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United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Sustainable Development

Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)

1. Since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs, has the governing body of your organization taken (or will it take) any decisions or new strategies to guide the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs? If any, please provide a brief summary below, including the overarching vision of your organization.

 

ECLAC has mainstreamed the 2030 Agenda and its follow-up in its main general governing bodies, particularly in the context of its Session of the Commission in which Commission's programme of work is presented and submitted to its Member states. As an example, at the XXXVI Session of the Commission in 2016, the 2030 Agenda was at the heart of both the programme and discussions of the meeting (https://periododesesiones.cepal.org/36/en). Moreover the Position Document presented to governments in this occasion entitled Horizons 2030: Equality at the centre of sustainable development explicitly intertwined ECLAC's analysis and policy recommendations with the implementation of the 2030 Development Agenda.

Also, at the request of member states, in April 2017 ECLAC held the first Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development, the regional mechanism to follow up and review the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including the Sustainable Development Goals and targets, its means of implementation, and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda. Each year ECLAC presents an Annual report on regional progress and challenges in relation to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (https://foroalc2030.cepal.org/2017/en/documents/annual-report-regional-progress-and-challenges-relation-2030-agenda-sustainable). Close to 800 participants representing 31 out of 33 governments of the region, 27 UN Entities, civil society, private sector and other stakeholders participated in a set of dialogues on eradicating poverty and promoting prosperity in a changing world in the framework of sustainable development. Countries presenting their Voluntary National Review participated in peer learning sessions on topics revolving around institutional arrangements and the challenges related to the measurement of the SDG indicators, and the means of implementation, among others. In their intergovernmentally agreed conclusions and recommendations, member-states reaffirmed their commitment to implement the agenda. It is important to note that these agreements, the report and the summary of the Chair are inputs to the the High-Level Political Forum. Through the modality of work adopted at its first meeting, the Forum proved to be the proper regional space for peer learning, sharing common experiences on the follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda. At the same time, it allowed for the participation of multiple regional stakeholders that differed from those normally participating at the global level.

With regards to the 2030 Agenda, ECLAC has identified in close consultation and dialogue with its Member States four key priority areas:

1) Supporting member States in the implementation, follow-up and review of the 2030 Development Agenda, including the SDGS through regional and inter-agency coordination. The establishment of the Forum of LAC countries on sustainable development is an important step in this direction since it will significantly unify the regional voices in global debates as well as enhance peer learning at the regional and sub-regional levels. The regional voice will in turn allow UN entities to identify national tasks to support country implementation.

2) Promoting the integration of the SDGs into national and territorial planning, budgeting and investment schemes in collaboration with the UN-system at the regional and national levels;

3) Strengthening national capacities in statistics and indicators related to the measurement of SDGs in the context of the data revolution, with disaggregation, geospatial referencing and localization; and

4) Supporting the design and follow-up of means of implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at the regional level and analyzing key policy interlinkages, on topics related to trade, financing for development, technology transfer, rules of engagement with the private sector, among others.

5) Provide a meaningful multistakeholder engagement platform. ECLAC is developing a course with UNITAR for Agenda 2030 implementers, diplomats and other stakeholders (private sector, civil society, etc.)

Implementing these priorities requires close coordination with UN entities at the regional and sub-regional levels.

 

2.1 SDG-specific strategies, plans or work programmes

 

The programme of work and activities of ECLAC have gradually been adapted to meet the 2030 Development Agenda's main priorities. This entails framing topics previously developed (such as poverty, inequality, social protection, decent work, education, institutional analysis, youth, infancy, and disability among others) from the perspective of specific SDG's. Also new extra-budgetary projects have been designed in reference to the main priorities emerging from the 2030 Agenda.

In addition, in some of its latest main reports, ECLAC has developed a framework to analyze the social pillar of the Agenda and its linkages with the economic and environmental dimensions. More specifically, the position document presented in 2015 at the First Regional Conference on Social Development included a chapter addressing "The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the regional agenda for inclusive social development: Latin American and Caribbean challenges and synergies". Finally, the position document presented in 2017 at the Second Regional Conference on Social Development also contained "Chapter I. Equality at the centre of sustainable development " developing the implications of the social dimension of the 2030 Agenda with its economic, environmental and institutional aspects, thus identifying an "extended" social pillar gathering specific goals that are essential to achieve advances in social development.

In March 2017 ECLAC organized an internal workshop called "Mainstreaming gender in the 2030 Agenda: A commitment by ECLAC to women's rights and autonomy" with the participation of directors and staff of the divisions and the sub-regional and national offices.

ECLAC Office in Bogotá has focused its studies on development lines related to the following SDGs:

1. Eradicate poverty (SDG 1) and reduce inequality (SDG 10): by analyzing the social protection system challenges in Colombia .

2. Promote sustainable cities and communities (SDG 8): by its contribution to the government's Misión del Sistema de Ciudades and Misión para la transformación del campo, and by studying rural public goods, rural-urban linkages and territorial configurations for development .

3. Industry, innovation and infrastructure (SDG 9): by the elaboration of the Competitiveness ranking of Colombian departments (2000-2017) .

 

2.2 Aligning the structure of the organization with the transformative features of the 2030 Agenda, including any challenges and lessons learned in doing so

 

The creation of an interdivisional 2030 Agenda working group that has met every trimester since January 2014 in order to discuss multidisciplinary issues relevant to the work of ECLAC related to the 2030 Agenda and produce joint outputs.

ECLAC also has an interdivisional Working Group on Measuring SDG indicators.

 

2.3 Readjusting or updating results-based budgeting and management, including performance indicators:

 

One example at ECLAC is the area of natural resources and infrastructure:

1. The reference to SDGs and Agenda 2030 were included in the work programme, ear-marking several analytical publications and expert meetings to the Agenda 2030 related issues.

2. In line with the indivisible nature of Agenda 2030, the cooperation between sectoral areas was intensified, resulting, inter alia, into identifying synergies between the infrastructure and a more sustainable use of natural resources

3. Performance indicators were adjusted to measure the progress in improving the infrastructure policies in line with the needs of the Agenda 2030

4. Increased attention is given to the issues of connectivity and access to infrastructure services at the national and regional level.

 

2.4 Action to enhance support to the principle of "leaving no one behind" and to integrated policy approaches:

 

In relation to advancing in "leaving no one behind", ECLAC has conducted important analytical work in order to identify some of the most important factors (socio-economic status, gender, age, territory and race and ethnicity ) contributing to social inequality in all realms and how they interact and often reinforce each other, in what has been described as a "Social inequality matrix". Also, this has involved a systematic effort to visualize the condition of people of African descent, a population group that is often ignored by public policies in Latin America. In that regard, the SDD has developed new statistical information and data, as well as policy and institutional recommendations that were recently summarized in the publication "Situación de las personas afrodescendientes en América Latina y desafíos de políticas para la garantía de sus derechos". A similar effort is being conducted in relation to other population groups such as people with disabilities, youth, children (particularly in relation to child labour) and migrants.

 

3.1 Mainstreaming the SDGs in development plans and policies or through national sustainable development plans/strategies:

 

Further, in pursuant to the Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee (CDCC) Resolution 94(XXVI), ECLAC, through its subregional headquarters for the Caribbean is currently providing technical assistance to Member States in the development of integrated long-term development planning that incorporates the SDGs, the development of institutional frameworks for SDG implementation at the national level, and statistical capacity strengthening for the follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda.

The technical assistance activities being implemented by ECLAC subregional headquarters for the Caribbean are centered on the principle of "leaving no one behind" and are specifically targeted at integrated policy approaches. These technical assistance activities are aimed at developing institutional capacities for integrating the SIDS development agenda, the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development and national development priority in a holistic manner. Also, the CDCC, through resolution 94(XXVI) requested "the secretariat of the Commission, through its subregional headquarters for the Caribbean and in collaboration with the relevant agencies of the United Nations system and the Caribbean Community, to provide the institutional support to facilitate synergy in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the SIDS Accelerated Modalities of Action (SAMOA) Pathway at the national and regional levels."

Beginning in February 2018, ECLAC subregional headquarters for the Caribbean will implement a Development Account project on "Strengthening institutional frameworks in the Caribbean for an integrative approach to implement the 2030 Agenda and the SIDS Sustainable Development Agenda." This project is designed to strengthen the institutional capacities of six Caribbean countries for national development planning and integrates the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the SIDS agenda in the subregion. Through this project, beneficiary countries will improve their capacities to design and implement evidence-based development planning and be better positioned to review and follow-up on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Proposed activities under this project include national assessments of the status of development plans and their implementation, national workshops on the process of development planning and integration of the 2030 Agenda, technical assistance in the integration of the SDGs and the SIDS agenda into long-term national development plans, national assessments of the capacity of national statistical systems to produce data for measuring progress in the implementation of the SDGs and the SIDS agenda, technical meetings to address the data requirements for monitoring the progress in implementation of the integrated national development plans, the design of a monitoring framework for adoption in beneficiary countries, and subregional workshops to facilitate peer learning among Caribbean countries.

Since planning is one mean of implementation of the 2030 Agenda, the Latin-American and Caribbean Institute for Economic and Social planning fully incorporated the Agenda and the SDGs in its work plan to support Member States in the definition of development plans and strategies to achieve the SDG's. It implied a thorough revision and update of both, the methodologies and contents of training courses as well as technical assistance tools. It also implied the revision of the research agenda in order to mainstream the renewed global agreements.

In this context, several initiatives have been undertaken:

- The construction and launching of the Regional Observatory on Planning for Development of Latin America and the Caribbean. This regional Observatory fostered a dynamic space for analysis, sharing of information and collective knowledge generation and sharing on planning for development and public management. It is meant to support countries of Latin America and the Caribbean region in the strengthening and improvement of their planning systems and processes and to align their development planning efforts to the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs according to their own priorities and national and subnational contexts and situations.

- The design and application of Planbarómetro at national, regional and local levels in five different countries (Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay and Costa Rica). It is a tool designed to improve the quality of planning processes assessing them under three different models (national, subnational and sectoral) five different dimensions (global, institutional, design, implementation, and results of the plan); three different context of analysis (system, process, tool) and 34 criteria including coordination, participation, stakeholder analysis, monitoring, among others. Planbarómetro also includes the criteria on SDGs alignment.

