26 June 2018: Participants from the Maghreb countries discussed SDG implementation in North Africa, during an event organized by the UN Economic Commission for Africa’s (UNECA) Office for North Africa. Experts reflected on Maghreb countries’ progress towards the SDGs, shared challenges in implementation and considered coordination mechanisms to facilitate SDG implementation.

Over 50 experts from Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Sudan and Tunisia participated in the ‘Sub-regional Meeting on SDGs Implementation in North Africa.’ The event convened in Rabat, Morocco, from 26-27 June 2018.

In advance of the meeting, UNECA produced a report on SDG implementation in the Maghreb countries of Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania and Tunisia that focuses on food security, energy transition, youth unemployment, industrial transition, climate change and desertification. The report highlights the importance of raising awareness about the SDGs, and strengthening policy coherence and synergies among SDGs.

Participants identified several common challenges in SDG implementation across the region, including desertification, poverty, gender and socioeconomic inequalities, and migration. Participants further highlighted challenges related to food security, access to basic education and health services, and social protection and access to employment.

On coordination, Lilia Hachem Naas, UNECA, reflected that countries “have not yet been able to develop coordination mechanisms” that facilitate SDG implementation internally or between countries. Participants discussed how to design more integrated and coherent policies to enable SDG implementation at all levels, and the role of UNECA in supporting integrated approaches for implementing Africa’s Agenda 2063 and the SDGs.

The meeting also addressed, inter alia: inclusive and institutional governance for the SDGs; budgeting and financing mechanisms; indicators and data for monitoring the SDGs; and the role of civil society and the private sector. Morocco shared how its sectoral development strategies are aligned with the SDGs.

Recommendations from the meeting will be presented at the UNECA Office for North Africa Intergovernmental Committee of Experts, in October 2018, and at the UNECA Office for North Africa Sub Regional Coordination Meeting, in March 2019. [UNECA press release] [Event website] [SDG Knowledge Hub story on North Africa’s roadmap for SDG implementation]