The UN Inter-Agency and Expert Group on SDG Indicators (IAEG-SDGs) has circulated a proposed new indicator on mobilizing financial resources for developing countries. Responses from interested stakeholders are being accepted until 27 August 2021.
The proposed new indicator follows on a set of changes agreed in the 2020 Comprehensive Review of the global SDG indicator framework. As part of that review, the IAEG proposed establishing a working group for measuring development support more broadly than through official development assistance (ODA) – “total official support for sustainable development (TOSSD).” An additional indicator on TOSSD had been proposed during the comprehensive review process, but IAEG members differed over the methodology. The Group agreed to work further on this potential indicator for submission to the Commission in 2022, and to establish a working group to this end.
In April 2020, the Working Group on Measurement of Development Support was established to develop a proposal for measuring progress against SDG target 17.3, ‘Mobilize additional financial resources for developing countries from multiple sources.’ The Group developed a draft proposal. First, the proposal describes sustainable development criteria which serve as a benchmark for identifying eligible flows. The Working Group “generally believed that indicators for Target 17.3 should focus on flows likely to contribute to the sustainable development of developing countries” and proposed criteria based on those first discussed by the TOSSD task force. The Working Group reviewed and further developed those criteria “to allow for the fact that data on FDI and other private flows are not generally available at activity level, and that providers may not always explicitly link their activities to an SDG target or goal.”
Second, the draft proposal describes specific financing flows to be covered through six sub-indicators:
- Official sustainable development grants
- Official concessional sustainable development loans
- Official concessional sustainable development loans
- Foreign direct investment
- Mobilized private finance; and
- Private grants
The sub-indicators would use existing data sources, avoiding additional reporting burden for recipient countries. These include the OECD databases, using data collected through reporting on TOSSD and the Development Assistance Committee Creditor Reporting System (DAC-CRS).
Input is being requested from all stakeholders on the draft proposal. The Working Group is organizing the consultation, which opened on 16 July 2021.
After the consultation closes on 27 August, the results of the consultation will be considered at a meeting of the Working Group from 14-16 September 2021. The final proposal will be submitted to the IAEG-SDGs and potentially adopted by the UN Statistical Commission in March 2022. [Consultation form] [Survey questions (PDF)] [IAEG-SDG webpage on consultation]