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

Despite the widespread agreement on the importance of social inclusion as a principle, its practical application to resolve real-world problems raises complex questions:

• Where do we look for evidence on “what works” when it comes to fighting inequalities and promoting social inclusion?
• How do we achieve, maintain, and measure social inclusion in different areas of social and economic life?

Building peaceful and inclusive societies depends on public policies derived from rational, rigorous and rights-based decision-making. UNESCO Jakarta Office supports countries with a range of innovative, multi-stakeholder, human rights-based interventions.

• Valorizing evidence on inclusive social development to achieve the SDGs (funded by the Malaysian Funds-in-Trust): to improve the availability, accessibility and usage of researches and evidences in inclusive policies and planning processes in Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines.
• Strengthening ASEAN Community 2015 through South-South Cooperation, Foresight and Capacity-building on Inclusive Policy Development: translating emerging knowledge and evidence on social inclusion into effective policies and action in Cambodia, Malaysia, and Timor-Leste (funded by the Malaysian Funds-in-Trust). 
• Promoting the rights of persons with disabilities in Indonesia (funded by the United Nations Partnership on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities – UNPRPD): to facilitate exchanges of best practices among the Indonesian city governments, to support innovative policy solutions to the challenges of disability inclusion at the local level, and to assist the central government in the implementation of the newly adopted disability law.
• Promoting the role of sports in achieving the SDGs: mobilizing young leaders from different countries and enabling them to amplify the impacts of the activism through building ties among one another and with the policy makers.  
• Linking SDGs and human rights for effective monitoring and advocacy (funded by the United Nations Development Group – UNDG): developing a practical tool to monitor progresses towards the attainment of the 2030 Agenda from a human rights perspective.

For more information of this topic, please check UNESCO’s indicative review of work on social inclusion, or directly contact the SHS Unit at UNESCO Jakarta Office (Mr. Irakli Khodeli: i.khodeli(at)unesco.org).