- Program for the strengthening of capacities on Planning for implementing the 2030 Agenda. The program aims at delivering tools and methodologies to support countries in their efforts to adapt the Agenda to their national and sub-national situations and generate plans and strategies to implement it. The program has been already implemented in Guatemala, Honduras, by the regional government of Tucuman and by the Association of Caribbean States and has been co-organized, in each case, together with the governmental counterpart.

Different countries received assistance on the preparation of the national gender equality plans, which are correlated with the national development plans within the framework of the commitments adopted by the countries in regard to the 2030 Agenda. In 2017, ECLAC worked jointly with the governments of Chile and Costa Rica, in the process of the elaboration of their 2018-2030 national equality plans.For example, in the case of Chile, ECLAC gave technical support to the Women's Ministry in the development of a participatory methodology for preparing the national equality plan in the framework of the Montevideo Strategy and the SDGs.

 

3.2 Mainstreaming the SDGs in sectoral strategies, including specific SDG/target strategies:

 

Natural resources and infrastructure

During the 2016 Ministerial Meeting in the occasion of the ECLAC Governance Week on Natural Resources and Infrastructure (7-11 November 2016), the ministerial delegations of Latin America and the Caribbean adopted a series of recommendations on infrastructure governance, which emphasized the cross-cutting linkages between infrastructure and sustainable development and SDGs and identified the actions to be carried out to enhance the infrastructure governance in the region in line with the needs of the 2030 Agenda.

ECLAC capacity building workshops on national logistics and mobility policies, carried out in twelve Latin American and Caribbean countries, provided a methodology and tools to link these national policies to progress on the implementation of SDGs. ECLAC also intensified the work on reliable indicators on infrastructure to measure the progress on SDG 9, which resulted in a launch of INFRALATAM - a joint ECLAC/IDB/CAF portal offering information on the past and current infrastructure investment levels in the ECLAC region.

In 2016 ECLAC launched the regional dialogue on infrastructure governance, whose overarching goal is to create a multi-level and multi-stakeholder partnerships and platforms and promote the national and regional policies for infrastructure development in line with the needs of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.

Related to SDG 6, ECLAC has produced the studies "América Latina y el Caribe hacia los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible en agua y saneamiento: Reformas recientes de las políticas sectoriales" (LC/TS.2017/17, marzo de 2017, Serie Recursos Naturales e Infraestructura No. 180), "El Nexo entre el agua, la energía y la alimentación en América Latina y el Caribe: planificación, marco normativo e identificación de interconexiones prioritarias" (LC/TS.2017/16, marzo de 2017, Serie Recursos Naturales e Infraestructura No. 179) and organized an expert group meeting entitled "Gobernanza del Nexo Agua, Energía y Alimentación: Desafíos de la Agenda 2030 en Agua y Saneamiento" (Antigua, Guatemala, 6 al 7 de septiembre de 2016).

Beginning in February 2018, ECLAC will begin its Development Account project "Regional Observatory on Renewable Energies - ROSE" (2018-2021), whose primary objective will be to support the countries of the region in monitoring progress towards achievement of SDG7 (energy). Specific objectives include: i) creating solid national databases in the three sectors related to SDG7 (access, renewables, efficiency); ii) develop and interpret sectoral indicators to refine / adapt national policies for SDG7; iii) conduct "capacity building" of public officials in the collection, analysis and use of energy data to monitor progress towards SDG7; iv) create synergies and exchanges between the different national and regional stakeholders involved in the SDG7 process.

In 2017, ECLAC formulated a project for the UN Development Account named "Rural-Urban linkages for inclusive development policies in Colombia", which aims at moving forward towards the implementation of the Agenda in SDGs goals 8, 9, 11, 15 and 17. The project has a four-year implementation period (2018-2022).

Social Affairs

ECLAC provides technical assistance in social matters, as requested by governments, on a number of topics directly linked to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda. Currently the main subjects addressed lately are social protection (El Salvador, Haiti, Paraguay and Paraguay), education and information technologies (Costa Rica) and the rights of persons with disabilities (Brazil, Costa Rica, Mexico). Moreover the SDD has provided extensive assistance regarding the improvement of the measurement of public social spending to all governments, an essential means of implementation of the social dimension of the 2030 Agenda, allowing the development of a database on the subject (https://observatoriosocial.cepal.org/inversion/en). Some specific topics in which ECLAC conducts technical assistance and data capacity building related to the SDGs are disability, child labour, and child poverty.

Further, ECLAC implemented in 2016-2017 both analytical and knowledge sharing events aimed at mainstreaming themes of sustainable development in policies and sectoral strategies as they relate to international trade, published the book "The contribution of fair trade to sustainable development" and co-organized a book launch seminar that brought together experts to present and discuss various country experiences in the region in relation to public policies oriented towards sustainable development. Also, to study the relationship between trade and sustainable development from a regional perspective, ECLAC published, "Effects of an exogenous shock on trade on employment and wages of manufacturing companies in Colombia", which analyzes the impact on employment and wages at the company level of the negative shock in the exports of manufacturing firms from Colombia to Venezuela after the severance of diplomatic relations with that country at the end of 2008.

The Social Development Ministries and similar institutions of Latin America and the Caribbean are the main counterparts of ECLAC in the context of the Regional Conference of Social Development. Such entities need substantive technical and political support to fulfil complex tasks involving poverty eradication, fighting inequality and often have the mandate of implementing policies to improve the wellbeing and rights of specific population groups such as children, youth, the elderly, and persons with disabilities among others. In this context ECLAC has developed an extensive analysis of the programmatic and institutional framework of social policies in general (and social protection systems in particular) in order to promote their consolidation and coherence as an essential aspect to improve the effectiveness of social development policies. Also, ECLAC has been requested by governments of the region to further develop the analysis of the multiple manifestations of inequality and its effects. More specifically, several publications have addressed these aspects (The social inequality matrix in Latin America, Towards universal social protection: Latin American pathways and policy tools and Social Institutions in Latin America are recent examples). Also, several databases have been developed to provide stakeholders extensive information on these aspects (social pensions, conditional cash transfers, productive and employment inclusion programmes, social institutions and a Youth Observatory).

Financing for Development and Taxation

ECLAC has also produced significant analytical work related to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda in Latin America and the Caribbean, creating greater awareness of the Agenda in the region and policy options for countries to consider in crafting nationally appropriate development strategies. A major topic of concern in recent years as related to the 2030 Agenda has been the challenge of generating sufficient resources to finance sustainable development. To that end, in 2016 ECLAC launched the Economic Survey of Latin America and the Caribbean 2016: 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the challenges of financing for development, which explored challenges to domestic resource mobilization in the region - with special focus on evasion arising from international operations by multinational enterprises and high net worth individuals - as well exploring external private sector financial flows, financial inclusion and innovation.

This work was further bolstered by the Fiscal Panorama of Latin America and the Caribbean 2017: Mobilizing resources to finance sustainable development which analyzed in depth issues relating to improving the progressivity of the tax system to tackle inequality, the adoption of environmental taxes to combat climate change, and fiscal policies to reduce territorial inequality in countries and strengthen sub-national public finances.

In the context of slow economic growth in Latin America, a key challenge for meeting the SDGs is the recovery of investment and growth. To that end, ECLAC has created knowledge and understanding among the region's policymakers about the characteristics of the current economic cycle, how it compares with previous cycles, and what are potential policy options for accelerating growth and investment with the aim to achieve sustainable and inclusive growth in line with the 2030 Agenda. The 2017 Economic Survey of Latin America and the Caribbean, "Dynamics of the current economic cycle and policy challenges for boosting investment and growth", explored these issues in depth and was widely cited in the regional press.

ECLAC has also worked extensively on issues related to SDG 8, specifically in aspects related to technical and vocational education and training, and the protection of the unemployed and publishes jointly with ILO bi-annual reports on key labour market topics for the region: recent editions examined the school-to-work transition of young people, the integration of migrants into Latin American labor markets, global value chains and employment in Latin America, rural-urban employment gaps, among others.

Moreover, ECLAC has sought to provide policymakers with data, cross-country/regional analysis, and policy options to tackle aspects of SDGs 10 and 17. ECLAC has also produced estimates of illicit financial flows (IFFs) due to the manipulation of international trade prices for the region, in line with the mandate included in the Addis Ababa Action Agenda. ECLAC's analysis and policy advocacy for improving the region's tax structure to achieve greater equality has resonated in the region and has become a leitmotif in recent reforms.

To overcome the shortcomings of the income per capita as an ODA allocation approach, ECLAC has proposed a new perspective that can be complementary which we call the Structural Gap Approach. This approach identifies key structural obstacles that are holding back sustained, equitable and inclusive growth for middle income countries. It includes 12 additional indicators in terms of inequality and poverty, debt ratio, investment and saving, productivity and innovation, infrastructure, education, health, taxation, gender and the environment. ECLAC provided technical assistance to Costa Rica and worked with several of its ministries to draft the report Structural gap Approach. An analysis of the case of Costa Rica (LC/L.42765) was presented at a formal launch with key government officials. The document was coordinated by ECLAC and the Ministries of Planning and Foreign Relations of Costa Rica.

Further, the 2030 Agenda presents a unique opportunity to promote new instruments and innovative mechanisms for financing social and production development in Latin America and the Caribbean. "Green bonds" are an example of alternative financial instruments becoming increasingly available to investors. New innovative securities are helping accomplish two goals: a) allocate funds to bridge the development gap and b) encourage investment in sustainable development projects that support environmental or ecologically-friendly causes. The drive towards green finance has been supported by two other underlying forces as well, one of a political and regulatory nature: the efforts unleashed by the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement and the need to finance US$ 1 trillion a year in investments for renewable energy and other initiatives to limit global warming; and another market-driven: the increasing financial appeal of green investment, as clean technology matures and costs of installing solar and wind energy come down, erasing the need for subsidies.

Since the beginning of 2016, ECLAC has been monitoring the issuance of green bonds (as well as social and sustainable bonds) by Latin American and Caribbean issuers in international bond markets, for inclusion in the periodic report "Capital Flows to Latin America and the Caribbean." A special section on green bond issuance has been added to the report since then. So far, six reports with a special section on green bonds were published in 2016 and 2017.

