July 2018: Stakeholders in Pakistan have issued a report outlining their the country’s achievements and challenges related to SDG implementation. Pakistan is scheduled to present a Voluntary National Review (VNR) at the 2019 session of the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF).

The report titled, ‘Where Pakistan Stands on the Implementation of the SDGs 2018,’ was produced by AwazCDS-Pakistan, in collaboration with Pakistan Development Alliance, Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) Pakistan and UK Aid, and first circulated in March 2018. The report documents the findings of an SDG assessment carried out by stakeholders at the provincial and federal levels. Per the authors, the assessment has been shared with government bodies, parliamentarians and other stakeholders to “generate a dialogue.”

The assessment of Pakistan’s SDG implementation is based on a framework comprising the following components: alignment of national, provincial and local SDG priorities; defining institutional coordination mechanisms; prioritizing SDG accelerators; integrating SDGs into budgets and financing the SDG agenda; data, monitoring and reporting; advocacy, resources and partnerships; private sector and local government engagement; SDG 16 indicators and related initiatives; and civil society organizations (CSOs) engagement with the government.

The report notes that SDGs 1 (no poverty), 3 (good health and well-being), 4 (quality education), 6 (clean water and sanitation), 8 (decent work and economic growth) and 16 (peace, justice and strong institutions) are a priority for the country, and that the government has approved a national SDG framework that includes national SDG targets and indicators. It says Pakistan has established SDG units under its SDG task forces at the central and provincial levels, and has notified parliamentary task forces on SDGs to oversee implementation of the national framework. It also indicates that governments at the federal and sub-national levels partnered with the UN Development Programme (UNDP) to undertake a “comprehensive” consultative process across all provinces and regions of the country.

On challenges, the authors express disappointment when it comes to the implementation of policies related to the SDGs. They note “extremely weak” institutional coordination at “every level” of government, and among SDG task forces and units on SDG implementation progress and challenges. They indicate that the federal government has a Prime Minister SDG Support Fund but most members of the SDG task forces are unaware of this mechanism, and they outline a lack of data availability at the central level to track SDG progress. They find that SDGs are still unknown for “many,” adding that most CSOs, NGOs, media organizations, and others are unaware of the efforts being made by the government to implement the SDGs. They also call on the government and NGOs to “approach” the private sector for financial and technical support.

Ahead of the 2018 HLPF, CSOs from Canada and Switzerland, among others, also have issued independent reports discussing their country’s progress and challenges on the SDGs. [Publication: ‘Where Pakistan Stands on the Implementation of the SDGs 2018’] [VNRs website] [SDG Knowledge Hub story on Canada shadow report] [SDG Knowledge Hub story on Switzerland shadow report]