20 June 2016: Civil society organizations (CSOs) reflect on the Asia-Pacific region’s progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and present a global SDG Index and Dashboard. Two reports by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) analyze the term “partnership” in the context of aspirations under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and reflect on the UN Development System (UNDS), respectively. Another contribution focuses on finance and the urban agenda.
According to a paper by Development Progress, the Asia-Pacific region is on track to make good progress on five SDGs and targets related to: halting deforestation; ending extreme poverty; improving access to sanitation; expanding energy access; and promoting economic growth in the Least Developed Countries (LDCs). The paper, titled ‘Projecting Progress: The SDGs in Asia-Pacific,’ considers the likely progress of Asia-Pacific countries on the SDGs, if current trends continue. The paper highlights four Goals and targets in which progress is moving in the “wrong direction”: reducing slum populations, reducing waste, combating climate change and conserving marine areas. It notes that these ambitions will not be met without a reversal in current trajectories. East and Southeast Asia are positioned to make better progress on industrialization and peace in comparison with other sub-regions, while South Asia is predicted to perform better on domestic resource mobilization (DRM).
The Bertelsmann Stiftung and the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) are developing a global SDG Index and Dashboard. The tools, to be released on 11 July 2016, aim to provide data and metrics to help countries track their progress on the SDGs and identify priorities for early action and implementation. The SDG Index ranks countries’ performance on the SDGs, building on an earlier version for high-income countries published by Bertelsmann Stiftung. The SDG Dashboard tracks country performance across the 17 SDGs.
“The term ‘partnership’ is a misleading term to cover every type of engagement between UN entities and non-State actors,” argues FES. The paper, titled ‘Partnerships and the 2030 Agenda: Time to reconsider their role in implementation,’ argues that considering CSOs and corporate actors together, under the category of ‘non-State actors,’ ignores differences in their accountability, interests and orientation, and also promotes “false equality.” The report recommends addressing questions on the definitions and types of partnerships. FES makes broad recommendations to enhance the effectiveness of partnerships, as well as recommendations on: improving reporting; agreeing on minimum standards for participation in global partnerships; monitoring such standards and guidelines; and ensuring new and additional capacity in the UN Secretariat to ensure partnership accountability.
Participants reflected on the “fragmented and incoherent” nature of the UNDS, highlighting a gap between the aspirations of the 2030 Agenda and the UN’s “woeful incapacity,” during a roundtable on the UNDS, organized by FES New York. A report, titled ‘UNDS Reform: Is the Glass Half Full or Half Empty?’, summarizes the discussion recommendations, which focused on how to avoid business as usual. Recommendations include: establishing a pilot single board over UNDS that extends the model in place for the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), and the UN Office of Project Services (UNOPS); and ensuring UN Member States’ engagement in the Quadrennial Comprehensive Policy Review (QCPR) negotiations at the highest level of representation to produce a concise, strategic QCPR, with some suggesting the UN Secretary-General could take the QCPR as a mandate.
On finance and the urban agenda, SDSN’s Urban Thematic Network is collaborating with Bocconi University’s Centre for Research on Energy and Environmental Economics and Policy (IEFE) to develop a research task force on financing urban sustainable development and low-carbon smart cities. The task force developed following the ‘Financing Urban Sustainable Development’ Conference, which aimed to identify ways and means to finance the implementation of sustainable development initiatives in the urban sector, with a focus on the European and Italian context. [Projecting Progress: The SDGs in Asia-Pacific] [SDSN Press Release on Index, Dashboard] [Partnerships and the 2030 Agenda] [UNDS Reform] [SDSN Press Release on Urban Financing]