In addition, in October 2017 the report "The rise of green bonds: financing for development in Latin America and the Caribbean" was published. This report examines the growing green bond market, with emphasis on Latin America and the Caribbean, showing that between 2014 and 2017 (as of August 31), the region issued US$ 8.4 billion in bonds with a green focus in local and international markets. The bulk of the region's green-focused bonds - US$ 7.1 billion (84%) - were issued in international markets. On average, these bonds represented only 1.6% of the total Latin American and Caribbean bond issuance in international markets in the period. In the first half of 2017, however, they accounted for 3.7% of the region's total international debt issuance. If this share continues on an upward trend, green bonds could play a more significant role in the mobilization of resources for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda in Latin American and the Caribbean. The strategy is to continue this line of research and work, looking to deepen the data and statistical capacity building with respect to green as well as sustainable bond issuance.

Climate Change

Technical assistance were provided to the Government of the Dominican Republic, represented by the National Council on Climate Change and the Clean Development Mechanism (CNCCMDL), in the preparation and discussion of the goals to be included in their INDCs. In particular, technical studies were prepared to calculate baselines of emissions and structural models to discuss the macroeconomic and distributive effects of climate change mitigation policies. These inputs were presented, discussed and adjusted during national workshops attended by the Ministries of Finance, Environment and Natural Resources, Economy, Planning and Development, among other institutions. The INDC was submitted to the UNFCCC by the Government and a roadmap was prepared for compliance, which includes inputs prepared during the technical assistance.

 

3.3 Data and statistical capacity building:

 

ECLAC has gained enormous credibility in data analysis and statistical capacities and in the provision of technical assistance to countries in the Latin American and Caribbean region on best practices according to international norms and standards to support capacity-building for the improvement of collection, processing, disaggregation, comparability, dissemination of good quality data and statistics for evidence-based decision and policy-making. The Statistical Conference of the Americas (SCA), one of ECLAC's subsidiary bodies, has been key in providing methodological and technical support to countries in the region, upon request, in this respect and to address the challenges related to the measurement of indicators related to the SDGs. Within the SCA there are 14 Working Groups comprised of UN entities and member States that deal with cross-cutting issues. The study on statistical capacities conducted by ECLAC in the framework of the SCA has been highly valued by countries in the region and has opened opportunities for collaboration with other entities of the UN system.

ECLAC as Secretariat of the Statistical Conference of the Americas (SCA), has promoted and organized the Regional Statistical Coordination Group for the 2030 Agenda, composed by the 10 LAC countries that are at the Global Level involved in the IAEG-SDG and HLG, elaborating a diagnosis of national capacities for SDG reporting, an online platform, a roadmap for closing the gaps with international and horizontal cooperation for statistical reporting, and now developing a Regional Monitoring Framework to follow up regional statistical trends and to help countries in elaborating their national voluntary reports.

Population & housing census is a key tool to be considered when facing the information challenges of the Agenda 2030. Its universal scope, i.e., involving each and every person living in one territory - the homes to which they belong and the dwellings they live - allow to gather significant information on the living conditions of the population, identifying those groups which must be the focus of sustainable development policies. Likewise, they constitute the basis for elaborating the sampling framework of surveys, and allow the calculation of indicators for small areas or specific population groups, without errors attributable to other sources of information that include sampling in its design. A revision made by the countries in the region in the framework of the Working Group on Censuses of the Statistical Conference of the Americas (for which ECLAC serves as Technical Secretary), has concluded that for several indicators included in the 2030 Agenda, the disaggregations stated in the SDG 17.18 can only be met based on census data, in particular for migrants, indigenous peoples, afro descendant population and people with disabilities. Census data also represent the main source for indicators related to specific age groups or territories, and provide the denominator for a large number of indicators. In fact, given the regional heterogeneity, in some countries population and housing censuses can represent practically the only available source, as long as the surveys system and specially the continuous records are not improved.

ECLAC support to the countries in the region on census matters has a long history. In fact it has became a repository of census microdata bases, as an expression of the trust of countries towards the organization. Even though the region has a long tradition on censuses and there is a fair level of knowledge on the uncertainties of current census projects -some of them related to the complexity of methodological approaches, the topics considered and the technological development path for its implementation-, it is key to increase the efforts to maximize the benefits of census operations in the countries. It is worth noting that the timeframe of the 2030 Agenda coincides with the beginning of the 2020 round of census. Therefore, the censuses constitute a main source to define the baselines for monitoring the indicators and recording the progress towards the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. In parallel, a special scenario arises for developing a coordinated action with other data sources, by matching conceptual/operational definitions with general/specific surveys, and reinforcing the potential of the combined use with administrative records. In this sense, the indicators for the follow up of the SDGs constitute a priority issue in the current work plan of the Working Group on Censuses of the Statistical Conference of the Americas.

ECLAC also provides technical assistance on disability measurement and serves as the technical secretariat for the disability measurement working group of the Statistical Conference of the Americas. In this capacity, it organizes workshops to strengthen capacity on disability measurement for SDG follow up. For example, in June of 2017 ECLAC organized, in conjunction with the United Nations Statistics Division, a regional meeting that brought together representatives from the National Statistical Offices of Latin America to engage in discussion on the way forward towards compilation and harmonization of data on disability for monitoring the Sustainable Development Goals. This work will be on-going during the 2018-2019 biennium.

In conjunction with ILO, ECLAC provides technical assistance to Ministries of Work under the framework of the Latin American Free of Child Labour Regional Initiative in order to advance towards the elimination of child labour as stipulated in SDG 8.7. To date, technical assistance has been provided to five countries (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica and Mexico) in applying a novel model to identify geographic areas that have a high probability of having child labour in order to better target policy aimed at its eradication.

ECLAC Office in Bogotá has participated in the United Nations System-DANE working group on SDG, since its creation in 2016. The main activity was the preparation of the 1st Andean Congress on Data for the Sustainable Development Goals. The Congress highlighted many existing strengths and also highlighted the weaknesses or gaps that are still present in order to achieve the implementation and monitoring of the SDGs. As a result, the group elaborated a Road Map with the recommendations made by the theme tables, highlighting the role of the agencies and entities responsible for each SDG indicator, distributed in six key areas to strengthen national capacities: articulation of the different sources; interinstitutional coordination; capacity building; conceptual and methodological definition; definition of the most appropriate source and improvement of the means of capturing the information .

ECLAC's project of Apoyo a la implementación de la Agenda 2030 para el Desarrollo Sostenible en América Latina y el Caribe (Support for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in Latin America and the Caribbean) consists of a component that is dedicated to strengthening the capacities to close gender gaps in the policies for sustainable development in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). ECLAC has collaborated with Latin American and Caribbean countries on different projects, including in the area of women's economic autonomy. To continue with these efforts, ECLAC supports the countries of the region in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, focusing on gender mainstreaming and on actions needed to achieve the SDGs. The committed tasks include the strengthening of the production of statistics and gender indicators for monitoring, which contribute to the intersectoral work of the State and the incorporation of the gender perspective in different areas. In addition, gaps between men and women become visible through the production of gender statistics, evidencing the need for public actions that aim to close them, which is a key issue for the implementation and follow-up of the 2030 Agenda and its objectives.

ECLAC also processed, analyzed and disseminated SDG indicator 5.4.1 "proportion of time spent on unpaid domestic and care work" and reported to the United Nations Statistics Division in New York to contribute to global monitoring.

In the framework of the Working Group on Gender Statistics, ECLAC provided technical assistance to the countries on the calculation of the monitoring indicators of the SDG 5 and the key indicators of others SDGs for gender equality such as the SDG 1, 8, 16, and others.

Finally, ECLAC subregional headquarters for the Caribbean is currently implementing a project on planning for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in six Caribbean countries (Aruba, the Bahamas, British Virgin Islands, Grenada, Guyana, and Sint Maarten. This project addresses the institutional and capacity needs of the beneficiary countries' National Statistical System to produce data to support evidence-based policy planning and for the SDG indicators. Activities under this project include assessment of the legal, institutional and organizational environment for the production of official statistics in beneficiary countries, meetings of data producers in each country to address obstacles to the production and dissemination of official statistics, and meetings of stakeholders in the public and private sectors, including civil society, youth and women organizations, to address the production of data for SDG indicators in each country.

 

3.4 Science, technology and innovation for the SDGs:

 

ECLAC participated in a meeting "International Consultation on Science, Technology and Innovation in the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Health-Related Goals" in November 2017 that was co-organized by UN-DESA and Fundación Oswaldo Cruz (Brazil), one of the world's leading public health research institutions. ECLAC has a Memorandum of Understanding with this latter entity in order to carry our projects and investigations related to development models, innovation and the 2030 Agenda as it pertains to health.

On December 2017, the Gender Summit on Science, Technology and Innovation for Latin America and the Caribbean was held on ECLAC's headquarters in Santiago, Chile. During the event, experts, politicians and business representatives discussed about the positive impacts of gender equity on science, technology and innovation for the region. On this opportunity, ECLAC gave the presentation on "The use of the internet: Gender gaps and challenges for the economic autonomy of women in the digital age" (El uso de internet: Brechas de género y desafíos para la autonomía económica de las mujeres en la era digital).

ECLAC has mainstreamed the Agenda 2030 into the Digital Agenda for Latin America and the Caribbean (eLAC2020). The latest version of the agenda will be approved at the sixth ministerial conference on information society, which will take place in April 2018 in Bogotá. The areas of gender, education and industrial development have been given special attention.

 

3.5 Multi-stakeholder partnerships:

 

ECLAC is the technical secretariat of the negotiation process for the regional agreement on access to information, public participation and access to justice in environmental matters in Latin America and the Caribbean (Regional Agreement on Principle 10). Stemming from the Rio+20 Conference, the process began with the signing of the Declaration on the application of Principle 10 in Latin America and the Caribbean by 10 countries and currently includes 24 countries of the region. The negotiating committee, created in 2014, met on three occasions in 2017 and expects to conclude the negotiation of the regional agreement at its ninth meeting to be held in Costa Rica in February 2018. The Regional Agreement on Principle 10 places equality at the core of sustainable development and the agreement is at the heart of the 2030 Agenda. It aims to ensure that all persons, particularly those in vulnerable situations, have access to timely and reliable information, are able to participate significantly in those decisions that affect their lives and have access to justice in environmental matters, thus contributing to all SDGs and particularly SDG 16 (16.3, 16.6, 16.7 and 16.10, among others).

