Agenda Euskadi-Basque Country 2030 (SDGs 1 to 17)
Description
The Basque Country is a region in Spain that enjoys a broad and unique way of self-government. The Euskadi-Basque Country 2030 Agenda constitutes the Basque Government's determination to implement public policies in light of the challenges reflected on the UN Agenda 2030. In April 2018 this Agenda was released and reflects how the different Basque policies help in the implementation of the 17 SDGs in the Basque Country for the government period 2016-2020. The UN 2030 Agenda does not dictate what has to be done; it defines a context that helps to set priorities, taking into account territorial realities.
The Basque Government shares the vision of a world focused on people, committed to protecting our planet and coexisting in peace. In short, a world capable of generating prosperity through a partnership model. <br />
Therefore, aligning the Basque Government efforts to implement the SDGs and the goals set in the 2030 Agenda is a challenge that the government has been committed to address, and this is the main objective behind the elaboration of the Agenda Euskadi-Basque Country 2030. <br />
Furthermore, the government sees the 2030 Agenda as an opportunity for the Basque Country because it coincides with its own priorities: <br />
• Human development that assures essential services for everyone; <br />
• Sustainable growth that generates high-quality job opportunities on an equal basis.<br />
A glance at the 17 SDGs shows that they tackle matters which are handled by institutions at different levels of the Administration in decentralized countries: Central Government, Regional Governments and Local Authorities. As a highly decentralized region, within a highly decentralized nation (Spain), the Basque Government believes the main contribution of the “Agenda Euskadi-Basque Country 2030” initiative to the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is to generate a favorable environment for a joint-ownership of SDGs so as to make the great objective of "not leaving anyone behind" a reality. <br />
The Agenda Euskadi-Basque Country 2030 constitutes the determination of the Basque Government to approach its public policies in light of the challenges of the UN 2030 Agenda, but also establishing a link with the strategic approach adopted by the European Commission in the work for sustainable development, which is focused on using instruments to ensure that current and future policies factor in social, environmental and economic aspects.<br />
Thus, the objective of this Euskadi-Basque Country Agenda 2030 is: <br />
• To cover all three dimensions of sustainable development (social, economic and environmental). <br />
• To be cross-sectoral: it affects all areas of Basque public-sector policies. <br />
• Create a Policy Coherence for Development as a key tool for the success of the 2030 Agenda to reinforce the idea that all the Basque institutions are moving along in the same direction. To do this, the Framework of Reference for the Policy Coherence for Development was approved in the Council of Government in April 2016. <br />
• To be specific: it focuses on issues and commitments in which the government has the capability and legal authority to act.
• Interinstitutional working group of all levels of the Administration (Basque government, provincial governments, three provincial capitals, Association of Basque Municipalities) to produce a common document that reflects the Basque contribution to Agenda 2030.
• Permanent seat of stakeholders at the Basque Internationalization Council, chaired by the Basque regional president.
• Agreement with Global Compact to facilitate access to course materials for the dissemination and implementation of the Agenda in Basque companies.
• Creation of the Basque Parliament’s Working Group for the implementation of the Agenda.
The Basque Government’s commitment with the 2030 Agenda starts with the Basque Regional President and his address at his investiture ceremony in November 2016.
Then, the drafting process of the Basque 2030 Agenda started, led by the Office of the President, which was committed to ensuring that the SDGs were reflected in the strategic planning of the whole Government.
In 2016, the first year of the Agenda 2030, was the end of a previous Administration and the beginning of a new four year term after the 2016 regional elections. This moment was rightly used as an opportunity to reflect and analyze the situation of the Basque Country with respect to the new global challenges highlighted by the SDGs and the recently approved UN Agenda 2030.
In that year, a first analysis of the existing policies and plans of the Basque Government was carried out in order to obtain a first glance of the overall current development situation, and determine to what extent the general government planning was aligned with the contents, objectives, and goals of Agenda 2030.
Once this process was over, the Basque Government approved its Government Program for the 11th Parliamentary term. It is a document that consists of 4 pillars, 10 axes, 15 regional objectives, 175 commitments, and 650 initiatives to advance Sustainable Human Development. This document includes all the commitments acquired by the government with the Basque society for the next four years.
After this, the elaboration of the 1st Agenda Euskadi Basque Country 2030 formally started, matching the Basque Government program with the goals and objectives outlined in the UN 2030 Agenda, adapted to the Basque reality and context. The result is an Agenda structured around the 17 SDGs, which are linked to the 15 Regional Objectives and implemented in 100 Targets. The Agenda identifies the commitments of the Basque 2020 Government Program that have the closest links to the 17 SDGs, and it focuses on issues of regional interest. Moreover, the Agenda includes 93 commitments, 80 planning instruments, 19 legislative initiatives and 50 indicators as specific means of implementation for the 2016 2020 period.
