United States of America
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Statement of the United States of America Follow-up and Review of Financing for Development and Means of Implementation Delivered by U.S. Coordinator for the Post-2015 Development Agenda, Mr. Tony Pipa April 24, 2015
Thank you, Mr. Co-Facilitator.
Developing a shared vision of the key objectives for our follow-up will be critical to the design of a review process that successfully promotes real progress towards sustainable development. We look forward to a broader, deeper conversation on this in May. Developing that shared vision should be our starting point.
For today, we see no dividing line between the principles that define a strong review framework for Financing for Development, and a follow-up process for the broader Post-2015 sustainable development agenda. Certainly there will be different sources and kinds of data and different layers of reporting at the international, regional and national levels. But this complexity already applies across the agenda, and the fundamental principles of our approach must be consistent throughout. We believe strongly in one, integrated framework for reviewing the post-2015 development agenda and Financing for Development.
We agree with those who have suggested that the backbone of an effective monitoring framework should be at the national level. Country reports and domestic reviews based on national implementation strategies ensure national ownership, broad buy-in and participation, and accountability of government authorities.
To ensure we can deliver on sustainable development, we will need to take advantage of dynamic, open data systems. Mutual accountability is enhanced when all stakeholders in development, including citizens, have access to a transparent, comprehensive and timely picture of how resources are deployed, how and what policy decisions are made, and how they impact specific sustainable development goals and targets.
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Our review processes should encourage and incentivize openness and transparency in usable and accessible formats from all stakeholders. We are heartened by examples such as the NGO Aid Map, which provides detailed project information of the activities of international NGOs through data visualizations; the reporting by several U.S. private foundations to the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) so their spending is comparable with the reporting by our own government and others on their international public finance; and the growth in activity by businesses and cities to measure and provide reporting on their environmental information.
For partnerships, reporting should also be voluntary, but developing countries should strongly encourage partnerships to do so on a regular basis as a way to enhance country ownership and track performance at the national level. The multi-stakeholder partnerships supporting the post-2015 development agenda are likely to be as varied as the agenda itself. It may be useful to consider developing templates for country tracking of partnerships, or possibly encouraging development of new software solutions, as has been done successfully for country Aid Information Management Systems and Aid Management Platforms. These sorts of purpose-driven mechanisms help foster country ownership and guarantee that the review of data is policy-relevant.
Lastly, but perhaps most importantly, increased availability and more effective use of data to monitor and drive sustainable development has the potential to be the game-changing innovation of the next decade. Access to robust data does not just help us assess progress – it is a critical development objective and means of implementation in its own right.
Data is a key enabler of development that can inform decision-making and enable decision-makers to better target funding, based on information about what is and isn’t working to advance sustainable development. Data can also open whole new fields of business – such as privately run micro-weather forecasting services that optimize farming techniques – and create wholly new kinds of economic value.
Since accessible and transparent data and statistics are critical not just for accountability, but for the overall success of the sustainable development goals, we suggest having a dedicated session on data and statistics during our May session, so together we can forge an ambitious path of what’s possible. We look forward to further dialogue in May.
Thank you.
Statement of the United States of America Follow-up and Review of Financing for Development and Means of Implementation Delivered by U.S. Coordinator for the Post-2015 Development Agenda, Mr. Tony Pipa April 24, 2015
Thank you, Mr. Co-Facilitator.
Developing a shared vision of the key objectives for our follow-up will be critical to the design of a review process that successfully promotes real progress towards sustainable development. We look forward to a broader, deeper conversation on this in May. Developing that shared vision should be our starting point.
For today, we see no dividing line between the principles that define a strong review framework for Financing for Development, and a follow-up process for the broader Post-2015 sustainable development agenda. Certainly there will be different sources and kinds of data and different layers of reporting at the international, regional and national levels. But this complexity already applies across the agenda, and the fundamental principles of our approach must be consistent throughout. We believe strongly in one, integrated framework for reviewing the post-2015 development agenda and Financing for Development.
We agree with those who have suggested that the backbone of an effective monitoring framework should be at the national level. Country reports and domestic reviews based on national implementation strategies ensure national ownership, broad buy-in and participation, and accountability of government authorities.
To ensure we can deliver on sustainable development, we will need to take advantage of dynamic, open data systems. Mutual accountability is enhanced when all stakeholders in development, including citizens, have access to a transparent, comprehensive and timely picture of how resources are deployed, how and what policy decisions are made, and how they impact specific sustainable development goals and targets.
2
Our review processes should encourage and incentivize openness and transparency in usable and accessible formats from all stakeholders. We are heartened by examples such as the NGO Aid Map, which provides detailed project information of the activities of international NGOs through data visualizations; the reporting by several U.S. private foundations to the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) so their spending is comparable with the reporting by our own government and others on their international public finance; and the growth in activity by businesses and cities to measure and provide reporting on their environmental information.
For partnerships, reporting should also be voluntary, but developing countries should strongly encourage partnerships to do so on a regular basis as a way to enhance country ownership and track performance at the national level. The multi-stakeholder partnerships supporting the post-2015 development agenda are likely to be as varied as the agenda itself. It may be useful to consider developing templates for country tracking of partnerships, or possibly encouraging development of new software solutions, as has been done successfully for country Aid Information Management Systems and Aid Management Platforms. These sorts of purpose-driven mechanisms help foster country ownership and guarantee that the review of data is policy-relevant.
Lastly, but perhaps most importantly, increased availability and more effective use of data to monitor and drive sustainable development has the potential to be the game-changing innovation of the next decade. Access to robust data does not just help us assess progress – it is a critical development objective and means of implementation in its own right.
Data is a key enabler of development that can inform decision-making and enable decision-makers to better target funding, based on information about what is and isn’t working to advance sustainable development. Data can also open whole new fields of business – such as privately run micro-weather forecasting services that optimize farming techniques – and create wholly new kinds of economic value.
Since accessible and transparent data and statistics are critical not just for accountability, but for the overall success of the sustainable development goals, we suggest having a dedicated session on data and statistics during our May session, so together we can forge an ambitious path of what’s possible. We look forward to further dialogue in May.
Thank you.
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