To showcase the link between Principle 10 and the 2030 Agenda, a poster was produced and is available at: https://www.cepal.org/sites/default/files/news/files/p10_ods_eng.pdf. Furthermore, a regional assessment on the implementation of access rights and their role towards the achievement of sustainable development and the 2030 Agenda is forthcoming.

Specific trainings on environmental access rights and the relationship between Principle 10 and the SDGs and other international agreements (i.e. Paris Agreement on Climate Change and SDG 13) have been carried out during 2017 in Grenada and Dominica, at the request of their respective governments. During those technical sessions, government officials and representatives of civil society organizations were in participation, including members of women, youth and indigenous groups. In Dominica, the technical assistance provided by ECLAC supported the discussions of the Climate Change, Environment and Natural Resources Bill.

 

3.6 Sub-national plans/strategies and implementation for the SDGs:

 

ECLAC subregional headquarters for the Caribbean supported the Planning Institute of Jamaica during its 10th Biennial Dialogue for Development: The Jamaica We Want: Vision 2030-Advancing the SDGs, Leaving No One Behind (5 December 2017, Kingston, Jamaica) by providing substantive assistance for the Dialogue for Development lecture that focused on the localization of the SDG goals and targets to the Jamaican development context.

From 2014 to 2017, ECLAC ran the Development Account project: Strengthening national capacities to design and implement rights-based policies and programmes that address care of dependent populations and women's economic autonomy in urban development and planning. The project benefited the countries of Latin American and the Caribbean, and in particular, the seven cities that are at the core of the project: Bogotá (Colombia); Mexico City (Mexico); Cuenca (Ecuador); Montevideo (Uruguay) Havana (Cuba); Santiago (Chile); San Salvador (El Salvador).

A relevant result of the project has been to incorporate the articulation between urban and care policies into the academic and political debate at the local level, as well as the expansion of the analysis, including empirical evidence, regarding the importance of the development and management of cities for the formulation of care programmes and services and their impact on women's economic autonomy. All the study cases and the lesson and knowledge learned on this project was a substantial material for a book published on December 2017 called ¿Quién cuida en la ciudad?: aportes para políticas urbanas de igualdad (Who cares in the city? Contributions for urban policies of equality).

This project is synergic to the 2030 Agenda, as it recognizes gender equality and the autonomy of women as fundamental factors in moving towards sustainable development. The project is also accordance with the SDGs, specially with SDG 11 - make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable - and target 5.4 (recognize and value unpaid care and domestic work through the provision of public services, infrastructure and social protection policies).

Also, ECLAC organized a course on Development planning and gender perspective for staff of the different local governments of the region.

During the Conference of the Cities in 2017 (Santiago) a capacity building workshop on sustainable urban development was implemented with the participation of several countries of the region. ECLAC is providing technical assistance to cities in disaster risk management - in Baranquilla (Colombia), Angra dos Reis (Brasil) and Chacabuco (Chile)- and a capacity building project for monitoring of urban SDGs in conjunction with UN Habitat (2 countries TBD) is planned for 2018.

In Argentina, an adaptation of ECLAC's gap analysis methodology at the subnational level was applied aligned with the 2030 Agenda. This methodology has been applied in two provinces (see http://repositorio.cepal.org/bitstream/handle/11362/40836/1/S1601120_es.pdf and http://repositorio.cepal.org/bitstream/handle/11362/42075/1/S1700688_es.pdf), and plans are being developed to apply it in two more, with the goal of establishing sub national baselines for some SDGs in the country.

 

3.7 Leveraging interlinkages across SDG goals and targets:

 

The Montevideo Consensus on Population and Development -resulting from the first session of the Regional Conference on Population and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean, held in Montevideo in August, 2013- is the most important agreement among Governments signed in the region regarding Population and Development matters, and has become a key part of the review process of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and its follow up beyond 2014. This is clearly reflected in Resolution 2014/1 of the Commission on Population & Development of the United Nations which took note of the final documents arising from the regional conferences on population and development.

In response to the need of making the Consensus, an operational agenda, the Presiding Officers of the Regional Conference decided, during its first meeting held in November 2014, to create an Operational guide for the implementation and follow-up of the Montevideo Consensus on Population and Development, and present it as its contribution to the second session of the Regional Conference, in Mexico City, October 2015. The Guide represented an initial effort to create synergies with the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Likewise, the second session of the Regional Conference decided to create an Ad Hoc Working Group in charge of preparing a proposal on indicators for the regional follow up of the Montevideo Consensus, taking into account those indicators defined for the SDGs. The final list of indicators, included in the final report of the working group, was approved during the extraordinary meeting of the Presiding Officers of the Regional Conference, held in Santiago in November 2017 (See attached document, Informe Final Indicadores CRPD.pdf). It is important to highlight that nearly a third of the indicators included in the proposal correspond to SDGs. Thus, the regional follow up of the Montevideo Consensus has acquired a fundamental role in the monitoring process of the 2030 Agenda implementation in the region, in line with the resolution on the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development, adopted during the thirty-sixth session of ECLAC in May 2016.

Therefore, the Regional Conference is a key component of the architecture for the implementation and follow-up of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Montevideo Consensus a valuable tool for advancing towards equality as promoted by ECLAC. The implementation and follow up of the Consensus shall reinforce the links between global and regional, promote cooperation among countries, and foster national capacity building, thus contributing to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda in the region.

For the XIII Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean (RCW), held in Montevideo in October 2016, ECLAC prepared the position document Equality and women's autonomy in the sustainable development agenda. The document presents a regional proposal on public policies' potential to achieve substantive gender equality in the countries of the region within the framework of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. The document also proposes the mainstreaming of the gender perspective in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) by cataloging the level of impact of each goal. The document was distributed among the countries and well received by different stakeholders participating at the XIII RCW. Its diagnosis and proposals were an input for the debates on gender equality and the 2030 Agenda at the national level after the RCW. At the XIII RCW governments agreed that the Regional Gender Agenda complements the SDG and is a guide for achieving sustainable development from the perspective of gender equality, rights and women's autonomy in Latin America and the Caribbean.

As a result of the RCW, the governments adopted the Montevideo Strategy for Implementation of the Regional Gender Agenda within the Sustainable Development Framework by 2030, a roadmap for implementing the 2030 Agenda and for designing policies and programmes to achieve sustainable development with gender equality. The Montevideo Strategy strengthens the means of implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with measures in 10 implementation pillars with a view to ending discrimination against women, avoiding setbacks and moving towards substantive equality. Costa Rica as Vice-Chair of the Presiding Officers of the Regional Conference on Women participated at the First meeting of the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development and delivered a presentation on the contribution of the RCW to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and potential synergies and complementarities.

During the Fifty-fifth Meeting of the Presiding Officers of the RCW, 14 countries reported on the application of the Montevideo Strategy at national level and its contribution to achieve SDG. Governments agreed to: "Reaffirm the commitment to mainstream the gender perspective and women's autonomy and rights, in line with the Regional Gender Agenda and the Montevideo Strategy, into all the Sustainable Development Goals, their targets, indicators and means of implementation, in order to take advantage of this window of opportunity for institutional strengthening of machineries for the advancement of women" (See report: https://repositorio.cepal.org/bitstream/handle/11362/42120/S1700853_en.pdf)

Governments also reiterated "their commitment to designing and implementing gender plans and policies that are coordinated with national sustainable development strategies and have targets, indicators and adequate budgets". (See report: https://repositorio.cepal.org/bitstream/handle/11362/42120/S1700853_en.pdf)

In accordance with these agreements, ECLAC organized during the Fifty-sixth meeting of the Presiding Officers of the RCW a High-level panel on the implementation of gender equality plans in the framework of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development where governments shared their experiences, lesson learnt and challenges. Strengthening the institutional architecture and intersectoral work, promoting a participatory process, securing resources, and the implementation of follow-up and monitoring systems were highlighted as key aspects in the design of gender equality plans within the framework of sustainable development.

In this occasion, governments reaffirmed "the commitment to strengthen the capacities of the machineries for the advancement of women to enter into dialogue and ensure coordination with different government bodies, in particular with ministries of the economy, with a view to mainstreaming the gender perspective in economic policies and budgets, and with ministries of foreign affairs in the context of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development" (See Agreements, https://www.cepal.org/sites/default/files/events/files/agreements_1.pdf).

Finally, ECLAC prepared a document on the interconnections between the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Regional Gender Agenda with recommendations to advance towards a comprehensive implementation of gender equality and women's autonomy public policies. The publication "The 2030 Agenda and the Regional Gender Agenda: Synergies for equality in Latin America and the Caribbean" has been widely disseminated at intergovernmental meetings such as the 61st session of the Commission on the Status of Women and the First Meeting of the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development, the Fifty-Fifth Meeting of the Presiding Officers of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, and its main findings have been incorporated in Division for Gender Affairs presentations delivered to governments, civil society and other stakeholders.

 

4.1 Supporting the intergovernmental body of your organization in contributing to the thematic review of the HLPF:

 

The Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development -established by Member States in May 2016 during ECLAC's 36th Session of the Commission- is the regional process of follow up and review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda in Latin America and the Caribbean. This annual forum is convened under the auspices of ECLAC and is designed to align with the annual theme of the High Level Political Forum (HLPF). According to Resolution 700 (XXXVI), through which this Forum was established, the annual report that ECLAC presents to the Forum, the Summary of the Chair and the Final Conclusions and Recommendations constitute inputs to the HLPF. It is important to note that during the Forum, ECLAC's subsidiary bodies present all activities undertaken in relation to the 2030 Agenda, and therefore these are reflected in the final report of the Forum as well.

