25 May 2022
DESA Study Considers Lessons Learnt in VNR Preparation, Follow-up
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The study, prepared as an independent assessment for DESA Office for Intergovernmental Support and Coordination for Sustainable Development, identifies key trends for VNR preparation, VNR drafting, and VNR follow-up in 16 developing countries.

It aims to inform countries’ VNR preparation and presentation as well as future support for “VNR countries”.

The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) published a study, highlighting challenges, best practices, and lessons learnt by Resident Coordinator Offices (RCOs) and UN Country Teams (UNCTs) in supporting governments in Voluntary National Review (VNR) preparation, drafting, and follow-up. The publication seeks to inform countries’ VNR preparation and presentation at the UN High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF).

It also aims to inform future support for “VNR countries,” including an update of the Secretary-General’s Common Voluntary Reporting Guidelines for VNRs.

The publication titled, ‘Enabling Transformation: Role of UN Resident Coordinator Offices and Country Teams in Support of the Voluntary National Reviews on the 2030 Agenda,’ was prepared as an independent assessment for DESA Office for Intergovernmental Support and Coordination for Sustainable Development. The study considers a wide range of developing countries, including countries in special situations, and identifies key trends for VNR preparation, VNR drafting, and VNR follow-up.

The study is based on 16 interviews with representatives from Angola, Bangladesh, Brazil, Chad, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Kenya, Mongolia, Samoa, Sierra Leone, Tajikistan, and Ukraine.

For future VNR support, the study recommends that, inter alia:

  • Processes aimed at strengthening countries’ ownership and leadership include the sharing of expertise and provision of resources to enable multi-stakeholder dialogue and VNR drafting and analysis;
  • Further sharing of good practices between RCOs in different countries include multistakeholder dialogues on data gathering, monitoring, and engagement methodologies;
  • The Voluntary Reporting Guidelines reinforce the importance of reviewing all the SDGs and suggest establishing annual reviews at the domestic level that would be additional to VNRs; and
  • Cross-party parliamentary or congressional committees continue to support “political will to deliver on the 2030 Agenda.”

The study was issued in April 2022, in advance of the July session of the HLPF in New York, US. [Publication: Enabling Transformation: Role of UN Resident Coordinator Offices and Country Teams in Support of the Voluntary National Reviews on the 2030 Agenda] [DESA VNR Webpage]

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