The number of Targets for each Objective varies between 3 and 10, depending on the Federal transferred competences to the Basque Government, and therefore, their scope is not the same for each Objective.
Finally, the UN 2030 Agenda stipulates that each country must adapt the global indicators to its own reality, addressing social, economic and environmental problems, as well as associating them with specific targets to be met by 2020, 2025 and 2030.
Consequently, this Basque 2030 Agenda has associated performance indicators with each of the 17 Objectives, to form a dashboard with 50 Indicators, including the Human Development Index by way of international benchmark indicators.
This definition of the indicators is open so as the international indicators develop, so does the Basque 2030 Agenda indicator dashboard, adapting to modifications.
• The issuance of the "Euskadi Sustainable Bonds" to raise funds for the implementation of the Agenda which will be distributed in the following way: 81% will go to social projects and 19% to green projects. All of these projects will have an impact on one or several SDGs. The compliance is supported by an external review carried out by Sustainalytics.
• Monitoring report 2017. The Agenda has its own instruments to monitor and evaluate the progress made. The Government has published the first monitoring report in the implementation of the SDGs and can be found online at the below link. This has been sent to the Basque Parliament for evaluation and accountability.
• Participation at the HLPF 2018 and other multilateral and multi-stakeholder events.
- Participation at the High-Level Political Forum in New York City in 2018 to explain the government’s action within its administrative power to implement the SDGs;
• Training:
- Training program "Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations: how to implement them in public policies", for the public servants of all Basque public administrations. The course is structured in 3 training modules, and administered by the Basque Institute of Public Administration.
-In the framework of the summer courses organized by the University of the Basque Country, a proposal was made to create a Summer School named "the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs: Making our public policies more efficient".
-The Government is currently working on mandatory training for senior government officials on the SDGs to provide a guide in the design and execution of public policies that allow its correct dissemination and sense of ownership as an instrument of improved public policies.
• The 2050 Climate Change Strategy (SDG 13) as a planning instrument that will lead the actions of the Government up to the 2050 horizon, with intermediate objectives for 2020 and 2030, both to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
• The Euskadi Platform Against Food Waste: institutions, organizations, and associations participate through volunteering and collaboration in reducing by half the 350,000 tons of food wasted per year in the Basque Country by 2030.
• The Basque Urban Agenda (SDG 11): this is the roadmap to achieve inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable cities and towns.
• Euskadi Open Government Partnership (SDG 16): The "Open Government Partnership – OGP" Network, has selected the Basque Country as one of the 20 regions around the world that will participate in its Program for Local Governments.
• Digitalization Agenda Euskadi Basque Country 2030: the Government is studying having a public digital platform that collects the work, actions, and progress in achieving the SDGs in the Basque Country. This would help store and manage the contents and actions of the Agenda and all data associated with it, and create a space for synergies between all agents: Public Administrations, universities, companies, and people in a direct way.
The various departments of the Regional Government are involved in the Agenda’s governance model through the Interdepartmental External Action Committee of the General Secretariat for External Action.
In a more broad perspective, the participation of the rest of the government institutions in the governance of Agenda takes place within the Interinstitutional Committee, composed of the Basque Government, the three Provincial Governments, the three Basque main city councils (Bilbao, Vitoria, and San Sebastian), and the Association of Basque Municipalities. Finally, the other stakeholders with a projection in the Basque Country’s External Action contribute through the Basque Internationalization Council, chaired by the Basque Regional President. This is a clear reflection and example of multilevel governance.
This is completed with the participatory framework of the social, economic and cultural actors in each of the government areas responsible for achieving the goals of the Agenda 2030.
Also as enabling conditions are the financing mechanisms which the government has at its disposal, as well as the level government authority in the Administration of this Autonomous Region.
First, the resources to finance the Euskadi Basque Country 2030 Agenda are materialized in items of the General Budget approved by the Basque Country’s regional Parliament with a direct link to the SDGs. These items focus on promoting equal opportunities for particularly vulnerable groups, reducing inequality, and improving environmental management and the conservation and restoration of ecosystems, and others.
The other method used to finance the Agenda Euskadi Basque Country 2030 is the Sustainable Bonds launched in May 2018. As stated above, these Bonds make a visible and concrete contribution to the financing and implementation of the SDGs and the Agenda 2030.
