3 April 2018: UN Member States and officials discussed the impacts and applications of the Partnership Data for SDGs initiative (PD4SDGs). The initiative, which was launched in 2016, seeks to ensure the comparability of work by multi-stakeholder partnerships for the SDGs, by utilizing SMART criteria (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Resource-based, with clear and Time-based deliverables).

The briefing took place on 3 April 2018, at UN Headquarters in New York, US. PD4SDGs is a collaboration between the UN Division for Sustainable Development of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), the UN Office for Partnerships (UNOP) and the UN Global Compact. It focuses on the partnerships and voluntary commitments registered on the UN’s global registry of SDG partnerships. As noted by Ola Goransson, DESA, entities who are part of the initiative commit to publish information in the agreed format, adhering to the SMART criteria and making the information publicly available.

Sven Jürgenson, Permanent Representative of Estonia, observed that with so many stakeholders involved in SDG implementation, there is a need for a common baseline to unify their efforts. Goransson said the initiative represents a response to the growing trend to collect voluntary commitments and partnerships in support of UN conferences and processes dealing with sustainable development. The varying level of detail associated with these partnerships, he said, can lead to difficulty in reviewing impact, tracking progress and conducting in-depth and global comparability analyses.

Participants presented three examples of implementation of the SMART principles. Angus Rennie, UN Global Compact, noted that the commitments and projects on the UN Business Action Hub have integrated the SMART principles. Heidi Savelli-Soderberg, UN Environment Programme (UNEP), noted that a UNEP report on marine litter and microplastics includes an analysis of voluntary commitments, which uses the Partnership Data for SDGs framework and considers whether each commitment is “SMART.”

Amber Barth, International Labour Organization (ILO), presented ILO’s Decent Jobs for Youth initiative, highlighting that members must describe how their partnership meets the SMART criteria. Decent Jobs for Youth was created to bring coherence to the many youth- and work-related initiatives that arose in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. It currently involves 22 UN entities, City Foundation, Nestle, and the governments of Spain and Luxembourg. Barth noted the need for long-term policy changes and capacity building in order to measure the outcomes of partnerships.

Goransson noted that the overall impact of the partnerships collected on DESA’s online platform will be analyzed and reviewed at the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) when it convenes in July 2018.

The briefing was organized by the Permanent Mission of Estonia, DESA, UNOP and the Global Compact. [Partnership Data for SDGs Website] [Event Website] [Partnerships for the SDGs Online Platform] [SDG Knowledge Hub Sources]