Mr. Tim Bogaert, Permanent Mission of Belgium to the United Nations
1. If we are serious about implementing sustainable development goals, we
need to ensure that our actions are being monitored, reviewed, evaluated and
made available to both policy makers and the public. If we want the new
agenda to be action-oriented and result-oriented, accountability,
transparancy and effective review of progress has to be a central. We cannot
wait until the agreement on the SDGs or the post-2015 agenda to reflect on
the monitoring and accountability framework that will need to be put in
place. The discussions here - both this morning and later today are
therefore very timely.
2. Let me make a couple of points on key characteristics of how we would
see such a monitoring and accountability framework
1. Information and data. Without access to accurate, accessible,
understandable and disaggregated data and information, efforts to put in
place a solid monitoring and accountability framework will remain elusive.
We heard yesterday that for many of the proposed goals in the SDGs, data is
not available. So the need to increase the availability of high-quality
disaggregated data as well as the capacity for analysis of such data needs
to be part of the commitments we take. And this is also why it is so
important that this is recognized in the proposals for SDGs, as is the case.
2. We need a monitoring and accountability framework that is truly
inclusive, participatory and multi-layered, ranging from the local, national
and subnational, regional and global level.
At the local/ national or subnational level, it is about accountability
towards people, since the SDGs and the post-2015 agenda is about making
commitments to better the lives of people and to make the transition to
sustainable development. Stakeholders are part of that, and the outcome of
those exercises need to be brought forward to the global level.
In my country, we do have experience with sustainable development
strategies. These horizontal strategies, developed in a participatory
manner, involving a broad spectrum of actors, promote integrated thinking
and foster also an element of transparency by identifying priority issues to
be addressed and building consensus on the necessary action. Part of the
legacy of the original Rio Conference in 1992, we believe such strategies
remain relevant as guiding instruments for decision-making, implementation
and subsequent monitoring at the levels where the implementation takes
place.
But the global level is important as well. We are trying to devise a global
agenda. The new agenda is about dealing with issues that are common - of
universal concerns and relevance to all countries , and calling for
collective actions and global solutions, off course taking into account
differing national context.
So there is also a need for progress monitoring at the wider regional and
global level, where it needs to be determined whether all our respective
contributions add up to something that will lead to the transformative
change towards achieving greater prosperity in an inclusive manner within
the capacity of the earth's life support system. Where we would be able to
determine whether the whole is larger than the sum of its parts. And where
countries would be able to learn from eachothers experiences and exchange
best practices.
Peer reviews are in our view an essential component of such a strong
monitoring system, whether at regional or at global level. The tasks given
to the HLPF as well as its provisions for stakeholder participation in its
proceedings are clear and the message coming out of this forum this week
needs to bring us one step further to preparing it for its task from 216
onwards.
3. efficiency. Finally, as was made clear in the previous presentation,
there is no such thing as a one size fits all, and many good examples
already exist. We need to be pragmatic, efficient and build as much as
possible on the good experiences that already exist.
I thank you.
need to ensure that our actions are being monitored, reviewed, evaluated and
made available to both policy makers and the public. If we want the new
agenda to be action-oriented and result-oriented, accountability,
transparancy and effective review of progress has to be a central. We cannot
wait until the agreement on the SDGs or the post-2015 agenda to reflect on
the monitoring and accountability framework that will need to be put in
place. The discussions here - both this morning and later today are
therefore very timely.
2. Let me make a couple of points on key characteristics of how we would
see such a monitoring and accountability framework
1. Information and data. Without access to accurate, accessible,
understandable and disaggregated data and information, efforts to put in
place a solid monitoring and accountability framework will remain elusive.
We heard yesterday that for many of the proposed goals in the SDGs, data is
not available. So the need to increase the availability of high-quality
disaggregated data as well as the capacity for analysis of such data needs
to be part of the commitments we take. And this is also why it is so
important that this is recognized in the proposals for SDGs, as is the case.
2. We need a monitoring and accountability framework that is truly
inclusive, participatory and multi-layered, ranging from the local, national
and subnational, regional and global level.
At the local/ national or subnational level, it is about accountability
towards people, since the SDGs and the post-2015 agenda is about making
commitments to better the lives of people and to make the transition to
sustainable development. Stakeholders are part of that, and the outcome of
those exercises need to be brought forward to the global level.
In my country, we do have experience with sustainable development
strategies. These horizontal strategies, developed in a participatory
manner, involving a broad spectrum of actors, promote integrated thinking
and foster also an element of transparency by identifying priority issues to
be addressed and building consensus on the necessary action. Part of the
legacy of the original Rio Conference in 1992, we believe such strategies
remain relevant as guiding instruments for decision-making, implementation
and subsequent monitoring at the levels where the implementation takes
place.
But the global level is important as well. We are trying to devise a global
agenda. The new agenda is about dealing with issues that are common - of
universal concerns and relevance to all countries , and calling for
collective actions and global solutions, off course taking into account
differing national context.
So there is also a need for progress monitoring at the wider regional and
global level, where it needs to be determined whether all our respective
contributions add up to something that will lead to the transformative
change towards achieving greater prosperity in an inclusive manner within
the capacity of the earth's life support system. Where we would be able to
determine whether the whole is larger than the sum of its parts. And where
countries would be able to learn from eachothers experiences and exchange
best practices.
Peer reviews are in our view an essential component of such a strong
monitoring system, whether at regional or at global level. The tasks given
to the HLPF as well as its provisions for stakeholder participation in its
proceedings are clear and the message coming out of this forum this week
needs to bring us one step further to preparing it for its task from 216
onwards.
3. efficiency. Finally, as was made clear in the previous presentation,
there is no such thing as a one size fits all, and many good examples
already exist. We need to be pragmatic, efficient and build as much as
possible on the good experiences that already exist.
I thank you.
Stakeholders