Building strong institutions for effective implementation of the SDGs

The UN Committee of Experts on Public Administration (CEPA) will meet from 24 to 28 April for its sixteenth session at UN Headquarters in New York. The twenty-four Committee members will hold discussions on the theme of “Ensuring effective implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through leadership, action and means”.

“Transforming public institutions is essential to support the type of inclusive and integrated policies needed to realize the SDGs,” Mr. Wu Hongbo, UN DESA’s Under-Secretary-General noted in last year’s CEPA session.

“Making progress on one SDG requires making progress on the other SDGs. These inter-dependencies require an unprecedented level of policy integration among the various ministries, between central and local institutions and between governmental and non-governmental actors”, Mr. Wu said.

Many Member States are well engaged in adapting their public institutions in order to implement the 2030 Agenda. They are creating inter-ministerial coordination bodies and mobilizing ministries, local authorities, parliaments and civil society. CEPA will discuss lessons from the current changes and provide advice from a public administration perspective.

This year, the Committee will focus on the following key issues: (1) Understanding the needs of local authorities and communities and supporting and equipping them for the implementation of the SDGs; (2) Institutional leadership and the SDGs; (3) Institutional arrangements for the SDGs; (4) Development of principles of effective governance; (5) Strategies for integrated action to achieve poverty eradication: implications for public institutions.

One sub-topic to be discussed under the theme of institutional arrangements for the SDGs is multi-stakeholder approach to comprehensive policy integration. To this end, dialogue with various stakeholders such as the civil society, businesses, citizens and the scientific community will be essential to localize national sustainable development strategies. The stakeholders can help to address the integrated and inclusive nature of the SDGs.

The Committee will adopt a report for the ECOSOC with conclusions and recommendations.

CEPA was established by the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in 2001 and is responsible for supporting the work of ECOSOC on public administration and governance among Member States in connection with the internationally agreed development goals, including the SDGs.

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Source: UNDESA