South Africa concludes its G20 presidency at a critical time when geopolitical tensions raise questions about the future and direction of the group, its legitimacy, and prospects for achieving inclusivity and effective reforms. The G20 has long served as the premier forum for international economic cooperation. Yet, amid the deepening geopolitical divisions, reform inertia in multilateral institutions, and increasing global inequalities, there is growing recognition that meaningful outcomes will depend on stronger integration of civil society perspectives and engagement group inputs.

Addressing this challenge was precisely the intention of the G20 Social Summit, held from 18-20 November 2025. Drawing lessons from Brazil’s inaugural Social Summit held in 2024, the people-driven policy reforms with the spirit of “ubuntu” were at the centre of this Social Summit. Participating alongside civil society movements from across the country, T20 South Africa’s engagement focused on two strategic areas: advancing the role of civil society within the G20 architecture and ensuring that the unified voice of the engagement groups, and civil society – captured in the final declaration – was grounded in policy analysis.

On Wednesday, 19 November, T20 South Africa hosted an official side event titled ‘The Role of G20 Civil Society: South Africa and Beyond’. The session gathered experts to critically review and reestablish the role, entry points and nature of engagement of civil society within the G20 process beyond South Africa’s presidency. The discussion highlighted several key benefits of civil society engagement in the South African G20 process, extending beyond enhanced inclusivity. These include: knowledge support provided by engagement groups, ensuring evidence-based policy that reflects realities on the ground; building trust between the state and society; aligning advocacy with policy objectives; expanding networks for the cross-pollination of ideas; and providing a crucial channel for continuity between presidencies. It was further argued that, to navigate current geopolitical tensions, including civil society in multilateral policy setting provides the necessary political justification to prioritise contested issues, preventing them from being solely state-driven decisions.

Panelists also noted that despite the recognised value of civil society participation in policy discussions, current engagement methods are insufficient. For example, excellent proposals generated by civil society and academia often remain excluded from official G20 documents, which are instead drafted by external international organisations and lack local context. Even when civil society directly contributes to early report drafts, the detail and ambitious policy points are stripped out during negotiations.

A unified voice: The Social Declaration

The T20, along with 21 other formal and informal engagement groups, was involved in actively shaping and moderating the negotiation of the G20 Social Summit Declaration, which was formally handed to President Cyril Ramaphosa at the closing ceremony on Thursday, 20 November.

Guided by the African philosophy of Ubuntu (I am because we are), and in line with South Africa’s G20 theme of “Solidarity, Equality and Sustainability”, the text represents the outcomes of over 230 community dialogues held nationwide throughout this year under the banner of a ‘People’s G20’.

The declaration aligns largely with recommendations that T20 South Africa has made in its official Communiqué and the T20 Africa Network inputs for the G20 Social Summit.

These include but are not limited to:

• Digital Transformation: Aligning with the declaration’s call for people first infrastructure, “human-centred governance of artificial intelligence” and “universal digital literacy,” the T20 advocated for policies that treat affordable digital access as a fundamental right, ensuring protection for vulnerable groups from digital harm.
• Sustainable Finance and International Financial Architecture: The Declaration’s demand for reforms to credit rating systems, IMF frameworks, and SDR allocation models draws directly on T20 research addressing the high cost of capital. The Declaration further calls for strengthening the capital adequacy of MDBs by backing ultra-long-term, century loans, a recommendation made by T20 Africa experts.
• Climate Action and the Just Energy Transition: Echoing recommendations reflected in the T20 Communiqué, the declaration calls for a “people-centred just transition” that drives transformative development, poverty alleviation and shared prosperity.  It emphasises that climate action must balance ambition with justice, linking debt relief mechanisms directly to climate resilience.
• Trade and Investment: The Social Summit Declaration’s call for an inclusive, rules-based global trading system and strengthened support for the WTO reflects the recommendations of the T20’s Trade and Investment stream. Specifically, the T20 has championed reforms to the WTO’s decision-making and dispute-settlement mechanisms to safeguard the multilateral system. To counter the rise of protectionism and volatility, the declaration underscores the need for transparent, predictable and responsive trade governance. The T20 has supported this by advocating for inclusive global value chains that mitigate vulnerabilities for developing economies and enable them to adapt swiftly to shifts.
• Solidarity for the SDGs: With only 18% of SDG targets on track, the declaration is in tandem with the T20’s recommendation for stronger accountability/monitoring systems as well as innovative partnerships and multilateral financing to bridge the SDG financing gap. 

“The G20 Social Summit has proven that technical policy work cannot exist in a vacuum. By aligning our research with the voices of civil society, we are ensuring that the G20 South Africa Presidency leaves a legacy of inclusive, people-centred governance that resonates far beyond 2025,” said Philani Mthembu, executive director of the Institute for Global Dialogue and co-convenor of T20 South Africa.

Where to from here?

South Africa’s G20 social track initiative, building on the Brazilian inaugural G20 Social Summit in 2024, has widened the space for civil society’s meaningful engagement in multilateral processes such as the G20. However, challenges and limitations are still present. It is incumbent on both the state and civil society to continue to enhance modalities and methods for more effective and sustained engagement in the future.

Key lessons for future G20 presidencies that can be drawn from this process include:

• Unify efforts. Engagement groups must align goals and coordinate to amplify influence.
• Leverage public pressure. Public pressure creates opportunity to influence the ‘inside game’. Engagement groups and civil society need to better utilise this tool towards influence.
• Commit as partners. Engagement groups and civil society must be willing to dedicate the time and resources to act as essential, policy knowledge partners.
• Create the space. Civil society and engagement groups must not wait for an opening but actively build the necessary space for meaningful engagement in policy processes. This is important not only to push global leaders to make policy reform commitments, but also to enforce accountability for past commitments.