SDG 6 Policy Support System (SDG-PSS): Bridging data gaps for evidence-based policy-making to achieve SDG 6

Objectives • Support the UN Member States with evidence-based policy- and decision-making for SDG 6 under limited data circumstances. • Encourage the participating countries to strengthen the enabling environment around national water management. • Enable cross-sectorial collaboration between experts and decision-makers to successfully achieve SDG 6. Implementation methodologies • “SDG 6 Policy Support System (SDG-PSS)” – the key output of the project – was designed and developed to help government officials and stakeholders navigate limited data conditions and promote evidence-based policy to contribute to achieving SDG 6. SDG-PSS’s main features • Components: Capacity; Finance; Policy and Institutional; Gender Mainstreaming; Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR)/Resilience Mainstreaming; Integrity; and Status. • Mechanism: As water experts enter required data for each component into a set of questionnaires, the Summary View reports the collective outcome. Thus, the Summary View consists of all the evidence generated for each SDG 6 target and indicator and for each policy critical component of the tool from the entered data. Under the SDG-PSS project, the consortium partners commit to jointly accelerate the SDG 6 implementation by: • Providing logical background for evidence-based policymaking with the aim of significantly increasing the implementation rate of SDG 6 of the participating countries. • Hosting regional/global workshops to extend the use of the tool in up to 50 countries and disseminate the success story of participating countries. • Contributing to the capacity development activities through the development of the e-course on SDG-PSS in more diverse languages. • Participating in international conferences as the side-event organizer to promote the tool to more potential countries. With these joint efforts, each of the project partners will keep pushing forward their mandate to accelerate the water actions and set their own ambitious goals for the achievement of SDG 6 as below: • UNOSD, UNU-INWEH, and UNESCO i-WSSM will expand and reinforce the partnership with the participating countries to support accelerating the implementation of water-related SDGs at the national level through policy advisory services, knowledge sharing, and capacity development programs. • The regional hub countries (Brazil, Pakistan, Republic of Korea, Tunisia) will (1) share experiences, challenges, and possibilities in achieving SDG 6 at the national level; (2) promote SDG-PSS through discussions on how the tool can be used to produce evidence on water-related policymaking at the national level; and (3) discussing the ways for the extended use of SDG-PSS in more other regions. • Tunisia and Brazil will disseminate the tool and the user experience at the national level, especially among the ministries and entities developing the Voluntary National Reviews (VNR), and at the international level through establishing projects and partnerships; • In Tunisia, the project team will keep the national working group active, promote the SDG-PSS to develop the VNR, and hold information-sharing days with key stakeholders. • In Brazil, the project team will launch a report in 3 different languages about the outcomes of using SDG-PSS which leads to an action plan. The experience in using SDG-PSS will be shared with the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP).