Presentation on the Outcome of
Capacity Building Workshop and EGM on Mainstreaming
SD in National Development Strategies
Seleshi Bekele Awulachew
IRA on National Sustainable Development Strategies
Water, Energy and Capacity Development Branch
Division for Sustainable Development, UN-DESA
United Nations
Content
• Introduction
• Sustainable Development Policy and Practice
• Progress at the National Level
• Way Forward
• Recommendations by the EGM
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Introduction
• DSD in Partnership with CDO organized a capacity
development workshop and EGM during 9-11,
October 2013 in NY
• Agenda: mainstreaming Sustainable
Development in national development strategies
• More than 80 participants
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government representatives
national and international experts
major groups and
UN system representatives
• Additional presentations were also made by
other DESA Divisions such as ECOSOC Support
and the Statistics Division
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Sustainable Development Policy and Practice
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National Reporting
– Rio+20:
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High level policy decisions
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Afforded opportunity to assess & review progress of 20 yrs through reporting
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SIDS, LDCs, etc reported through supports of UNDP and UNDESA
– Many showed how SD is integrated in National Development plans/ strategies; some showed
decentralized measures for community participation; many faced obstacles in implementing
– UNDESA synthesis shows work is needed to:
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fully mainstream SD in development plans,
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identify concrete solutions to SD challenges at the national level and
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strengthen the role of the judiciary in effective implementation of policies
Five programming areas for implementation identified
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Strengthening/Reforming national institutions
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Unpacking the broad SD agenda
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Consensus on priorities
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Integrated planning
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Building on existing planning – GE or sectoral plan such as water and energy
– Poverty, Capacity Development, and Consensus Building as key to Many
– MDGs as a benchmark for achieving SD
– SD councils and similar platform can be useful
– UNFCCC reporting was seen as good experience: NC, NAPAs, NAMAs, - to measure progress
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Sustainable Development Policy and Practice
Tools for assessing progress
– Tools to integrate, implement and assess SDS and policies
were discussed
– Typical tools include:
• political economy analysis (PEA)
– governance, power, interests and drivers of change
– PEA used in African agriculture under NEPAD
• integrated regional development planning (IRDP)
– integration of social, economic and spatial aspects of development
– IRDP used by UN Center for Regional Development
• communities of practice
– cross fertilization, sectoral integration & KM
• water management tools
– MDG 7 well established and is under refinement for SDGs on WS&S for
2025, 2030 and 3040
• measurement and monitoring progress on MDGs and
• SD knowledge platform
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– SD K platform available under <http://sustainabledevelopment.un.org
Progress at the National Level
Overview of country experiences
– Countries presented their national experiences
– Efforts to mainstream SD in plans and strategies and to
formulate and implement national SDS
– Focus on moving towards integration, success and engagement
of multiple stakeholders.
– Plans to tackle emerging challenges and opportunities
associated with CD needs
– Experiences varied based on countries experiences
– Various focuses:
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new mechanisms to improve policy coordination;
innovations in planning for a post-2015 development agenda;
mainstreaming and coordination efforts along projects;
visioning and consultation at multi stakeholder and scale
mainstreaming strategies around customization of the MDG framework
Assessment and presence of capacities
New skills for meaningful coordination
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Progress at the National Level
Major challenges
– In implementing SDS as identified by the countries:
• inadequate financial resources,
• limited human and institutional capacities, and
• difficulties in overcoming the silo approach – integrating 3D
suffered
– Buy-in for SD by Policy Makers, Stakeholders
involvements, conflict, raising awareness, potential
confusion of MDGs with SDGs
– Inadequate data to support effective assessment of
needs, sound selection of priorities, appropriate design
of programs and projects, meaningful evaluation of
results, and clear communication with citizens and
stakeholders
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Progress at the National Level
Responding to Country Needs: consensus from the workshop
1.
business-as-usual on mainstreaming yield worse outcomes
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the transition to a post-2015 development agenda will, in the absence of targeted
measures, accelerate capacity gap
Responding effectively to the priority capacity needs will require energetic
participation across the full range of stakeholders, including national
governments, the UN system, the private sector, civil society, the scientific
community, and other major groups
Effective responses must be tailored to the specific circumstances of each
country
A common core of priority needs can be identified as of extreme urgency
across a large number of countries
Strategies for meeting the needs can be categorized according to proven
effectiveness and how well understood on how best to implement them
– Proven strategies
– Promising strategies
– Knowledge gaps
6.
