UN Secretary-General says that the UN must get its ‘priorities right’ in 2016, calling for ‘more and better work’

The UN Secretary-General has shared his thoughts on the direction of the United Nations’ work in 2016, saying that the global community needs to get its “priorities right,” while underlining that more and better work needs to be done.

As he told delegates at his annual informal briefing to the General Assembly, it a moment heavy with responsibility, 2016 is “Year one of the new 15-year agenda, and year 10 of my 10-year mandate. One year may seem very short in UN time. But I believe we can make it dynamic and productive.”

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Initiatives for SDG Implementation – ECOSOC briefing

As part of its dialogue on the longer-term positioning of the UN development system in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) a briefing held a briefing at the end of 2015, in which Helen Clark, Chair of the UN Development Group (UNDG) and Administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), Wu Hongbo, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, and Mahmoud Mohieldin, World Bank Group participated.

Over a 18-month period the ECOSOC dialogue process, which consists of both formal and informal sessions, is expected to be a key input to the quadrennial comprehensive policy review of operational activities for development of the UN system (QCPR), to be issued in August 2016. The first phase of the dialogue took place from December 2014 to May 2015 and the second phase began in November 2015...

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WHO Paper Recommends ‘Governance for Health’ to Achieve SDGs

Health is perceived “as a major contributor to the other Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),” according to a paper, entitled ‘Health in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,' (EB138/14) prepared by the World Health Organization (WHO) for the 138th session of the Executive Board, to be held from 25-30 January 2016.. The paper highlights fundamental differences between the health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the health aspects of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and it recommends ways for WHO to play an increased role in governance for health.

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Guttmacher Institute and The Lancet announce composition of their Commission on SRHR

As reported previously (see: Summit 18: The Lancet highlights the SDGs and introduces its Commission on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights) the Guttmacher Institute and The Lancet have established a Commission on sexual and reproductive health and rights in the post-2015 world to address key sexual and reproductive health and rights priorities and to make the case for adopting policies and programmes for moving forward on them. The following press release announces the members of the Commission. 

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Website for the High-level Political Forum 2016

A new website for the High-level Political Forum (HLPF) 2016 is now available (Add link https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/hlpf/2016. It includes a list of the countries that have thus far volunteered to present the first national reviews during the 2016 HLPF, which will be updated to reflect any additions. 

It also includes syntheses of inputs from Member States, UN entities and Major Groups and other Stakeholders to the UN Secretary-General’s questionnaire on global review and follow-up to the 2030 Agenda. For inputs from Major Groups and other Stakeholders see: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12NJJKWuLSYf1cIFNQaV_pyjZ0Y6gSMP--wUrD-mICLQ/edit#gid=1386233856

UN Announces 10-Member Group to Support TFM

As reported by IISD, the UN Secretary-General has announced the appointment of a ten-member group to support the Technology Facilitation Mechanism (TFM) for the period 2016-2017. 

The group activities will include participating in the preparation of meetings of the multi-stakeholder forum on science, technology and innovation (STI) for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as well as the development and operationalization of the TFM online platform, among other tasks. The UN Secretariat also issued the Group's terms of reference.

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2016 UN Statistical Commission 1: Documents on date and indicators for 2030 Agenda available

The two reports on agenda item 3(a) Data and indicators for the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, for the for the UN Statistical Commission meeting 8-11 March, are now available on the UNSD website.

The documents are:

1. The Second report of the IAEG-SDGs: please click here to read it 

2. The Report of the HLG for Partnership, Coordination and Capacity Building for post 2015 monitoring is also available here

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2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: The work begins

1 January 2016 saw the beginning of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It is the successor to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which expired on 31 December 2015. 

The UN has marked the new beginning by highlighting the importance of partnerships and international solidarity in implementing the 2030 Agenda, also calling for sharing experiences and tracking progress, through an Annual SDG Progress Report.

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Annotated Agenda for 2016 Statistical Commission now available

The annotated agenda for the 2016 Session of the UN Statistical Commission is now available.

The Commission will have before it the report of the Inter-Agency and Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goal Indicators (IAEG-SDGs)  on the development of a global indicator framework for monitoring the goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In the report, the Group describes the activities it has undertaken since its establishment and the outcomes of its first two meetings and the process for the development of the global indicators. 

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IAEG-SDGs comments on “grey” indicators now available

The 2210 comments to the Inter-Agency and Expert Group on SDG Indicators (IAEG-SDGs) from UN Member States, UN organizations and civil society representatives on the “grey” indicators for monitoring progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their respective targets, made during an online consultation for non-IAEG Member States and representatives of UN and other organizations, have been posted on the IAEG website. They have been compiled into a matrix under each of the 17 goals. 

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