10 June 2016: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has issued a report on efforts made by the UN Regional Commissions to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The report finds that the Commissions have “institutionalized, deepened and broadened their partnerships” in support of country-level implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

The report, titled ‘Regional Cooperation in the Economic, Social and Related Fields’ and released in an advance, unedited version on 10 June 2016, was prepared for submission to the 2016 substantive session of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

The report includes sections on: integrating SDGs into national development planning and fiscal frameworks; the Regional Fora on Sustainable Development; strengthening data and statistical capacities of UN Member States; identifying and promoting innovative sources of financing; leveraging science, technology, and innovation (STI); South-South cooperation and regional partnerships; translating regional models into global public goods; additional policy issues addressed by the Regional Commissions at their ministerial sessions and other high-level meetings; promoting coherence at the regional level through the Regional Coordination Mechanism (RCM); and enhanced inter-regional cooperation among the Regional Commissions.

The report notes that the Regional Commissions are building on prior strategic partnerships for Millennium Development Goal (MDG) reviews, in order to prepare and launch the first SDGs regional reviews, including with regional and sub-regional organizations, multilateral development banks and various UN organizations and agencies. It states that the Commissions’ Regional Fora on Sustainable Development seek to contribute to the work of the UN High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), build on national experiences of implementation and follow-up and review, and promote peer learning and cross-fertilization of good practices and approaches, notably on integrated and cross-sectoral approaches. Regional Commissions also are deploying their expertise in support of Member States’ domestic resource mobilization (DRM), it says, while continuing to analyze the international and regional contexts and factors affecting mobilization efforts, in line with the Addis Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA) on financing for development.

According to the report, the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) is engaged in fostering the “domestication” of Agenda 2063 (a global action plan for Africa) and the SDGs, and is developing an integrated set of indicators for monitoring and following-up on “goal implementation.” The report states that: ECA organized the High Level Conference on Data Revolution, which resulted in the Africa Data Consensus (ADC) and contains a set of principles for implementing the data revolution; and the 2016 ECA Conference of Ministers requested ECA’s assistance to organize an annual African regional review of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in support of the 2030 Agenda and Agenda 2063. The report also notes that ECA is developing a partnership agreement with the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa as part of triangular cooperation efforts, aimed at promoting mutual Africa-Arab economic benefits in inclusive and sustainable growth, social development and other areas, in line with Agenda 2063 priorities, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), and the 2030 Agenda.

The report states that the UN Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) conducted a Regional SDG Survey, and is expected to build a “docking station” platform for regional follow-up and review, connecting policymaking processes at various levels. It notes that the Global Assessments of national statistical systems in South East European and Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia countries: provide a comprehensive analysis of the capacity of countries to produce official statistics; and offer detailed recommendations for the sustainable development of national statistical systems. It also remarks that ECE is elaborating international standards and recommendations for policy makers on how to use public-private partnerships in key sectors for advancing the 2030 Agenda, including water and sanitation, renewable energy, and smart and sustainable cities and health. On STI, it reports that ECE implemented a programme of innovation performance reviews in countries with economies in transition, and a second cycle of reviews was initiated in 2016 with the aim to better align with the SDGs.

According to the report, the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has launched a digital repository for data storage and dissemination, which serves as a platform to access data and identify best practices, experiences, and approaches regarding SDG implementation. During the ECLAC session in Mexico, on 23-27 May 2016, the Commission held a “country-led Forum” of LAC Countries on Sustainable Development as an “integrated regional mechanism” to follow-up and review the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, including the SDGs and their targets, their means of implementation, and the AAAA. The report notes that the Forum’s outcomes will contribute to the follow-up and review of these Agendas at the global level, including at the HLPF and at the ECOSOC Forum on Financing for Development follow-up (FfD Forum).

The report states that the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP): launched a theme study on ‘Balancing the Three Dimensions of Sustainable Development: From Integration to Implementation,’ which offers perspectives on institutional frameworks to support sustainable development; is currently developing a regional resource facility to complement the work of its sub-regional offices in assisting countries with the SDG integration into national planning and budgeting frameworks; and has agreed, through its Member States, on a number of parameters to guide the development of a regional roadmap towards the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. It adds that ESCAP has established an expert group comprising statisticians and disaster risk reduction (DRR) experts to develop a disaster-related statistics framework, and that the “newly created” ESCAP Committee on STI will support regional work for the creation and diffusion of STI platforms and policy know-how.

Finally, the report notes that during the second meeting of the Executive Committee of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), Member States adopted the “ESCWA strategy and plan of action on the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development,” and the Commission has established a dedicated SDG unit to ensure coordination and coherence in ESCWA’s efforts in supporting Member States. Among other activities, it reports that the Commission: is currently undertaking an extensive review exercise to examine the extent of alignment of national strategies, policies, and institutions with the SDGs; has been developing an innovation scoreboard to standardize measurable indicators in the region in collaboration with other organizations; and is developing with the UN Development Programme (UNDP) an Arab innovation index to better assess legislative gaps, develop national technologies, and contribute towards the relevant SDGs. [Regional cooperation in the economic, social and related fields (Unedited Advance Version)] [Regional cooperation in the economic, social and related fields: Addendum (Unedited Advance Version)] [UN Regional Commissions Website] [ECOSOC Substantive Session 2016]