Effective engagement on the promising strategies can be expected to bring
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major benefits, if coordinated action is organized effectively
Way Forward
UNDESA (with sister UN agencies and programmes, satellite offices, UNODS, UNCRD and
UNWater/Zaragosa) could assist in actions such as:
• Support better communications for information sharing, best practices and lessons
learned;
• Support better governance at the national level to avoid fragmentation of strategies;
• Ensure that a single development strategy that incorporates SD as its core is adopted;
• Improving institutional capacities;
• Undertake peer-to-peer review, or shared-learning, of national SDS;
• Undertake comprehensive assessments of national strategies;
• Foster South-South cooperation;
• Integrate SDGs into measurement and assessment tools to facilitate resource mobilization;
• Ensure that adequate and credible information and reliable data are available;
• Address the challenges of moving from MDGs to SDGs;
• Ensure access to technical expertise; and
• Develop a “support strategy” to ensure these actions are actually undertaken and in a
coherent and effective manner;
Actions could be classified into 1) proven successful & already undertaken; 2) promising and
innovative; 3) with problems or gaps rending them too difficult to be practical
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Recommendations by the EGM
EGM suggested next steps for consideration by UNDESA and its partners
• A “Network of Practitioners” on SD facilitated by UNDESA to
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ensuring shared learning experiences,
on-going communications to address obstacles and challenges,
addressing new and emerging issues,
providing targeted support to a limited number of “test” countries and
providing input to intergovernmental bodies dealing with SD.
• “Network of Practitioners” comprise government officials, civil society,
experts and other stakeholders dedicated to NSDS.
• The network would work to foster and promote change to a more
sustainable path of development
• Four clustered actions suggested by the Workshop for the network:
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2.
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sharing and generating tools and models;
supporting the strengthening of institutional mechanisms for national
sustainable development strategies;
serving as a platform for evolving ideas and helping to shape these ideas into
practical actions; and
encouraging partnerships to address implementation.
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Recommendations by the EGM
Initial steps by UNDESA would include:
• Utilizing the SD K platform to set up a portal for use by the
“Network of Practitioners”;
• Establishing a clearing house of information on best practices,
of successful practices and of relevant decisions taken by
intergovernmental bodies;
• Identifying work under each cluster with input from network
members, and which member would lead the work
– eg tools for ensuring a smooth transmission from MDGs to SDGs;
• Establishing a roster of experts on NSDS;
• Planning annual meetings of the “Network of Practitioners” on
the side of the HLF;
• Working with UNOSD, UNCRD and UNWater/Zaragosa to
formulate a comprehensive work programme to support the
Network in line with their mandates;
• Working with Belize and Togo, which have volunteered as “test
countries”, on identifying areas of targeted support for the
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implementation of strategies
Recommendations by the EGM
Specific Network activities, supported by UNDESA, during its
first year could include:
• Elaboration of an organizational structure (based on the
clusters of work) and work programme for the Network;
• Provision of TA services to Belize and Togo;
• Organization of Peer-Review meetings/exchanges to review,
assess and advise on mainstreaming SD in NDS;
• Publishing
– on-line quarterly or semi-annual Network Newsletter as an
outreach tool and to keep members informed of activities;
– analytical papers produced by Network members on the
Portal
• Updating and refining quantitative and qualitative tools to
measure progress and success; and
• Holding the first annual Network of Practitioners meeting on
the side of the HLF on SD
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Thank You
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