The term “development” became the buzzword in the developing countries, whereas often the prescription toward development has been developed by the developed world. South Asia as a region in cartographic and political senses, consisting of eight developing countries, namely Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, has been grappling with the concept of “sustainability” and “development” for long, particularly in the political terrain. In this milieu, it is pertinent to refer to the UN General Assembly Resolution 70/1 on September 2015 calling out the global agenda for transforming our world “the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”. Needless to say that implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) remains crucial which should be measured and identified at the global, regional, subregional, national, and local levels. Prior to the implementation, it is essential to understand the local context and local meanings of “development,” politics, and polemics within and beyond so as to customize the strategy according to the local/regional realities. In this regard, mass media comprising news, entertainment, and infotainment, as a tool of development communication, broadly an institution of socialization with the feature of remaining close to life and limelight, can be taken into consideration to perceive the pulse of people, reach extensively ranging from people to policymakers and impact the contextualized message of SDGs intensively with potentially acceptable dimensions of development to implement with a view to maintaining sustainability. Considering the potential of media within the socio-economic, cultural, and political ground of South Asia, this endeavour aims to assess the contemporary media performance with respect to achieving SDGs and propose a set of pragmatic imperatives for the media stakeholders to function effectively in this regard. It is also imperative to examine how the SDGs as concept, practice and project have been communicated to the stakeholders and public at large. Engaging the media experts, practitioners, academicians, activists and policymakers, the proposed conference aims to offer a platform for inclusive policy dialogue and interactive sessions for a better understanding of the SDGs in South Asia. Papers are invited from scholars on the following themes but not limited to:

• Media practice to promote the SDGs
• Media and Development
• Communicative Models for Implementation of SDGs
• Media, Public and Participatory Development
• Grassroots Development, Local Media and Communication Culture
• Public-Private Partnership for Communicating SDGs