28 January 2016: Representatives of governments, multilateral institutions, and civil society discussed ways for citizens to drive the accountable implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and to shape the scale-up strategy of the Global Partnership for Social Accountability (GPSA) and its contribution to the SDGs, at a meeting organized by the World Bank. The Bank’s GPSA convenes 50 governments and over 260 civil society and private sector partners to address governance challenges around the world.

Opening the event, titled ‘Sustainable Development Goals: Keeping Citizens at the Center,’ on 28 January 2016, in Washington, DC, US, Mahmoud Mohieldin, World Bank Group, said inclusive strategies were the most successful for eradicating poverty with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). People’s participation, especially that of the poor, can help the international community save lives, time and money. “If we don’t listen, we will be forced to listen,” he cautioned. He suggested spreading and scaling up citizens’ best ideas by taking advantage of technology, and added that information and communication technologies (ICTs) need to be enhanced for better inclusion and participation. He highlighted the GPSA, which aims to increase governments’ capacity to respond to their citizens. Finally, Mohieldin said SDG 16 on peaceful and inclusive societies will pose a major measurement challenge because of the difficulty of using proxies for rule of law.

Abdul Malek, Local Government Division, Bangladesh, said his government is working to increase institutions’ transparency on funding. He cited the need to elect women leaders, including at the grassroots level.

Lindsay Coats, President, InterAction, said access to accountable data helps with the allocation of resources. Since not everyone has access to technology, Coats called for other mechanisms for bringing citizens to the table and holding inclusive dialogues. She said the GPSA promotes and protects civil society’s agenda.

Magdalena Lizardo, Ministry of Economic Planning and Development, Dominican Republic, said accountability builds trust between citizens and institutions. The SDGs will help each country to create space for constructive dialogues, she said, but regretted the lack of an effective mechanism for engaging youth, especially the marginalized.

Participants said community-driven development is essential for the SDGs. They noted that civil society organizations have already “done work on the ground,” and development actors should find out what worked and scale up those mechanisms. [IISD RS Sources] [Event Information]