Major Group: Children & Youth and WMG

Proposed goal 17. Strengthen and enhance the means of implementation and global partnership for sustainable development



Full Statement from Major groups and Stakeholders


Introduction
Goal 17 is critically important for the achievement of the SDG framework. The means of implementation goal must focus on the key drivers of - and removal of main obstacles to - sustainable development in all its dimensions. A detailed assessment of each goal is a crucial component of this task. A goal-by-goal approach alone, however, risks missing overarching themes, undermining coherence and ignoring inter-linkages.
Summary of Key Proposed Change
We propose that Goal 17 should have two equally important components. First, common, cross cutting targets covering five key areas of implementation should be adopted at the outset of goal 17. These targets would ensure coverage of the overarching key drivers of, and obstacles to, sustainable development, and acknowledge inter-linkages between goals. For example, we consider that many of the targets under Goal area 1: Ending Poverty ought to apply as well to all aspects of sustainable development.
This short set of key target areas would complement the second component, a far more rigorous and comprehensive assessment of the optimal means of implementation for each individual goal. Our open consultation around the OWG bears witness to this, with over 90 new goal-specific targets being proposed by diverse civil society groups over the past week (Annex 1), with additions - and recommended deletions - under all goal headings.
Our suggested targets for consideration on common, cross-cutting MoI can be categorised under five themes.
1) Enhanced Finance for Development,
2) Reform of International Finance & Trade Regimes
3) Innovation, knowledge and Technology Transfer,
4) Domestic Capacity Building, Resource Mobilization, and Planning
5) A Responsible, Accountable Global Partnership

Below, we highlight some of the key target areas under each.
1) Enhanced International Finance for Development

Adequate financing for development, targeted at sectors most in need (including health and education); countries most in need; and at the fulfilment of human rights obligations and protection of global goods, is an essential driver of development. Targets must include:

● Developed countries must implement fully ODA commitments to provide 0.7% of GNI in ODA to developing countries of which we recommend 0.35% must go to least-developed countries: on an agreed timeline based on internationally agreed principles, but also in line with a broader framework of human rights, equality (including gender equality) and sustainability criteria.

● Ensure debt sustainability, debt restructuring and debt relief. Ensure that debt sustainability analyses by international financial institutions and their policy recommendations are consistent with the attainment of the SDGs.

Additionally, we encourage consideration of a wider variety of financing mechanisms including alternative ones provided by civil society (a listing of such financing mechanisms will be submitted by the Commons Cluster).


2) Reform of International Finance & Trade Regimes

For the SDGs to succeed, we must ensure that international trade at multilateral, bilateral and other levels works to the benefit of the poorest and most marginalised, and that trade realises its potential as a means to help developing countries meet their development objectives. Conversely, global markets skewed against the world's poor, and an unstable, speculative financial system, have the potential to wholly cancel-out progress towards the SDGs.

● In 17.2 instead of using 'business as usual' WTO language, we need targets for fair market access for the poorest - promoting decent work, higher value-added, and allowing low-income countries to develop competitive sectors. We propose that pro-poor, agricultural price subsidies should be permitted, whilst still eliminating harmful domestic subsidies.

● Stable, multilateral and equitable financial systems must underpin all goals. Targets must be adopted to establish fully representative and participatory international institutions that regulate the global financial system, notably systemically important international banks and rating agencies, markets for commodity derivatives and international capital flows.

● We welcome the target to combat illicit financial flows (17.46): this should be facilitated through tax and natural resource revenue transparency. We also propose the creation of a financial transaction tax.

● We also believe that there must be regional harmonization of fiscal and monetary policies if undercutting between neighbouring countries is to be avoided, and we call for the addition of the development of international resource mobilization through global taxation schemes and innovative means of finance.


3) Innovation, knowledge and Technology Transfer

Transfer and innovation of technology and knowledge could make a key contribution to the realisation of the SDGs, and needs development to fulfil this potential.

● Target 17.26 can be enhanced through the addition of a coordination mechanism, to avoid duplication of efforts and promote interdisciplinary research.

● We support the proposed targets 17.31 to 17.33, including the UN Global Technology facilitation Mechanism, and would propose the addition of a multilateral, participatory technology assessment mechanism. We stress the need to lift intellectual property barriers, and ensure equitable access to technologies for developing countries.

● Adopting a target on universal, unfettered access to the internet would realise the benefits of this resource for access to knowledge, education and global collaboration.

● Introduce a target to recognize more explicitly the role that science and technology plays in driving innovation and providing sustainable development solutions.

● Recognize more explicitly the requirement for capacity building in science and technology and build on the role of Future Earth as a coordination mechanism for science & technology in sustainable development.




4) Domestic Capacity Building, resource mobilization, and planning

Achievement of each SDG also rests on states having the technical and planning capacity and resources to generate and implement effective development strategies. We suggest the following overarching targets:

● Individual states, with the participation of their citizens, must develop and implement effective and targeted capacity building programmes in support of nationally-adopted plans for implementing sustainable development goals

● The SDGs, Targets and Indicators should provide a foundational basis for the further development and implementation of local and national sustainability strategies, along with the action plans on sustainable consumption and production which include ongoing mechanisms for sharing best practices and collaboration at all levels.

