23 August 2016
CSOs Reflect on HLPF Declaration, SDG Monitoring, Policy Coherence
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Civil society organizations (CSOs) have reflected on follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including reflections on the 2016 High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development's (HLPF) Ministerial Declaration, means of implementation (MOI) and the practice of leaving no one behind.

Other contributions focus on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicators, monitoring SDG progress despite poor data, and coherence between the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) policy advice and sustainable development and climate aims.

The Millennium Institute released a revised version of its Integrated SDGs (iSDG) planning model.

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)August 2016: Civil society organizations (CSOs) have reflected on follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including reflections on the 2016 High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development’s (HLPF) Ministerial Declaration, means of implementation (MOI) and the practice of leaving no one behind. Other contributions focus on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicators, monitoring SDG progress despite poor data, and coherence between the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) policy advice and sustainable development and climate aims. The Millennium Institute released a revised version of its Integrated SDGs (iSDG) planning model.

On the HLPF’s Ministerial Declaration, the Third World Network (TWN) highlighted an absence of “meaningful incorporation of accountability mechanisms” in the 2030 Agenda’s follow-up and review. TWN also found the Declaration’s emphasis on MOI to be “vague and weak.”

Another TWN report argues that while agreed MOI emphasize domestic resource mobilization (DRM) from national governments or multi-stakeholder partners, such funding lacks accountability and may not deliver sustainable development. The report also raises concerns that bilateral investment treaties and free trade agreements constrain governments’ ability to abide by human rights and sustainability principles.

The Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) released two papers on the SDGs. The first, titled ‘Counting critically: SDG ‘follow-up and review’ needs interlinked indicators, monitoring and evaluation,’ stresses that simply monitoring indicators is insufficient to assess SDG progress, and it recommends evaluation to analyze SDG results. ‘Making the SDGs a reality in LDCs: action for transformation’ proposes four areas for action for the least developed countries (LDCs): generating an alternative narrative for the SDGs; integrating and connecting development thinking and practice; transforming science, technology and infrastructure investment, such as by leapfrogging fossil fuel dependent industries and embracing community-level options like off-grid solar and mobile technologies; and including accountability mechanisms in monitoring and reporting systems. Another paper, titled ‘Leaving no one behind by 2030,’ highlights IIED’s efforts to ensure the poorest and most vulnerable benefit from SDG implementation, among other contributions to leaving no one behind.

In a Devex blog, Claire Melamed, Overseas Development Institute (ODI), differentiates between poor data and methods, and those that are “wholly useless,” to argue that even poor data can illustrate trends and provide information. Melamed cautions against arguments that suggest “because you can’t count everything and because you can’t count well, you should ignore the value of counting anything at all.” She concludes that existing data can shed light on problems and offer guidance for fixing them.

The Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB) and Heinrich Boll Stiftung released a report on recent advice from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) regarding infrastructure policy. The organizations find that the advice offered to the Group of 20 (G20) is “insufficient” for providing countries with “a reliable roadmap to achieve SDGs through infrastructure.” The report, titled ‘In Search of Policy Coherence: Aligning OECD Infrastructure Advice with Sustainable Development,’ suggests that the OECD review its approaches and tools for engaging with the G20 to achieve both sustainable development and policy coherence. It also calls on G20 member countries to demand OECD policy advice on infrastructure investment and development that places sustainable development at its core.

The Millennium Institute released Version 1.2 of its iSDG planning model, which allows users to generate country-specific development scenarios to illustrate the implications of particular policies on progress towards the SDGs. The new version includes 78 SDG indicators or proxy indicators, and additional policy interventions that can be simulated, among other updates. [TWN Website] [IIED Report: Leaving no one behind by 2030] [IIED Report: Counting critically: SDG ‘follow-up and review’ needs interlinked indicators, monitoring and evaluation] [IIED Report: Making the SDGs a reality in LDCs: action for transformation] [Devex Blog on Data] [IHRB and Heinrich Boll Report: In Search of Policy Coherence: Aligning OECD Infrastructure Advice with Sustainable Development] [iSDG Website]


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