November 2015: The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) made available the input received from Major Groups and other stakeholders through a questionnaire on follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The input is expected to contribute informally to the preparation of the UN Secretary-General’s forthcoming report on follow-up and review, called for in paragraph 90 of the 2030 Agenda.

The questionnaire on ‘Critical milestones towards a coherent, efficient, and inclusive follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda at the global level’ was open for responses until 15 November 2015. More than 50 organizations contributed their views.

Participants in the consultation commented on, inter alia: the respective roles of the UN General Assembly (UNGA), the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) in follow-up and review; ways to ensure coherence with the follow-up and review of other UN conferences and processes; the type of inputs that functional commissions and other intergovernmental bodies and forums should provide to the HLPF; and HLPF annual themes and their coherence with the themes of the Technology Facilitation Mechanism (TFM) Multi-stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Inputs and responses also provided ideas on: how the UN Statistical Commission (UNSC) can best contribute to the work of HLPF; approaches for identifying new and emerging issues at the HLPF; the frequency of participation of countries in state-led reviews at the HLPF; issues the HLPF should address systematically when examining national implementation reviews; how country reviews should be featured and discussed at the HLPF; how stakeholders can engage in reviewing the implementation of 2030 Agenda; and how the UN system’s contribution to the implementation of 2030 Agenda can be reviewed.

Several respondents to the questionnaire supported a suggestion that the UNGA provide some guidance to the ECOSOC functional commissions and to other intergovernmental bodies and forums on how the latter “should best reflect their contribution to the review of SDGs, and to the HLPF generally.” Others noted that the ECOSOC Forum on Financing for Development (FfD) follow-up must be closely linked to the Agenda 2030 follow-up and review processes, with some highlighting the need for synergies between the FfD Forum and the Multi-Stakeholder Forum on STI.

Many proposed that HLPF themes should be announced one or two years in advance to give stakeholders adequate time to prepare, while some preferred to have a programme of work for four years (that would cover the time in between the meetings of the HLPF under the auspices of the UNGA). Several organizations said the HLPF thematic reviews of the progress on the SDGs should focus on clusters of closely related SDGs or examine progress in all SDGs based upon on a transversal theme such as gender, health or education.

Many also called for inclusiveness, collaboration and for strengthened involvement of civil society in the HLPF, at the regional and national-levels and in the implementation of sustainable development. [DESA Major Groups and Other Stakeholders Webpage] [Inputs and Responses to the Questionnaire] [IISD RS Story on Consultation] [IISD RS Sources]