Partners for Review: Reviewing the implementation of the 2030 Agenda
Project description
Title: Programme to strengthen the review process of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Country: Global
Overall term: 2019 to 2022
Context
By adopting the 2030 Agenda in September 2015, the United Nations (UN) member states agreed on 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and committed to systematically reviewing their implementation.
Follow-up and review (FuR) pose major challenges for UN member states. They are encountering difficulties in establishing institutional procedures and dovetailing various policy fields. It is complicated to involve relevant stakeholders in the process and translate the global agenda into national goals. Only a small number of states already have a national mechanism in place for reviewing sustainable development. The majority of UN member states seem likely to introduce new processes and structures by 2030 to comply with these requirements.
Although the voluntary national reviews (VNRs) do appear to be increasingly comprehensive – evidence based and involving a wide variety of stakeholders – reporting nevertheless varies greatly from one country to the next. The success factors, learning processes and lessons learned on the effectiveness of follow-up and review of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda are thus not yet sufficiently widespread at global level. This makes the need to share knowledge about national processes and experiences all the more important and urgent. A large number of countries still need to improve the structures and mechanisms they use to review implementation of the 2030 Agenda.
Objective
National review processes for the 2030 Agenda are strengthened in selected countries.
Approach
Through target-group-appropriate activities on specific topics relating to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, Partners for Review offers a protected and neutral space in which questions and issues regarding FuR can be discussed frankly. As many different civil society stakeholders as possible should participate.
To this end, the project organises six-monthly network meetings at which the participants can share and reappraise national experiences of FuR confidentially with various decision-makers (area of action 1). The success factors and learning processes identified in the various discussion formats are used to generate knowledge products for dissemination inside and outside the network (area of action 2). A Review Support Unit handles requests for advice from network partners at national and regional level (area of action 3).
The ongoing programme phase has a three-year term and is receiving funding of EUR 2.58 million from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). Areas of action 1 and 2 are financed on an equal basis by BMZ and by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU). As part of the project entitled Support for SDG Review and Implementation Processes, BMU is contributing EUR 2.77 million (for the entire term of the BMU project) to the costs of areas of action 1 and 2.
Results
Since the initiative began in November 2016, a network has developed that currently numbers 687 members from governmental and non-governmental circles in 96 countries. During this time, seven physical and two virtual network meetings have been organised. The meetings helped participating countries better understand the requirements and challenges of a national SDG review process. In Kenya, for example, following a network meeting a national parliamentary SDG Day was organised. It was to hone awareness of the need to involve parliamentarians in the review process.
The Namibian Government was supported in preparing a national roadmap for voluntary reporting.
National supreme audit institutions were included in the network as relevant institutions and their specific contributions and challenges addressed in the review process.
The project also makes contributions to other international conferences in order to share experience gained in the course of the SDG review and follow-up process and to create synergies with other initiatives.
Last update: February 2021