To understand these Sustainable Bonds, it is important to highlight that the Basque Country has had its own independent tax system for the last 150 years. This Economic Agreement is a structure of bilateral tax and financial relations between the Basque Country and Spain, where the Basque Government levies and collects all taxes with its own autonomous internal revenue system, and then an agreed amount (quota) is transferred to the Federal Spanish Government for the services it provides in the region (Armed Forces, Justice, Diplomatic, etc.). In short, the Basque Government has two financing channels: the collection of taxes and the bond issuance.
On the other hand, the Basque Country has its own parliament, elected every four years, and that serves as a ‘check and balance’ on the regional government. Here, cross-party policies for the implementation of the Agenda are made, it provides for government accountability in the allocation of funds and execution of projects, and supervise the yearly review reports on the progress of the Agenda.
The steps undertaken by the Basque Government do not end in the contribution of the Government’s Program and public policies to the 2030 Agenda.
The Basque Government has been actively working to encourage the Basque provincial and municipal governments to join the Agenda Euskadi Basque Country 2030 within their respective areas of responsibility and respective forums or governance bodies.
Consequently, a working group or workshop with all different levels of the Basque Public Administration through the existing Inter-institutional Commission has been set up (comprised of members of all different levels of the Basque Public Administration - 3 provinces, the 3 main municipalities and the Association of Basque Municipalities-EUDEL), in order to generate common activities and a common document of the Basque contribution to the 2030 Agenda from its whole public sector. The objective behind this is to make this a region-wide agenda in all its levels of government.
To help achieve this also, special emphasis has been put in raising-awareness from all citizens, as well as training activities and public dissemination for the SDG’s joint-ownership from all stakeholders of the Basque society. To this end we highlight the following activities:
I) Communication campaigns, integrating SDGs in public events and areas or spaces managed by the Basque Government.
II) Using IREKIA (the institution in charge of Open Government in the Basque Country) as a good government practice that is focused on transparency, participation, and collaboration, and works as an open window for citizen participation. IREKIA serves as a direct communication channel between the citizens and the Government through online channels and using a non-administrative language.
III) Training and capacity building:
• Annual online training course on the 2030 Agenda for employees and civil servants of the Public Administration;
• Internal sessions on SDGs to raise awareness from Directors of all different Departments;
IV) Design and print dissemination material highlighting good practices, and translate to the Basque language (Euskera) all related documents to reach every Basque citizen.
V) Companies and business clusters have shared their best practices and steps taken within the 2030 Agenda between them and with other stakeholders. Auren Auditors, CEBEK (provincial business confederation), Mondragon Cooperative, among others, have participated in these sessions.
The 2030 Agenda, and specifically the Agenda Euskadi-Basque Country 2030, represents an excellent opportunity to improve, implement, and deliver better public policies in service of the whole world, and in this case, of the Basque society. <br />
The innovative characteristic of the Agenda 2030 is that specifics steps of the Agenda are not mandated from top-to-bottom, but allows the flexibility for every country, region, and municipality to work and implement within its own government sphere of action, taking into consideration every reality and context at every level. <br />
It is important to open a period of reflection about the role and participation of local and regional governments in international fora, specifically when it comes to the implementation of the Agenda 2030. Although the UN System has given many steps to open this participation moving away from NGOs to the Major Groups and other Stakeholders, it is crucial to consider that 60% of the implementation of the Agenda relies on local and regional governments. Thus, there is a difference in the relevance of political influence and execution among the different institutions and this should be reflected in the level of participation and interaction with the UN during the HLPF, its planning stage, and the progress reviews. A possibility worth exploring is the implementation of a formal event during the HLPF so as to open this participatory process to the sub-national governments and allow them an active role in the presentation and dissemination of good practices in their effort to create a lasting and meaningful impact in the implementation of the Agenda 2030. <br />
With the opening of a more participatory role of the regional and local governments in the HLPF, their Voluntary Regional Reviews can become more relevant and can be also an incentive for the implementation and sharing of good practices at the local and regional level in a more active and constant basis. In this sense, it is also important to highlight that one of the advantages of these regional reviews is that, if done properly, they are elaborated with specific data and relevant indicators that avoid overall national averages that usually mask the reality and disparities that exist within countries. <br />
So, for a successful implementation of this Agenda at all levels, the focus is about sharing experiences, and making visible in this case the Basque Government´s commitment to generate a favorable environment through an "informal" network of alliances of joint-ownership of the SDGs, to make a reality the great objective of "not leaving anyone behind".
Monitoring Report described in the 'Results' section: www.euskadi.eus/2030-agenda/monitoring-2017
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Felipe Victoria, Institutional Affairs Officer