Post-2015 intergovernmental negotiations
Session on Follow-up and review
29 July 2015, New York
Co-facilitators,
We are coming to the end of our considerations of the Sunday text, and we thank you once more for your efforts to address our concerns. We would like to reiterate our determination to finalize our discussions on Friday under your able leadership.
On the last and very important section on follow up and review, although there are substantial improvements, we still have some concerns and suggestions on how to improve the text further.
Our main points are the following:
Firstly, we need one overarching integrated framework for monitoring, accountability and review. We therefore call for a better reflection of § 131 of the Addis outcome, which states that the AAAA Follow-up and Review will be integrated with the post-2015 Follow-up and Review.
§ 68 should therefore be amended as follows: "it will be essential for the achievement of the Agenda, including the SDGs, that the implementation of the AAAA and the effective use of all means of implementation will be followed-up in an integrated framework."
Building on the language agreed in Addis § 82 should be reworded as follows: "The follow-up and review provisions set out in AAAA will be an integral part of the follow-up and review process of this Agenda. Therefore, conclusions and recommendations of the annual ECOSOC Forum on Financing for Development will be part of the overall and integrated follow-up and review of the Agenda. The report of the Inter-Agency Task Force on financing for development will inform such discussion."
Our second key point is ensuring that meaningful participation of civil society and other stakeholders, including the private sector, in the follow-up and review process is crucial at all levels and needs to be further strengthened. This should be done notably through amendments to paras 74, 76 and 87.
Thirdly, as implementation at national level will be crucial, so will be monitoring, accountability and review. While we agree that we need not be overly prescriptive, it will also be important to ensure a firm commitment of all to conduct monitoring and review activities.
We should therefore use more determined language in §74 and §75. Both should start with “Member States commit” instead of “We encourage Member States”. This is in line with §73.
At regional level we should clarify in § 76 that this is the place for "cooperation on transboundary issues, tracking progress on shared targets and identifying regional trends". It should also clarify that follow-up and review activities at regional level will need to be transparent and inclusive.
At global level, the section should include a reference to the possibility of recommendations by the HLPF for further action at national, regional and global level. In § 78 we should therefore at the end of the third sentence add: "The HLPF will monitor in an integrated and balanced manner, progress against, and implementation of, the post-2015 agenda and the Financing for Development outcomes, including by making recommendations for further action at national, regional and global level."
The references to policy space are unclear and not relevant in this context. We request these be deleted.
On para 49 of the Declaration we request that the last sentence is brought in line with chapter 4 according to which the HLPF is the apex of the network for monitoring and review.
Let me now elaborate further on some specific points:
• At the end of §68, we should further stress the benefits of follow-up and review by adding that “Monitoring and measuring progress is beneficial for all and at the heart of leaving no one behind”.
• In § 69 or in § 70c, we should add the notion of identifying gaps in implementation.
• As for §70 on the guiding principles:
In a) we cannot support the reference to “policy space”. We ask to revert to previous formulation, ie. “respect national policies and priorities”. This is the language on differentiation agreed in Rio+20 (§247).
In b), we should “monitor” progress instead of “address”.
In d) we suggest adding the words “meaningful and effective”.
We strongly support to maintain the current wording in letter e) regarding gender and human rights. We would also like to state that “no target should be considered met unless met by all economic and social groups”.
In f) we would like to insert “development effectiveness principles” to be taken into account.
In § 71, as said before, we feel that adoption by ECOSOC and GA should not lead to a political discussion of the indicators framework.
National level (§§ 74-75)
• In §74, the words "and comprehensive" should be added after “ambitious”. We should also add the words “with the full, meaningful and effective participation of stakeholders” at the end of the first sentence.
• In §75, several improvements are needed:
The first sentence should read “Member States also commit to conduct regular and transparent monitoring and review of progress, at the national and sub-national levels, which are country-owned and country-driven”.
The reference “in line with national circumstances, policies and priorities” is not needed in the second sentence. There is already a clear reference to differentiation in §70a, so we ask for deletion here.
We welcome the reference to national parliaments but would like to see explicit mentions of the possible contribution other actors. The sentence should read “National parliaments as well as other institutions such as National Sustainable Development Councils, national human rights councils, supreme audit institutions and other independent oversight bodies, as well as local governments and authorities, can also support these processes.”
Regional level (§§ 76 – 77)
• To foster transparency and cross-regional learning § 76 should be amended by stating that "interested countries, regional organizations, civil society and relevant stakeholders, as well as relevant institutions from outside the region will be allowed to participate as observers."
Global level (§§ 78-88)
• In § 79 we should clarify that the GSDR will be produced every four years for the meetings of the HLPF under the auspices of the GA and add at the end "Beyond the GSDR, the HLPF should draw on as many sources of evidence and analysis as required such as the monitoring framework of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation. It will also make best use of the regional preparatory processes and relevant geo-spatial information and data.
We also do not believe reference to policy space is justified in §79 as it is not appropriate to global indicators and would risk politicising technical work.
• In § 80, we suggest adding that national reviews should ideally be done twice before 2030.
• In § 81 we should add "including of cross-cutting issues" after SDGs in the first sentence and replace "inter-governmental" by "relevant" otherwise it is too restrictive
• In §82 bis we think it will be important to clarify that "We encourage the Secretary-General, when setting up the Inter-agency Task Force referred to in (para 133 of) the AAAA, to ensure that it supports the overall follow-up and review process of this Agenda in order to ensure coherence and reflect the integrated nature of the Agenda. The SDG Progress Report is to be prepared by this Task Force and will cover in an integrated fashion the implementation of the AAAA."
• In § 84 we should stress the importance of adapting and increasing the effectiveness of the UN system for the implementation of this agenda. We should also stress the importance of minimizing the burden on the UN system and suggest that this reporting should contribute to the SDG Progress Report using existing platforms and processes.
• In §85 we should add at the end of the first sentence "It will be essential to assess at all levels the contribution of all actors, including the private sector and philanthropic organisations and to discuss these assessments within the HLPF meeting at ECOSOC level."
• In § 86, it is important for the sake of efficiency and operationalization of the follow-up and review framework to request the UN SG to propose complementary arrangements for the reviews at global level by the end of 2015 in order to be in effect by the next meeting of the HLPF in 2016. The proposals should address the work of the HLPF and its articulation with the Ecosoc and the wider UN system.
• In § 87, it is also important to include all relevant UN entities as well as "all other stakeholders including the private sector, non-governmental organisations, and citizens of all countries".