● Adopt sustainable development as a basic operating principle of governance at all levels of government, promoting integration of the 3 dimensions of Sustainable Development across all sectors of the economy and society.

● Establish institutional capacity at national and local level for integrated, coordinated and coherent policy-making in support of sustainable development.

● Strengthen domestic resource mobilization, including by implementing progressive tax systems and social benefits, improving tax collection and efficiency of public spending, reducing tax evasion and avoidance, and improving stolen asset recovery.

● Increase the level of funding and support coming from the international community for civil society participation in capacity development and implementation, and encourage the adoption of participatory budgeting processes.

● local and grassroots approaches to development, resilience and finance should be respected, encouraged and incorporated into national systems as appropriate.

● Consider support for a broader shift in the tax system, moving the burden from wages and basic goods and services and onto the ownership and use of land and natural resources, thus providing an incentive for sustainable use and the equitable sharing of the benefits coming from our common resources. Monies gathered in this way could, for example, fund protection and restoration of the global commons, provision of basic services and support social protection floors.

5) A Responsible, Accountable Global Partnership

The achievement of the SDGs is dependent on political will and stakeholder participation, and will be ensured - and improved - by rigorous evaluation and accountability mechanisms. We recommend the following targets be addressed:

● Establish a shared accountability framework to undertake regular monitoring and reporting of progress on SDGs and means of implementation. This accountability mechanism must involve all states and citizens at appropriate local, national, regional and international levels, and must be able to hold not only states, but also multi-stakeholder initiatives involving the private sector, to account against ambitious targets for progress. This mechanism - undertaken under the HLPF but extending beyond it - must have the capacity to ensure that the strategies and action plans are used to achieve the Goals and Targets in a fully inclusive, effective, coherent, and integrated manner.

● promote strong, transparent and accountable international institutions, including conclusion of reforms for increasing effective and democratic participation of developing countries in international financial institutions.

● We call for a target on participatory creation of coherent policies and strategies to implement the goals at global and regional levels (as well as at state level - see area 4), the sharing of best practice, the scaling-up of strategies and success stories, and citizen engagement. This could be facilitated in part by a unified web platform, building on the "World We Want" website, through which to share best practices, enable global collaboration and foster deliberation.

Whilst we acknowledge a role for the private sector in development, a global partnership must be much more than just a public private partnership. Instead, the greater the involvement of the private sector, the greater the need for effective accountability. Too often PPP’s have had negative social, environmental and economic impact. We are wary of a “socialization of costs and privatization of profits”.

● We propose the deletion of "encouragement" of PPPs from target 17.20 unless measures to ensure the public's role in management and governance, and the adoption of a binding instrument on transnational corporations at the UN, are adopted. There must be multilateral mechanisms that can subject investors and transnational corporations to legally binding norms and standards.

Furthermore, we propose that the implementation of the goals must be bound by two basic principles that should guide the global partnership.
● All actors, including the corporate sector, are obligated to respect the equal dignity and rights of all human beings, and respect and contribute to inclusive participatory processes in the implementation of the goals.
● Means of implementation should aim to ensure that all goals are met for all segments of a population, with a focus on the most disadvantaged and marginalised.

Conclusion

The 'end-point' or goal for means of implementation is nothing short of the full realisation of the other 16 goals. Thus, the commitment to ambition and transformation in Goal 17 must match the goals and targets specified elsewhere in the draft. The SDG framework as a whole must be a coherent set of ends and means.

Goal 17 comprises not just targets, of a kind similar to the other goals, but also detailed guidance and best practice, essential to realising particular aspects of the SDGs and focusing particularly on the need to scale up the level and means of financing and implementation. These means must be adopted progressively and speedily during the lifespan of the framework for the SDGs to be met. Given the breadth and complexity of goal 17, and its crucial importance, civil society must continue to be involved in the discussion of this goal and its place in the wider framework.

Without means that match the ends in ambition, these goals will be 'aspirational' not in the best sense - of something that will inspire all people to act to bring it about, but in the worst sense - a distant, remote ideal, with no visible path between here and there. Member states must collectively rise to this challenge: they must affirm the means to achieve these ends, and so prove themselves serious about a global partnership for development in the interests of all the world's people.




Co Leads:

Professor Dave Griggs, CEO ClimateWorks Australia & Director Monash Sustainability Institute - [e-mail]
Sascha Gabizon, Women’s Major Group - [e-mail]
Dr Graham Long, Newcastle University/Beyond2015 Universality and Responsibility Working Group - [e-mail]
Dr. Lisinka Ulatowska, Coordinator of the Commons Cluster and UN Representative of the Association of World Citizens, the Institute for Planetary Synthesis and the All-Win Network - [e-mail]
Rob Wheeler, UN Representative, Global Ecovillage Network, Commons Cluster, and Planetafilia - [e-mail]
Mike Kalmus Eliasz, Major Group of Children & Youth, [e-mail]