8 April 2015
Civil Society Groups Publish Inputs on Indicators, SDGs
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Civil society organizations have published views and comments on the post-2015 development agenda, the proposed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and targets, the process to define their indicators, the accountability framework, and the Financing for Development (FfD) processes.

post2015April 2015: Civil society organizations have published views and comments on the post-2015 development agenda, the proposed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and targets, the process to define their indicators, the accountability framework, and the Financing for Development (FfD) process.

On the indicator framework, many civil society groups proposed guidance on how and which indicators should be used. The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) published a discussion paper for the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), titled ‘Sustainable Consumption and Production Indicators for the Future SDGs.’ The paper proposes indicators to measure progress on proposed Goal 12 on sustainable consumption and production (SCP). The report recommends potential indicators, for which data are already available, in six key areas: scale of resource use; decoupling; environmental impact; technology and lifestyles; financing and investing for SCP; and policy support for SCP.

Beyond 2015 published comments on the UN Statistical Commission’s technical report on indicators for the post-2015 development agenda. Among its main messages, the group notes the need to broadly disaggregate all indicators across social groups, and to adequately measure environmental factors. The comments also call for indicators to be developed by technical experts in a “transparent, participatory, and inclusive process.”

A briefing, titled ‘Land Rights Indicators in the Post-2015 SDGs,’ was published by Action Aid International, Forest Peoples Program, Habitat for Humanity International, Huairou Commission, the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Landesa, Oxfam International, the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI), and the Secretariat of the International Land Coalition. The briefing calls for: an indicator measuring rights to land, property and resources; an indicator measuring access and use of common lands; and the explicit mention of men, women, indigenous peoples and local communities in land-related indicators.

David Stewart of UNICEF and Richard Morgan of Save the Children posted an article on SDG indicators related to measuring child poverty, in which they provide four specific recommendations on indicators: to include specific child poverty indicators; to include indicators of both monetary and multidimensional poverty; to focus targets on equity and the most disadvantaged and poorest children; and to improve data collection for the most vulnerable children.

The Transparency, Accountability, and Participation (TAP) Network released an open letter on the indicator framework, specifically regarding the measurement of Goal 16 on “peaceful and inclusive societies.” The letter recommends choosing indicators that are relevant, capture the different elements of the goal, and can provide reliable, timely and disaggregated data. It also calls for striking a balance between different types of indicators, and for integrating the use of civil society data collection.

Other groups offer recommendations for international finance and investments for post-2015, including Regions Refocus, which reported on a workshop on FfD for the Latin America and Caribbean region. Participants made proposals for a more egalitarian financial system and strengthened international tax cooperation. Other recommendations from the workshop include: advancing gender equitable policies; fairer rules for international trade; sovereign debt restructuring; and strengthened regional financial mechanisms.

Finally, civil society groups offered reflections and recommendations on how to increase the ambition of the post-2015 development agenda, and hold actors accountable for their commitments. The Center for Reproductive Rights, Amnesty International, the Center for Economic and Social Rights, and Human Rights Watch proposes a framework for a global review mechanism to hold states accountable to their post-2015 development commitments. The publication provides recommendations on how to review development commitments, as well as how to encourage robust civil society participation.

A letter from the Partnership on Sustainable Low-Carbon Transport (SLoCaT) calls for six targets for the post-2015 development agenda relating to sustainable transportation. The targets cover issues of rural access, urban access, regional connectivity, road safety, air pollution and health, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The targets are based on the ‘Results Framework for Sustainable Transport,’ and are aimed at aiding the achievement of all of the goals and targets on other issues. [Publication: Sustainable Consumption and Production Indicators for the Future SDGs] [Beyond 2015 Indicator Framework Comments] [Publication: Land Rights Indicators in the Post-2015 SDGs] [Indicators to measure child poverty in the SDGs] [TAP Network Homepage] [Regions Refocus Workshop Outcome] [Center for Reproductive Rights Publication] [SLoCaT Letter]

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