Statement delivered by H.E. Mrs. Janine Coye Felson, Ambassador, Deputy Permanent
Representative of the Permanent Mission of Belize to the United Nations to the
informal meetings of the plenary on stocktaking in the process of intergovernmental
negotiations on the post-2015 development agenda, pursuant to resolution 69/244
and decision 69/550
20 January 2015
Integrating SDGs into the post-2015 development agenda
Before discussing the sub-topic, I wish to reflect on your opening question: how did we
get here? And tweak it just a bit to ask more appropriately how did we get to these
Sustainable Development Goals?
After a two year process which engaged governments, the private sector, civil society
and other stakeholders, the epistemic community and the United Nations system, and
after several iterations to capture the various inputs, developed and developing
countries agreed upon an ambitious set of goals and targets which the General
Assembly has already accepted as the basis for the integration of sustainable
development goals into the post-2015 development agenda.
Having thus agreed, the CARICOM is unconvinced that we need to engage once again in
a similar process to develop a set of sustainable development goals and targets for the
post 2015 outcome. We very much agree with Member States who spoke yesterday
that we should avoid the duplication of efforts and, we would add, the undoing of
efforts. Let us build on progress.
For CARICOM the question of “integrating SDGs into the post-2015 development
agenda” is not about “what to integrate” but “how to integrate”. We would also
propose a further consideration and that is, having thus integrated the SDGs in the
outcome that is to be the post-2015 development agenda, how do we then integrate
that global agenda into each country’s national development agenda.
On the first issue, CARICOM considers that cohesion across all components is critical
but more specifically cohesion between each component of the outcome and the set of
17 goals and 169 indicators is a sine qua non for the post-2015 development agenda.
Therefore, the post-2015 outcome should articulate clearly the interlinkage between
the political commitment to a transformational sustainable development agenda, the
means of implementation that will support that agenda and the follow-up and review
process.
To put this in context, as we have stated, the Declaration would establish the political
imprimatur for the SDGs. The Means of Implementation would directly address the set
of goals and targets and specifically support or cooperation for their implementation.
And, the follow-up and review process would provide the platform through which we
inter alia evaluate progress, incentivize ambition and catalyze further action.
On the second issue relating to integrating the global and the national, we begin from
the premise that development is ultimately a national responsibility. Thus, until the
global development agenda is relevant or linked to national development priorities and
sensitive to national circumstances, we will not be able to ensure the effective
integration of the SDGs. In this respect, CARICOM is of the view that capacity building
will be critical for engendering this link.
Finally, we heard the suggestion yesterday that the process of developing the agenda
should be evidence based and guided by implementation science. This brings me to
the second question you raised. What makes this process different? We have agreed
that this new agenda will be different in that it will be universal and based on an
integrated and coherent approach to sustainable development. At the global level
where the development agenda has largely been pursued in distinct silos, it is
questionable whether there is any relevant evidence that can be brought to bear on the
process at hand. Moreover even if we could identify examples of integrated
approaches, we are ever mindful that the development process is context specific with
multiple variables at play that may not be easily controlled for robust scientific analysis
or replication at a global scale. At best, we could look to a good practices exercise
within the context of a review and follow up process but not for the purpose of
prescribing goals and targets.
In any case, we have completed the exercise of goals and targets setting. Our next step
is to refer to technical expertise to develop a set of indicative indicators that countries
could consider in integrating the SDGs in their respective development agendas.
I thank you.