 

4.2 Contributing to policy/background briefs for the HLPF:

 

ECLAC is in charge of preparing Policy Brief # 21 on SDG7, which will serve as an input to the HLPF in 2018, as agreed with DESA and other international agencies. The title of the Policy Brief is "Achieving SDG7 in Latin America and the Caribbean". The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL), International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and the Global Fuel Economy Initiative (GFEI) are peer-reviewers of the document. The Policy Brief's draft will be discussed on the occasion of the "Global SDG 7 Conference" (February 2018) organized by DESA and ESCAP.

 

4.3 Helping organize SDG-specific events in the preparatory process:

 

The Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development -seeks to foster dialogues across all pillars of sustainable development and focus on the interlinkages between the SDGs, in line with the indivisibility of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. However, there is a special emphasis placed each year on the SDGs that are analyzed in depth at the High Level Political Forum (SDGs 1,2,3,5,9,14 and 17 in 2017 and 6, 7,11,12,15 and 17in 2018).

Further, ECLAC participated in the II ECOSOC Forum on Financing for Development in New York in May 2017 and is organizing a regional preparatory meeting for 2018 FFD Forum in Costa Rica on 5-6 April 2018.

 

4.4 Organizing side evens or speaking at the HLPF:

 

The executive Secretary of ECLAC, along with the Executive Secretaries of all Regional Commissions, participates every year as a speaker in the session of the HLPF dedicated to the regional dimension of the 2030 Agenda.

In 2016, all Regional Commissions contributed to 2 HLPF sessions:

- "Ensuring that No One is Left Behind: Reaching the most vulnerable" through a Statement delivered by the ECE Executive Secretary. ECLAC's specific contribution pertained to the historic opportunity presented by the 2030 Agenda to change Latin America and the Caribbean's development pattern and reduce the economic, social and environmental inequalities that affect its inhabitants through progressive structural change with an environmental "big push" that promotes development based on equality and sustainability.

- "Ensuring that No One is Left Behind: Challenges of countries in special situations" through a Statement delivered by the ESCAP Executive Secretary. ECLAC"s specific contribution pertained to the Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS), arguing that the debt overhang and environment of fiscal constraint makes it almost impossible for Caribbean governments to make desirable public sector investments, such as green industries, which would stimulate growth and promote economic transformation and strengthen capacity to pursue the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

ECLAC's Executive Secretary also participated as a speaker in the following side events:

- "The importance of sustainable resource management and accounting for ensuring that no one is left behind" organized by the International Resource Panel (UNEP) and the German Federal Ministry for the Environment;

- "New tools to harness the data revolution for sustainable development for all" organized by the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data

- "Indigenous Peoples and the 2030 Agenda. Moving Forward" with a presentation entitled "Data disaggregation: On making indigenous peoples visible in the SDGs' indicators and on best practices of indigenous identifiers in national statistics"

In 2017, building upon the outcomes of the RFSDs, ECLAC organized jointly with the other Regional Commissions a side event entitled "Accelerating Sustainable Development- Translating VNRs into action on the ground" during the HLPF. This event brought together Member States, in particular 2017 VNR countries, and other stakeholders to exchange experiences on how to translate sustainable development plans into action on the ground, along four central dimensions: (1) Institutional mechanisms and incorporation of SDGs in national frameworks; (2) Data collection and measurement; (3) Means of implementation and (4) South-South and regional cooperation.

ECLAC's Executive Secretary also participated as a speaker in the following side events:

- "African -Caribbean Cross-Regional Exchange on Heterodox and Feminist Policy for Sustainable Development", organized by Regions Refocus, the Friederich-Ebert Stiftung and the Permanent Mission of Jamaica

- "The role of business at the local level: innovation and multi-stakeholder action to advance the 2030 Agenda" organized jointly by ECLAC, the UN Global Compact and the Permanent Mission of Denmark

 

4.5 Supporting VNR process:

 

The Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development is an ideal regional space for peer learning, sharing common experiences on the follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda. In 2017, a session of the Forum was dedicated to the countries presenting their VNR so they could share common experiences and discuss their progress towards their institutional arrangements for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, the challenges they faced in the measurement of the SDG indicators, and other national challenges and priorities. Futher, ECLAC hosted in partnership with DESA a regional capacity building workshop for VNR countries in parallel with the 2017 session of the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development. It is expected this session will also take place in 2018 along the second session of the Forum.

Also, ECLAC has closely worked with the 19 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean presenting their VNR between 2016 and 2018 through a series of capacity building activities:

- Expert Group Meeting "Preparation for the 2017 Voluntary National Reviews at the High-level Political Forum- general information and lessons learned from the 2016 reviews- organized by DESA in New York on 15-16 December 2016

- Workshop on Voluntary National Reviews, organized by DESA in Incheon, Korea on 2-3 March 2017

- Learning Conference "Holistic Implementation of the 2030 Agenda in Latin America", hosted by the Government of Colombia and organized by UNITAR, ECLAC, UNDESA and INAP (Spanish National Institute of Public Administration) in Cartagena, Colombia from 30 October to 1st November 2017.

- Workshop for the 2018 Voluntary National Reviews at the High-Level Political Forum, organized by DESA in Geneva on 4-5 December 2017

Finally, ECLAC has assisted Honduras and Guatemala through a series of technical assistance missions in 2017 geared towards supporting the process of integrating SDGs in their overall national development plans, and which positively impacted their VNR processes.

 

5. How has your organization cooperated with other UN system organizations to achieve coherence and synergies in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs? In this regard, has your organization launched or intend to launch any joint programmes or projects in collaboration with other UN entities? Are there any results or lessons you would like to highlight that might help improve the design and impact of such efforts? Has your organization participated in any of the following coordination systemwide mechanisms or any other relevant platform - CEB, UNDG, EC-ESA Plus, RCMs, UN-Energy, UN-Water, UN-Ocean, IAEG, IATT?  Please specify which and indicate any suggestions you may have about improving collaborations within and across these mechanisms/platforms:

 

Regional Coordination Mechanism (RCM)

The meeting of the RCM is convened annually by ECLAC, either in its Headquarters in Santiago, Chile, or in another location agreed upon jointly with the Office of the Deputy Secretary-General (DSG) and the representatives from UN regional funds, programmes and specialized agencies in Latin America and the Caribbean. When relevant, the meeting is convened back-to-back with a UNDG meeting.

The meeting traditionally starts with opening remarks from the DSG and welcoming remarks from the Executive Secretary of ECLAC. The DSG provides an overview of the main priorities of the UN development agenda at the global and regional levels, emphasising the highlights and outcomes of recent global summits related to the development agenda and of the most recent high-level segment of the General Assembly in New York, stressing the main commitments made and follow-up actions. Emphasis is placed on the global and regional dimensions of the internationally agreed development goals and, since 2015, on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and the Paris Accord on Climate Change. The RCM enables to identify complementarities between upcoming global and regional efforts with the work of the UN system. The Executive Secretary of ECLAC provides a reading of the main trends and challenges of the regional development agenda in the economic, social and environmental spheres and on the main outcomes of the regional inter-governmental bodies for which ECLAC acts as technical secretariat as well as the outcomes of regional preparatory events for global summits, in many cases in collaboration with other entities of the UN Development System in the region.

Against this backdrop, the regional heads of UNDS entities present the perspective from each entity of the regional context, followed by a discussion on the need to jointly assess and rethink the positioning of the UN system in order to respond to current challenges and achieve optimal support and relevance, with sustainability and equality at the center of the agenda, and in collaboration with all stakeholders in the region. An emphasis is placed on strengthening inter-agency coordination and leave competition aside.

In preparation for the first meeting of the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development, that took place in Mexico City on 26-28 April 2017, ECLAC convened a RCM in Panama City of August 30 2016 to review the proposed program and discuss the participation of UNDS entities in the Forum and their contributions to the "Annual report on regional progress and challenges in relation to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in Latin America and the Caribbean". A document was produced to capture all contributions entitled "Contributions of the United Nations System to the First Annual Report on Regional Progress and Challenges in Relation to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in Latin America and the Caribbean".

ECLAC's collaboration with other UN entities

Starting in 2017, ECLAC through its Population Division (CELADE) is leading the Development Account project Demographic transition: opportunities and challenges to achieve the SDGs in Latin America and the Caribbean. Co-operating Entities within the UN system are UNFPA-LACRO, DESA-Population Division.

The project is designed to improve the capacity of policymakers in selected Latin American and Caribbean countries to assess the opportunities and challenges brought by the demographic transition to advance towards the SDGs. In particular, to improve the design of public policies aiming to fully benefit from the demographic dividend in preparation for the challenges posed by the advent of population ageing.

Latin American and Caribbean countries are currently in the midst of a demographic transition which will lead to a dramatic shift in the age structure of the population, with sharp declines in the proportion of children and increases in the proportion of older persons. Since people's economic activities are strongly linked to their stage in the life cycle, changes in population age structure have an important impact on economic development. Equally profound is the transformation in traditional gender roles which is accompanying the region's demographic transition, clearly evident in the rising participation of women in formal labour markets. Critically, both transformations are occurring in the context of high and persistent inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Although countries in Latin America and the Caribbean are at various stages in their demographic transition, most of them are experiencing a period that is particularly conducive to economic development known as the demographic dividend, in which the proportion of working-age people increases relative to the rest of the population. This economically favourable period can contribute to accelerated progress toward SDGs. This beneficial period will be followed -sooner in some countries and later in others— by a period of rapid population ageing that will pose new social and economic challenges which can impede progress toward SDGs.

Taking advantage of the opportunities and responding to the new challenges presented by the demographic transition during the SDG period require forward-looking policies which take account of population dynamics. Progress toward achievement of SDG targets is inseparably linked to population trends.

The project builds upon a well-established methodology that was developed in the context of the international National Transfer Accounts (NTA) Project. The NTA system measures the flow of economic resources between age groups in a manner consistent with National Income and Product Accounts using an international standard: the United Nations National Transfer Accounts Manual (United Nations, 2013). NTAs -- by providing a framework for understanding the impact of changing age structures on national economies -- allow us to integrate population dynamics into sustainable development planning.

The project will also incorporate the analysis of National Time Transfer Accounts (NTTAs), in collaboration and with the technical support from the Counting Women's Work (CWW) project, as a means for valuing the non-remunerated activities, aiming at measuring the value of time transfers between individuals. International comparisons of this data will yield a rich source of information not only about the magnitude of the gender dividend but also about changes in gender specialization in economies over time, progress toward gender equality, and measurement of the hidden "care economy" - most especially the provision of time-intensive transfers to young children and elderly.

