Measuring progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals

EVALNET 26 April 2016 Simon Scott Counsellor, Statistics Directorate

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What are the SDGs?

• 25 September 2015: UN adopts the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, featuring 17 Sustainable Development Goals, with 169 targets for:

– Development

– Environment

– Rights and governance

– Policies and finance (“means of implementation”)

• SDGs apply to all countries, but with differing responsibilities

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The 17 SDGs

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SDG follow-up and review framework

• Global, regional, national and thematic levels

• Only global monitoring spelt out in detail in UN Resolution

• Global follow-up and review based on indicators

• Indicator selection controlled by group of 28 UN members

• Will be annual reports by UN S-G and a glossy booklet

• High Level Political Forum (HLPF) will guide process

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OECD and the SDGs

28 April 2015: SG Gurría receives SG Ban at the OECD and says: “The SDGs promise to change the way we look at the world. OECD countries should – along with others – adopt them and adapt them…. OECD expertise…from statistics to governance…seems particularly useful …our respective teams are already working together. Measuring progress is, after all, part of the OECD's raison d'être.”

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How can OECD help achieve the SDG agenda?

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• Proposed OECD Action Plan on the SDGs suggests: – Contribute to all levels of monitoring – Support countries’ SDG implementation – Strengthen follow-up and review through analytical

tools, data and peer-review frameworks – Adapt OECD work to meet the SDG agenda

• Example: Proposals for an SDG-based results framework for development co-operation

SDG monitoring: initial efforts

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OECD advantages in SDG monitoring

• Strong data culture, with conceptual frameworks for data

• Broad coverage of sectors, standardised across countries

• Measures welfare “beyond GDP”, including “How’s Life”

• Unique data – ODA, PISA, PSE, Trade in Value Added

• Quality-controlled data, agreed by members and partners

…and one important limitation:

• We (usually) lack global coverage

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Challenges in SDG monitoring

• Complex targets • Omitted benchmarks • Lack of data • Multiple foci – global, country, individual • Unclear who is responsible for achievement • Overlapping, interrelated or potentially contradictory

goals or targets

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Inter-related SDG targets

Chart credit: David Le Blanc, UNDSD

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OECD contributions to SDG measurement

• Contribute as observers to IAEG-SDG global indicator work

• Provide indicator data on OECD and other countries

• Contribute to annual UN reports on SDG progress

• Contribute to regional reports, especially under UNECE

• Assess OECD countries’ starting positions

• Adapt tools, platforms, guidelines, to SDGs, including for developing countries

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Current position on SDG global indicators

• Three meetings so far of IAEG-SDG

• 230 indicators agreed by UN Statistical Commission for global monitoring

• Data will come mainly from UN agencies, World Bank, IMF etc., as well as from OECD

• Some OECD data will be provided through UN sector agencies (e.g. on Education)

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Key dates

• 1-2 June: OECD Ministerial Council Meeting to consider OECD Action Plan on SDGs

• UNSG Report, and glossy booklet, by summer

• 11-15 July: ECOSOC High-Level Political Forum on sustainable development, then results session, 18-22 July: ECOSOC to approve global indicator list

• From 20 September – UN General Assembly to finally approve global indicator framework

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Thank you.