Engagement Groups

The G20 is made up of 13 Engagement Groups

South Africa fully supports the approach of strengthening partnerships and expanding dialogue with a wide range of actors; including States, international organisations and civil society; to collectively shape the G20’s approach to issues requiring international cooperation.

The experience, networks, research capacity and grassroots level knowledge of the G20 engagement groups will continue to greatly enrich the G20’s collective discussions and policy decisions.

The participation of non-governmental stakeholders reflects the overall commitment of South Africa to work towards a broader and more inclusive Presidency, which is also reflected in our overall theme and deliverables during this year.

Taking on board different perspectives, including those which may not be ideologically aligned to ours, is especially important for South Africa, as it will confer greater legitimacy to the G20 as an organisation and to the outcomes of the Leaders’ Summit in 2025.

Dialogues with civil society and other non-government institutions will be conducted by engagement groups such as the Business20 (B20), Civil20 (C20), Labour20 (L20), Parliament20 (P20), Science20 (S20), Start-up20 (SU20), Supreme Audit Institutions20 (SAI20), Think-tank20 (T20), Urban20 (U20), Women20 (W20) and Youth20 (Y20), the Oceans20 (O20), as well as the Judiciary20 (J20), a new engagement group created under the Brazilian Presidency.

South Africa also intends to create a new engagement group, the Township20 (TS20), to highlight the creative, cultural, financial and innovative capacities of South Africa’s Township economies.

G20 engagement groups are responsible for defining their positions on the G20’s agenda in independent dialogue processes. Through extensive consultations, the engagement groups are expected to make recommendations which will be presented to the Leaders’ Summit through the Sherpa Track process. South Africa will also facilitate an interaction between the Sherpas and the engagement groups prior to the Leaders’ Summit in November 2025.

Following the approach of the Brazilian Presidency, a G20 Social Forum, which will precede the Leaders’ Summit in November 2025, is expected to bring together representatives of the existing engagement groups and other segments of civil society that may offer meaningful contributions to the G20.