Definition of the National Prioritiesfor Development: Aligning the SDGs to the National Development Plan

Guatemala started the process of integrating the National Development Plan (NDP) and the 2030 Agenda since 2016. The National Development Plan known as K’atun 2032, was approved in 2014, and is the country’s guideline for development in the long term. When Guatemala signed the commitment to the 2030 Agenda in 2015, it was found that the NDP and the SDGs had similar targets and even similar timelines.
In 2016, the National Urban and Rural Development Council (CONADUR) established a strategy to accomplish the SDG Agenda, based on the lessons learned in the implementation of MDGs, and taking as reference the priorities established in the National Development Plan (K’atun 2032).
Through workshops with civil society and other actors, Guatemala prioritized 17 goals, 129 targets and 200 indicators for the country.
Even though the definition of the national commitment to the 2030 Agenda was a big step, a large challenge persisted: implementing two separate long-term development agendas to fulfill national and international commitments. Therefore, Guatemala considered that finding the synergy between them would be a better effort and together with ECLAC, implemented the “nodes and links” methodology to integrate both instruments into a single development agenda.The results were 99 integrated targets and the methodology led to identifying the interlinkages between them, recognizing that the targets are woven together and actions towards one of them would impact others. The analysis implied identifying the way the different dimensions of development are related, supported by evidence and it was carried out by a team of specific technical staff with the support of CEPAL. Once those relationships were established, the nodes and links with most incidence and connections to others were deemed as strategic development targets. This means that achieving these targets would cause a “ripple effect” in advancing the achievement of the targets related to them.
These 16 Strategic Development Targets, were found to be grouped in ten themes, or “circles”. These circles represent the ten strategic areas for intervention through public policy. These have been named “National Priorities for Development”, they are:
• Social Protection and reduction of poverty,
• Access to health services,
• Access to Water and Management of Natural Resources,
• Food Security and Nutrition,
• Employment and Investment,
• Economic Value of Natural Resources,
• Institutional Strengthening,
• Security and Justice,
• Education,
• Fiscal Reform,
• Territorial Ordering

None of these Priorities can stand alone and progress in one impact others to different degrees. In 2018, the government started socializing the ten National Priorities with civil society, private sector and the Congress, among others.