The Regional Conference of Social Development is jointly organized by ECLAC with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Other UN agencies have been invited to participated through side-events and official representation. For instance, at the II Regional Conference of Social Development of 2017, UNESCO, ILO and UNICEF took part of the activities programmed (https://crds.cepal.org/2/en/programme).

The ECLAC subregional headquarters for the Caribbean is actively participating in the Mainstreaming, Acceleration and Policy Support (MAPS) Missions of the UNDG in the Caribbean. In particular, ECLAC has conducted assessments of Data and Statistics for SDG implementation and monitoring in Aruba and Trinidad and Tobago that formed part of the SDG Roadmap for these countries. These assessments have highlighted significant shortcomings in the statistical systems of the two countries and have prompted renewed efforts by the respective government to strengthen the data ecosystem in order to facilitate the follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda. The mechanism of assigning specific task areas to different UN agencies participating in the MAPS mission is a good template for inter-agency collaboration and has facilitated the successful conduct of MAPS mission in the Caribbean. The implementation of the Development Account project on "Strengthening institutional frameworks in the Caribbean for an integrative approach to implement the 2030 Agenda and the SIDS Sustainable Development Agenda," scheduled to start in February 2018, with be done by ECLAC subregional headquarters for the Caribbean in collaboration with the SIDS Unit of UN DESA.

Together with UNITAR and the Government of Colombia, ECLAC co-organized a regional meeting on the Integrated implementation of the 2030 Development Agenda in Latin America. The international meeting aimed at providing a forum for discussing challenges and potential solutions on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda at the national and local levels. Furthermore, the meeting sought to learn on the different and existent tools and methodologies as well as good practices to promote the "whole of the government and whole of society focus in the planning, monitoring, evaluating and financing the achievement of the SDGs at the national and local levels. The activity involved the active participation of UNDP, UNDESA, Public Administration Institute of Spain, and the Spanish Agency of International Cooperation for Development.

ECLAC is a member of the Inter-agency and Expert Group (IAEG) on Gender Statistics led by UNSD. For that reason, ECLAC participated in UNSD's last meetings on the methodological and conceptual discussions on SDGs monitoring indicators. ECLAC attended and actively participated in the IAEG 9th meeting held in Bangkok in November 2015, which reviewed the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) indicators proposed under Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls, and also attended the 11th Meeting of the IAEG and Expert Group on Gender Statistics held in Rome in November 2017 in which reviewed the methodological developments in key areas of gender concerns in the SDG framework, an also shared regional efforts to strengthen capacities in the production of statistics with a gender perspective.

From 29 November to 1 December 2017, UNECE promoted a Work Session on Gender Statistics on Belgrade, Serbia, for discussing the measuring and valuing of unpaid care work, the production of gender-oriented indicators for monitoring the 2030 Agenda and the dissemination and communication of gender statistics for the SDGs. ECLAC attended this event and presented a paper on gender mainstreaming and another on time distribution and inequality. The first presentation was about the article Mainstreaming Gender in Sustainable Development Goals in Latin America and the Caribbean. This paper gave an over view of the regional actions on gender mainstreaming, and more specifically the Montevideo Strategy for Implementation of the Regional Gender Agenda within the Sustainable Development Framework by 2030, a regional political commitment that aims at guiding the full implementation of the agreements adopted by countries on the Regional Gender Agenda and to make them the road map for achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at the regional level from the perspective of gender equality and women's autonomy and human rights.

The second presentation was about the paper Time distribution: a key element of the inequality analysis which analyzes thought time-use data, the dimensions of inequality in the region and how they interconnect. In addition, it presents a non-exhaustive research and recommendation agenda for public policies, highlighting the potential use of time-use and distribution data for equality policies from a gender perspective.

ECLAC participated at the 61st. Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), whose priority was "Women's economic empowerment in the changing world of work" (New York, USA, 13-24 March, 2017). A side-event "From the commitments to public action to close gender gaps: Montevideo Strategy for the Implementation of the Regional Gender Agenda within the Sustainable Development Framework" was held on 16 March 2017. The meeting was organized by ECLAC together with the Government of the Republic of Uruguay and UN Women. During this event, Ministers and Senior Officials of the National Mechanisms for the Advancement of Women of Chile, Costa Rica and Uruguay, the Director of the UN Women's Regional Office and the Director of the Division for Gender Affairs of ECLAC discussed the challenges and opportunities faced by the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean to address the gaps in the implementation of gender equality policies.

The side-event "Statistics for equality: condition for progress and sustainable development" was held on 20 March and co-organized by ECLAC, the Government of Mexico and UN Women, during which the progress made in the generation of indicators and statistics with a gender perspective in the framework of the Conference of Statistics of the Americas were presented by participants, including Ministers and Senior Officials from Mexico and Guatemala.

ECLAC established a Memorandum of Understanding with UN Habitat for implementing the New Urban Agenda and the joint development of the Regional Action Plan in Latin America and the Caribbean.

ECLAC cooperates with UN Environment, UNECE and OHCHR, among other UN organizations, to achieve coherence and synergies in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and SDGs at the regional level. UN Environment is one of the main collaborating agencies in Principle 10 activities. It is also a strategic partner in the development of the Observatory on Principle 10 in Latin America and the Caribbean, a public platform containing laws, regulations, policies, case law and treaties applicable to the 33 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean (http://observatoriop10.cepal.org). ECLAC also partnered with UN Environment in a project for the implementation of SDG 12.6 on corporate sustainability reporting in four Latin American countries. UNECE has been a key partner in the negotiations of the Principle 10 regional agreement, having participated in all meetings. With OHCHR, the Division published the book "Society, rights and the environment: international human rights standards applicable to access to information, public participation and access to justice" (http://repositorio.cepal.org/bitstream/handle/11362/40736/4/S1600930_en.pdf).

A Memorandum of Understanding - MOU - has been signed between ECLAC and UN Environment recently (October, 2017) serving as an instrument to facilitate the collaboration and providing a framework for further sharing the common goals and analysis. The collaboration between ECLAC and UN Environment to implement de 2030 Agenda in the region is explicitly set. Furthermore, ECLACs and UNEP currently share activities on consumption and production patterns, green growth, environmental democracy, etc. and the support to the Forum of Ministers of Environment of Latin America and the Caribbean, which also reports to the Regional Forum for Sustainable Development. ECLAC also participates in the 10YFP IACG under the leadership of UNEP. Furthermore, UNEP and ECLAC organized the regional event on "Enhancing Capacities to Manage Information from Corporate Sustainability Reporting in Latin American Countries' last November, 2017at ECLAC premises as contribution to follow up SDG 12.

ECLAC publishes in cooperation with the International Labour Organization twice a year a report which analyzes the main labor market indicators for Latin America. These reports also presents the main finding of research related to labor market issues of high relevance to the 2030 Agenda including: the integration of immigrants into Latin American labor markets, the school-to-work transitions among youth, rural work, among others.

ECLAC works with ESCAP on two Development Account projects related to specific SDGs: one on protection against unemployment and technical and vocational education and training and the other one about financial inclusion.

ECLAC has cooperated with the Financing for Development office of UN-DESA as a participant of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Financing for Development. The Unit is also collaborating on a development account project on illicit financial flows that includes UNODC, and UNCTAD.

ECLAC has provided a significant analytical and policy support to the work High Level Advisory Group on Sustainable Transport, set up by the previous UN Secretary General, and is following up on the current initiative on Sustainable Mobility for All, launched by the UN DESA and World Bank. Also, ECLAC participates in UN-Water.

Finally, ECLAC has been an active member of UN / Energy since its inception more than a decade ago. In this area cooperation has been consolidated with the other Regional Commissions, with which seven "International Conferences on Sustainable Energy Development" have been jointly organized. Currently, the 5 Regional Commissions are collaborating in the cross-revision of the 5 Regional Policy Briefs on the SDG7 that will be presented at the HLPF 2018.

 

6. How has your organization engaged with stakeholder groups, both in supporting implementation at the country, regional and global levels, and within your own organization? If yes, please provide main highlights, including any lessons learned:

 

ECLAC has worked with the Latin American Union Organization (CSA) not only to raise awareness on the Agenda and its potential for multi-stakeholder involvement, but also to align the Union's workplan and strategies with the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs. Unions are not familiar with the 2030 Agenda and it is of utmost importance to involve them in the discussion regarding the future of employment. For this reason, ECLAC provided two capacity building activities in Ecuador and Peru in 2017 with CSA members.

ECLAC is one of the co-organizers of ConCausa, an initiative to engage youth of Latin America and the Caribbean in the 2030 Agenda. In conjunction with UNICEF and América Solidaria, a regional NGO, this initiative seeks to identify and disseminate information on projects that youth 15 to 17 years of age in Latin America and the Caribbean are carrying out in their communities to support the implementation the 2030 Agenda. In this way, the initiative seeks to highlight the important contribution of youth, as agents of change, in the implementation of the agenda.

ECLAC subregional headquarters for the Caribbean is currently implementing a project on planning for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in six Caribbean countries (Aruba, the Bahamas, British Virgin Islands, Grenada, Guyana, and Sint Maarten). Activities under this project have focused on stakeholder engagement in the implementation and follow-up and review of the SDGs in beneficiary countries. Lessons learned in executing this project show that many government ministries and department are still unaware of their role in the implementation and follow-up and review of the SDGs. Also, the private sector and civil society organizations seem enthused about the SDGs but are generally unclear about how they could contribute in implementing and monitoring the SDGs.

In May 2017, ECLAC held an International Fair Trade Meeting in the Plurinational State of Bolivia on the theme "Fair Trade: an alliance for sustainable development". More than 40 Fair Trade producer organizations from the host country, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and the Dominican Republic participated, as well as representatives of ECLAC, the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation for Agriculture (IICA), and the Bolivian Ministry of Productive Development and Plural Economy. The main objective of the meeting was to show the impact of Fair Trade small producers' organizations on the public agenda related to sustainable development. During the meeting, the visions and actions implemented by fair trade coordinators in each country were presented. These approaches were also related to the 17 SDGs.

