Social Summit

South Africa holds the Group of 20 (G20) Presidency from December 2024 to November 2025, the first African nation to do so. Under the theme Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability, this presidency places social justice, inclusive growth, and multilateral equity at the heart of global governance. 

The G20 Social Summit, scheduled for 18–20 November 2025, is the flagship platform for integrating civil society voices into the G20 decision-making process. It seeks to foster global solidarity, advance inclusive development, and deliver a Declaration that reflects the aspirations and lived realities of citizens, especially the most vulnerable. This initiative provides South Africa with a unique opportunity to foreground the African Agenda and the priorities of the Global South within the world’s premier forum for international economic cooperation. 

Building on Brazil’s 2024 innovation of institutionalising civil society input into the G20, President Cyril Ramaphosa committed that South Africa would not only continue but also expand the Social Summit. Conceived as a people-centred platform, the Summit will elevate issues of social development, equity, and inclusion to the same level of urgency as macroeconomic and financial concerns. It will bring together a wide spectrum of stakeholders—governments, civil society, labour, youth, women, persons with disabilities, philanthropy, and grassroots organisations ensuring that the lived experiences of ordinary people help to shape G20 outcomes. 

In addition to the formal groups, several informal platforms such as Values20, Interfaith20, and Disability20 also contribute perspectives on shared priorities. The Sherpa Team provides technical and logistical support to all groups to ensure their effective participation in the G20 process.