7 October 2015: The High-level Group for Partnership, Coordination and Capacity-Building for Post-2015 Monitoring (HLG) has been constituted, including members from several regions and sub-regions, and has held its first meeting. The meeting served to review the Group’s mandate and Terms of Reference, discuss plans for the World Forum on Sustainable Development Data, and review plans for preparing a report to the UN Statistical Commission (UNSC).

The 46th Session of the UNSC mandated the HLG’s creation, to establish a global partnership for sustainable development data, and to work in parallel to the Inter-Agency and Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goal Indicators (IAEG-SDGs), to provide strategic leadership for the SDG implementation process “as it concerns statistical monitoring and reporting,” among other functions outlined in its Terms of Reference. The Group will report annually to the UNSC.

The UNSC mandate calls for the HLG to consist of 15-20 National Statistics Offices (NSOs) as well as regional and international organizations, as observers. Members “should preferably not be members at the same time of the IAEG-SDGs.”

According to the HLG webpage, the Group is currently comprised of 23 UN Member States, distributed by region and subregion: Eastern Africa – Mozambique, Rwanda; Middle and Southern Africa – South Africa; Western Africa – Cote d’Ivoire; Northern Africa – Tunisia; Western Asia – Palestine, Yemen; Central, Eastern, Southern and South-Eastern Asia- Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mongolia, Pakistan; Oceania – Vanuatu; the Caribbean – Bahamas, Saint Lucia; Central and South America – Argentina, Ecuador, El Salvador; Eastern Europe – Hungary; Southern Europe – Italy; and North America and Northern and Western Europe – Denmark, Switzerland and US; as well as UK, which holds the UNSC Chair. [HLG Webpage] [HLG Terms of Reference] [IISD RS Story on UNSC 46] [IISD RS Story on UNSC Report to Post-2015 Negotiations]