ECLAC developed Regional Action Plan in Latin America and the Caribbean for the New Urban Agenda through a participatory process of stakeholders and regional experts, and the Latin American Urban and Cities Platform through a participatory consultative process, incorporating differing regional perspectives and reflecting on varying realities and capacities across the region. One of the main lessons was the need for broader outreach to increase stakeholder participation and representation.

The Principle 10 facilitated by ECLAC is a regional process that has, as one of its hallmarks, the significant participation of the public, which includes civil society groups, academia, local governments, businesses, youth, indigenous groups and other stakeholders. After an electoral process for the representatives of civil society in the negotiation process, six representatives were chosen. ECLAC engages with them on a continuous basis. A Regional Public Mechanism was also created (currently having more than 3000 participants) to disseminate relevant information and channel public participation on environmental access rights. Joint national activities have also been organized with the Regional Environmental Center in Grenada and Dominica.

The ECLAC policy workshops on national logistics and mobility policies, carried out in twelve LAC countries, supported the creation of the national network of experts on integrated and sustainable policies, which included representatives of the main public and private sector institutions, civil society and academia, involved in the transport sector. This work was carried out to support elaboration of a regional logistics and mobility policy at the request of the Central American integration mechanism (SIECA).

The Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development

Since its inception, the heads of State and Government decided that the institutional structure for the follow-up and review of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda would be open, inclusive, participatory and transparent for all people and would support monitoring and reporting by all relevant stakeholders. The 2030 Agenda promotes strong participation of non-State actors in all United Nations intergovernmental forums and bodies, seeking to facilitate that these relevant actors come together and collaborate to review the implementation of the SDGs at the global, regional and national level. Thus, the LAC Forum also considers the participation of relevant stakeholders, as it is clearly indicated in Paragraph 11of Resolution 700(XXXVI): "Highlights the participatory and inclusive character of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which encourages the participation of all relevant stakeholders, including civil society organizations, academia and the private sector, and in this regard encourages the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development to ensure institutionalized multi-stakeholder participation following the relevant provisions of the 2030 Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and the Economic and Social Council".

In line with the inclusive nature of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development that calls for the participation of all the relevant stakeholders, the First Meeting of the LAC Forum (Mexico City 26-28 April 2017) brought together governments, the private sector and civil society, as well as the main entities of the UN System working in the region, the subsidiary bodies of ECLAC, development banks and regional integration blocs.

The meeting had a total of 789 participants; 31 countries of the 33 members of the Forum; 208 country delegates (a vice-president, ministers and relevant authorities); the President of the UN Economic and Social Council; 157 delegates from 39 intergovernmental entities (27 from the UN system and from 12 intergovernmental bodies); 288 representatives from 198 civil society organizations, and special guests from the World Economic Forum, the UN Global Compact Network and other relevant private sector organizations.

The different funds, programmes and agencies of the UN system also had an outstanding participation in the Forum. The event had the active engagement of regional representatives from: OHCHR, UN-Women, UNICEF, UNFPA, UN/AIDS, UNDP, UNEP, WFP, ILO, UNESCO, PAHO, OIM. The Forum's document "Annual report on regional progress and challenges in relation to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in Latin America and the Caribbean" was prepared by ECLAC with the remarkable inputs from the UN funds, programmes and agencies, presenting an accurate picture of the current regional situation on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. In addition, UNDP significantly contributed to the contents of Chapter II of the report "Institutions for implementing the 2030 Agenda in the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean".

 

7. Has your organization organized any conferences, forums or events designed to facilitate exchange of experience, peer and mutual learning? If yes, please provide a brief summary below and include lessons learned and gaps identified based on the outcomes of these events. Please also include any events you plan to organize in the coming years.

 

In November 2016, it was organized in Panamá the workshop "The 2020 round of census: potentialities and challenges for the Sustainable Development Goals and the Montevideo Consensus in the framework of the Agenda 2030". The workshop was aimed to facilitate exchange of experiences and technical discussions among the Latin American countries that are preparing their censuses for the next few years, in order to analyze the scope and limitations of the population and housing censuses for the co-ordinated follow up of the indicators of the 2030 Agenda (SDGs) and the Montevideo Consensus.

Every two years, ECLAC organizes the Regional Conference of Social Development and, each year it holds a Meeting of the Presiding Officers of the Conference to follow-up on its proceedings. The following Meeting is expected to take place in November 2018 in Panama.

ECLAC is organizing in 2018 a series of seminars addressing issues such as: social institutions, migration and social protection, and the role of ICT's in social protection management, among others. These meetings will gather experts and representatives from governments and contribute to mutual learning.

ECLAC implemented the following activities in the Caribbean:

1. Caribbean symposium on mainstreaming the SDGs in national development planning (14-16 February 2017, Kingston, Jamaica).The outcome of this symposium pointed to the lack of an institutional framework for SDG implementation and data gap as major hindrances to an early implementation of the 2030 Agenda in most Caribbean countries.

2. Workshop to accelerate the Sustainable Development Goals implementation in the Caribbean (18 May 2017, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago). This workshop highlighted the significance of an institutional framework for SDG implementation and proposed a model institutional framework for consideration by Member States of the Caribbean.

3. Subregional workshop on implementing evidence-based policy planning for sustainable development (13-14 December 2017, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago). Participants at this workshop acknowledged the importance of data in policy planning, implementation, and monitoring and reporting and requested that ECLAC provides further technical assistance at the national level in implementing evidence-based approaches to policy planning.

4. In collaboration with the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat and the SIDS Unit of UN DESA, ECLAC implemented an Expert Group Meeting (EGM) for the development of a set of core indicators for monitoring implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals and the SAMOA Pathway in Caribbean Small Island developing States (6-9 December 2016, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago). The concept of a core set of SDG indicators for the Caribbean was developed at this EGM which led to the establishment of a Technical Working Group (TWG) by CARICOM. This TWG has now finalized a draft core set of 109 SDG indicators, from the global SDG indicator framework, that would be considered as the minimum set for Caribbean countries to report on.

The 1st Andean Congress on Data for the Sustainable Development Goals was held in Bogotá on March 22, 23 and 24th, 2017 . It was centered around five main topics: Partnerships, Planet, People, Prosperity and Peace. The working plan received contributions from at least 15 Ministries of the Government of Colombia, 300 participants (from Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana and Surinam), and UN officials and experts, among others. ECLAC worked with the Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadística (DANE) in the "Partnerships" topic. A lesson learnt is to keep working on the recommendations provided by the working group, by taking action on each indicator and follow up the progress and the responsible entities in order to avoid leaving those conclusions just in paper.

In December 2016, an international seminar on international trade and climate change with a focus on the environmental sustainability of exports was held in Santiago, Chile. The seminar presented an overview of the most recent multilateral and regional environmental initiatives, as well as the opportunities and obstacles that these could imply for exports from Latin America and the Caribbean. International experts and public and private actors involved in matters related to international trade and environmental sustainability participated in this meeting. In the 2018-19 biennium, ECLAC will be organizing two expert meetings to consider the relationship between regional trade and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and two studies on the linkages between trade and the Sustainable Development Goals in the region. In addition, ECLAC will provide technical cooperation services to countries from Latin America and the Caribbean, business and trade promotion organizations and other stakeholders, at their request, in areas relating to trade and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Seminar on Accountability systems for measuring, monitoring and reporting on sustainable city policies in Latin America: The Seminar co-organized by ECLAC and UN Habitat in September 2017, as part of the joint Development Account project of the same title, brought together 6 participating cities from Bolivia, Brazil and Peru. The project focuses on building local capacity to support accountability on city policies, using the SDGs and specifically SDG 11 to frame local policy demands and action. The seminar discussed good practices on accountability, transparency and open government initiatives at the city level and how this drive urban sustainability policies. Participating cities also shared their experiences and mapped challenges to be addressed by the project.

Cities Conference: One year on from Habitat III, in Octobrer 2017 the Cities Conference organized by ECLAC focused on the implementation of the New Urban Agenda in Latin America and the Caribbean for inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable cities. The conference was composed of 4 sub-events, addressing different dimensions of sustainable urban development and involving a broad range of stakeholders.

Resilient Cities in Latin America and the Caribbean: Key Concepts, Experiences and Projections: This segment of the conference formed part of the collaboration between ECLAC and the German Cooperation (GIZ), as part of the project "Global Initiative on Disaster Risk Management." The event focused on urban resilience and disaster risk management, a key aspect of the New Urban Agenda and SDG11. The segment concluded with a dialogue supported by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC Canada) about how to reduce barriers and gaps to access financing in order to build resilient cities in LAC in the context of climate change.

Implementing the New Urban Agenda in Latin America and the Caribbean with the Regional Action Plan: ECLAC, in collaboration with UN Habitat and MINURVI - General Assembly of Ministers and High Authorities of Housing and Urban Development of Latin America and the Caribbean developed a Regional Action Plan to implement the New Urban Agenda, as well as a Subregional Action Plan focused on the Caribbean. The Plan was presented at the event and the governance, financing and monitoring of its implementation was addressed. The meeting also analyzed the proposal for a Latin American and Caribbean Urban and Cities Platform to house both urban data and policy experiences, which is currently under development with different stakeholders and partners.

Public-Private Dialogue for Promoting Urban Sustainability in Latin America and the Caribbean: With the support of the French Government, ECLAC organized a dialogue to foster a renewed approach to the role of public private partnerships (PPPs) in urban sustainability. The event discussed how more efficient collaboration between public and private actors can be achieved to implement sustainable projects in urban areas in Latin America and the Caribbean. Additionally, the dialogue sought to reflect on how emerging technologies can be leveraged to create more inclusive and sustainable cities.The dialogue emphasized the need for multi-stakeholder collaboration on urban sustainability and capacity development for mutually beneficial PPPs. A second dialogue is likely to be organized to deepen the discussion on some of these themes.

Moving towards the Implementation of Safe, Affordable and Sustainable Urban Mobility in Latin America and the Caribbean. This segment of the Cities Conference was co-organized by ECLAC and the Partnership on Sustainable Low Carbon Transport (SLoCaT), with the support of the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Development Bank of Latin American (CAF) and GIZ-BMZ in the framework of the project "Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative". The sessions analyzed opportunities to support a more systematic and accelerated implementation of safe, affordable and sustainable urban mobility in LAC, as part of the implementation of the Regional Action Plan and global agreements (Paris Agreement, SDGs, New Urban Agenda). This event is likely to become an annual meeting of mobility experts and professionals hosted at ECLAC.

