Felix Dodds comments on sustainable development, coffee & life

Introduction This year can at times seem a little confusing - this is because in the agreement on 'Transforming Our World' a lot was left to be sorted out afterwards. UN Fit for Purpose The co-facilitators for reviewing the process to take decisions on critical issues that are addressed in the UN Secretary General’s report (available here) on his suggestions on how the UN will reform to address the new Global Goals agenda have been selected. They are: Permanent Representative of Belize, Her Excellency Ms. Lois M. Young, and Permanent Representative of Denmark , His Excellency Mr. Ib Petersen In November there was an open consultation on what should be in the report you can read the synthesis of member states, UN system and Major Groups and Other Stakeholders (MGoS) below. Synthesis of member states input can be found here. Synthesis of UN System can be found here . Synthesis of Major Groups and Other Stakeholders can be found here The co-facilitato...

Sustainable Development NOT Development A light show celebrating the United Nations Global Goals for Sustainable Development program.  (Credit: Todd Hunsberger) "On behalf of the peoples we serve, we have adopted a historic decision on a comprehensive, far-reaching and people-centred set of universal and transformative Goals and targets. We commit ourselves to working tirelessly for the full implementation of this Agenda by 2030. We recognize that eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, is the greatest global challenge and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development. We are committed to achieving sustainable development in its three dimensions – economic, social and environmental – in a balanced and integrated manner. We will also build upon the achievements of the Millennium Development Goals and seek to address their unfinished business."  Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development I...

I was in New Hampshire and so missed the announcement but this is important for those engaged in the SDG indicator process.  The UN Statistical Group IAEG have opened the consultation on the grey indicators here . An open consultation will take place on the proposed SDG Indicators that currently coded as 'grey', indicating that further discussion on them is still needed. The consultation will be open from Wednesday, 9 December to Tuesday, 15 December to both observers (non-IAEG Member States and representatives of regional commissions and regional and international agencies) and other stakeholders (civil society, academia and private sector) for technical comments. Web site here.

The recent  meeting of the  Interagency and Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goal Indicators (IAEG-SDGs) in Bangkok saw members reach a general agreement on 159 of the more than 200 draft indicators for the SDGs. To make it easy to understand the IAEG-SDGs have color coded the indicators. The reached general agreement on those coded green and those that needed extra work are coded in grey. See the report here.  For a general look at the IAEG-SDGs web site go here . A three day consultation with stakeholders and non-IAEG member states and representatives of regional commissions and regional and international agencies has opened today the 5th of November and will end on the 7th of November at 9am EST . This is focused on only the green indicators. The online mechanism to input can be found here . As noted in the "Meeting Summary and Work Plan" (also available in the documents section on the IAEG-SDGs Bangkok meeting web page): The diary from now on is a...

The First Meeting of the Interagency and Expert Group on the Sustainable Development Goal Indicators.   Watch on UNTV Co-chairs elected  Dr.  Lisa  Grace S. Bersales Philippines  and  Fabiola Riccardini Italy  June 1st 10-1pm Opening session  1. Mr Wu Hongbo UNDESA USG 2. Methods of working of the group (50 minutes) - introduction by UNSD -Open discussion Break (20 minutes) 3. Indicator framework - global, regional,  national, sub national and thematic indicators (50 minutes) - Introduction by UNSD - Presentations National and sub national monitoring and its link to global monitoring (Philippines) Regional monitoring and its link to global monitoring (Member State of Sub Saharan Africa tbc) Thematic monitoring and its link to global monitoring (UNICEF) - Open discussion 4. Process of selecting indicators - Introduction by UNSD - Presentations Identification of interlin...

Indicators  The worry that some people had over indicators being used to re-open the targets and goals seems to have been allayed.The approach will be as we have highlighted here in previous posts. The Statistical Commission will establish the In ter-agency and Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Indicators (IAEG-SDGs)  will now be set up and will develop the framework for the Indicators and agree the indicators. This will be a technical  input to the agreed targets. The survey conducted of around half the member states which i mentioned in a  previous blog was quiet rightly shelved. I am continually pleased by the way that the UN Statistical Division is doing their work. Finally the outcome in march 2016 of the Statistical Commission will still have to go to UN ECOSOC and finally to the UN General Assembly in December 2016. Goals and Targets - Dead Parrot? I have to say that while I was watching the session yesterday on the Goals and Targets ...

The agenda for next weeks Post 2015 process starts with two days on indicators. It will have presented a report from the Statistical Commission . Overall the tone of the Statistical Commission's report is good. they recognize the role they have in providing 'technical support' to the political process. They were asked by G77 to ensure they came forward with suggested indicators for ALL the targets, They nearly managed this based on a survey of countries national statistical offices there are of the 169 targets only 7 to date without suggested indicators. These are: Target 1.b.  sound policy frameworks at the national, regional and international levels, based on pro-poor and gender sensitive development strategies, to support accelerated investment in poverty eradication actions. Target 3.a Strengthen the implementation of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in all countries, as appropriate. Target 3.b Support the research and...

As it is becoming clear that the sustainable development goals and targets are not going to change - maybe a little technical proofing - but otherwise what was agreed last August will stand. The next big issue for many groups is what will the indicators for the targets be and how will they be decided? For work on the indicators stakeholders now have to become knowledgeable of the workings of the UN Statistical Commission. A Commission that has 24 members made up of national statistical offices in the member countries. My understanding last year only one stakeholder attending the meeting of the Commission - this year  would expect many many more. So what do you need to be aware of when preparing for the Commission meeting? First though the meeting starts on the 2nd of March in fact it will be informally starting from the 25th of February. 25-26th February: Expert Group Meeting on the indicator framework for the post 2015 development agenda 26th February:  CR.B  ...