ECLAC has organized events that have contributed to facilitate exchange of experiences and mutual learning regarding climate change related policies among them:

- The Horizontal Cooperation Workshop on Public Policies "Peruvian innovation for the internalization of climate risks in public investment projects" with the attendance of Government representatives of Chile, Mexico, Panama, El Salvador, Colombia, Costa Rica and Uruguay and Peru. In this event, officials of the Ministries of Economy and Finance and Environment of Peru shared their experience about their National System of Public Investment and on how risk management associated with climate change where included in the estimation of the social rate of return for the evaluation of public investment projects.

- The regional workshop "Models of Development and Climate Change" were organized as a response to a request from the Ministry of Housing, Territorial Planning and Environment of Uruguay for discussion and exchange of experiences that would contribute to the construction of its National Policy of Climate Change. In this workshop representatives of eight Latin American countries shared their experiences on priority issues for the Government of Uruguay such as Development Styles, Sustainable and resilient low carbon transportation, and climate finance. The representatives of the participating countries gave orientations and recommendations for the construction of Uruguay's National Climate Change Policy based on the successful experiences and the barriers experienced in the construction of their countries' climate change policies.

- On the other hand, ECLAC and UN Environment have organized five meetings of negotiators for climate change in the last years in order to contribute to the discussion and analysis of the different points of view that the countries of Latin America have before the Conference of the Parties on climate change.

ECLAC also serves as the Secretariat for the Principle 10 regional process that has held 9 meetings to date and always include a session for reporting national actions and developments taken by countries on information, participation and justice in environmental matters, offering an opportunity to share experiences and lessons learned. In addition, the meetings generally include side events and training workshops. Furthermore, the Observatory on Principe 10 showcases laws, regulations and policies on environmental matters and access rights.

In line with the resolution entitled "Financial inclusion for sustainable development" (A/C.2/72/L.51), ECLAC held five national seminars (Mexico, July 2016; Colombia, October 2016; Ecuador, Octobe, 2016; Costa Rica, November 2017 and Brazil, November 2017) and four regional seminars (Mexico, April 2017; Peru, August 2017; Thailand, September 2017 and Chile, October 2017). These events discussed from a national and regional perspective the state of financial inclusion of Small and Medium Enterprises, and the role of development banks in fostering innovative instruments, practices and institutions to foster financial inclusion. Financial inclusion is viewed as a policy of productive development.

Recent events conducted by ECLAC with regards to Financing for Development include:

- A workshop entitled "La Agenda 2030 para el Desarrollo Sostenible y los desafíos del financiamiento para el desarrollo" held in October 2016. The purpose of the meeting was to raise awareness among policymakers in Central America of the issues addressed in the Economic Survey of Latin America and the Caribbean 2016: 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the challenges of financing for development.

- A seminar entitled "Protection and Training: Institutions for the Improvement of Labour Market Integration in Latin America and Asia" in October 2016 which brought together stakeholders from Latin America and Asia to share experiences in the field of technical and vocational education and training. Emphasis was made on new challenges emerging due to profound technological change and the corresponding transformations of labor markets and skill demand.

- A seminar in November 2016 entitled "Public budgets and the Sustainable Development Goals in Latin America" that allowed policymakers in the region to share experiences related to the incorporation of the SDGs into their budgetary processes.

- The Fiscal Panorama of Latin America and the Caribbean 2017: Mobilizing resources to finance sustainable development was launched during the XXIX Regional Seminar on Fiscal Policy held in March 2017. The seminar included a special high-level panel that counted with the participation of Ministers and Vice-ministers from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Honduras and Uruguay which discussed the findings of the report and the challenges for financing the 2030 Agenda in the region.

- An expert meeting in October 2017 entitled "¿Cómo dinamizar el crecimiento económico de América Latina y el Caribe?" which resulted in a very fruitful South-South sharing of experiences around the issues treated in the Economic Survey of Latin America and the Caribbean 2017: Dynamics of the current economic cycle and policy challenges for boosting investment and growth.

These events were successful in generating South-South dialogue in these areas because they carefully targeted the stakeholders who are most associated with formulating and enacting policies. Another key lesson learned was that the quality of the discussion in the expert meetings was significantly improved by having the events linked to analytical work produced by ECLAC, which helped to provide a context for the discussions. Finally, these events also served to identify areas of particular interest in the region for future work such as improvements in the institutionality of public investment as a crucial area for future technical assistance.

The 2016 Ministerial Meeting at the occasion of the ECLAC Governance Week on Natural Resources and Infrastructure (7-11 November 2016), adopted a series of recommendations on infrastructure governance, which emphasized the cross-cutting linkages between infrastructure and sustainable development and SDGs and identified the actions to be carried out to enhance the infrastructure governance in the region in line with the needs of the 2030 Agenda. These actions include analytical work, technical assistance and supporting a systematic and regular high level policy dialogue on infrastructure governance.

In December 2017, ECLAC organized in Argentina the "VIII Regional Political Dialogue on Energy Efficiency", with the participation of high-level government representatives from 15 countries of the Region and 7 international agencies of the energy sector. Among other topics, the challenges and opportunities related to the SDG7 process in the Region were discussed. The "achievement of the SDG7" will be the theme of the Regional ROSE launch meeting, scheduled for the first half of 2018. On this occasion, ECLAC presented its document "Advances in sustainable energy in Latin America and the Caribbean" prepared within the framework of the GTF process (Global Tracking Framework) linked to the Sustainable Energy for All program (SE4All).

During the thirty-sixth session of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), held in Mexico City from 23 to 27 May 2016, the member States adopted Resolution 700 (XXXVI), Mexico Resolution, which established the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development as the regional mechanism to follow up and review the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including the Sustainable Development Goals and targets, its means of implementation, and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda. The Economic and Social Council subsequently endorsed the establishment of the Forum in its resolution 2016/12.

In accordance with the mandate of paragraph 10 of resolution 70/299, which encourages UN member States to identify the most appropriate regional or sub-regional forums and formats to contribute to the HLPF global process of follow-up and review and draws attention on the need to avoid duplications, through the conceptualization of the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development, Member States of Latin America and the Caribbean made an important effort to develop a space under the auspices of ECLAC for convergence and dialogue for all the relevant actors of the region that would strengthen the global processes and at the same time complement it; a meeting space that could allow governments and relevant stakeholders to share best practices and jointly address the gaps and challenges that countries face in their respective processes of implementation, follow-up and review of the SDGs.

Acknowledging the contents of the Intergovernmentally agreed Conclusions and Recommendations of the first meeting of the LAC Forum, it becomes clear that ECLAC has provided a connective tissue between the global and the national and local levels and offered pertinent regional perspectives on global issues, consolidating the bases of a regional platform for the follow up and review of progress of the SDGs in Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as the institutional bases for the analysis of existing and emerging regional and national challenges, actively engaging the broader UN development system in the process.

The First Meeting of the LAC Forum can now be seen as the first step of an ongoing process of follow up and review of the 2030 Agenda in Latin America and the Caribbean. In the years to come ECLAC will hold the responsibility of making this relevant first step become a consolidated regional process, capable of integrating the finding and achievements of each cycle and thus allowing relevant progressive improvements towards the achievement of the SDGs at the regional and the national and local levels.

 

8. Is there any other information you would like to share, including annual reports of your organization and any impact assessment or evaluation reports? If yes, please use the space below and attach the document(s). Please also use this space to provide any other information, comments or remarks you deem necessary:

 

The Outlook for Agriculture and Rural Development in the Americas: A Perspective on Latin America and the Caribbean 2017-2018. Joint report by the Inter American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture, The Economic Comission for Latin America and the Caribbean and the United Nations Organization for Food and Agriculture. San Jose, Costa Rica. It contains a special chapter on Food systems and the 2030 Agenda. http://repositorio.cepal.org/handle/11362/42282

ECLAC produces a yearly Social Panorama of Latin America which examines poverty and inequality trends in the region while also exploring other specific issues. As an example, the latest two versions of the Social Panorama have addressed inequalities in the distribution of income (personal and functional) and property, inequalities over the life cycle , time-use inequalities between men and women, and the situation of Afrodescendent populations as an example of ethnic and racial inequalities (2016 edition); as well as income inequality between individuals and households, the evolution of poverty and its determinants, and the effects of pension systems on equality (2017 edition).

ECLAC published the document The 2030 Agenda and the Regional Gender Agenda Synergies for equality in Latin America and the Caribbean. This paper analyses the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals in light of the challenges and priorities for gender equality and women's rights and autonomy in Latin America and the Caribbean. Examples are presented to illustrate the interconnections between the goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda and to underscore the importance of taking an integrated approach in order to ensure that progress on some Sustainable Development Goals is not achieved by means that could impede the attainment of goals and targets associated with gender equality and women's rights. This paper concludes that the Regional Gender Agenda provides a roadmap for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in Latin America and the Caribbean through the implementation of public policies that link up the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development and contribute to the eradication of gender inequalities and inequalities within and among countries.

 

9. In your view, what should a strategic plan for the UN system in support of the 2030 Agenda and SDGs look like? What key elements should it include and major challenges address in such a road map?

One of the biggest challenges faced by all countries is to strengthen the statistical capacity of countries to measure and monitor progress towards the SDGs. In this line, it is necessary to provide resources for improving the quality of census, surveys and vital statistics, as well as for training on the use and analysis of these information sources.

 

10. Please indicate one or two endeavor or initiatives you suggest that the UN system organizations could undertake together to support the implementation of the SDGs between now and 2030:

 

- Provide technical assistance to strengthen statistical capacity of the countries.

- Promote youth engagement: for example, young scientists, young entrepreneurs, and young political leaders.

- Permanently monitor the assumed commitments regarding gender equality and its measurement, as they are key elements to the implementation of the SDGs.

- Support UN-system coordination mechanisms on transport, other infrastructure themes, or natural resources issues.

 

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Year of submission: 2019