When good-quality administrative systems are in place and their information is regularly updated, they can reliably provide a full picture of key aspects of a country’s population or economy on a continuous basis. Data collected for administrative purposes can be a rich and cost-efficient source for the production of timely and high-quality official statistics, especially to address the urgent need for disaggregated data on SDG indicators to ensure no one is left behind in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. However, many countries still lack the infrastructure and technical and institutional arrangements needed for the efficient exchange and processing of administrative data and metadata for the production of official statistics. Moving in a direction of increased use of administrative data for statistics production will also make the statistical system more agile and resilient in times of crises such as the Covid-19 pandemic. The project supports 9 countries in addressing legal and technical challenges to administrative data sharing and processing administrative data. For each country one or two thematic areas are chosen. The results of the work will provide practical level experiences that also others can benefit from and will lead to a number of examples along the overall process of using administrative data for statistical purposes; from accessing data to processing them and publishing statistics based on them. Key stakeholders of this work will be the National Statistical Offices and the owners of the administrative data, along with the wider statistical system. Policy and decision makers will benefit from the results of the work.

Frontier technologies carry a promise to fast track the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through supporting innovative, forwarding-looking policies and solutions. There are, however, numerous risks and complexities of digital technologies that come along with those opportunities, as well as policy and regulatory challenges. In recent years, relatively new approaches of policy experimentation and regulatory sandboxes have emerged among countries, and have proven to be effective in creating a more conducive and contained space where governments, in partnerships with relevant stakeholders, can experiment and trial with digital technologies and innovations at the edge or even outside of the existing policy space and regulatory framework. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has not only brought about unprecedented challenges to sustainable development, but have also accelerated digital government and digital transformation in many areas.  At the same time, the pandemic has exposed harsh fragilities and digital divides especially for countries in special situations. The objective of this Project is to enhance the institutional capacity of selected countries in special situations, namely the: (i)  least developed countries (LDCs); (ii) landlocked developing countries (LLDC); and (iii) small island developing States (SIDS), to understand and develop policy experimentation and/or regulatory sandboxes on new technologies as an innovative and catalytic approach to accelerate the progress of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.  The evidence of the result, if achieved, will include target countries having demonstrated ability to identify and establish the means for policy experimentation and/or regulatory sandboxes, that may also translate into policy documents or implementation strategies, in draft or working versions, including through multi-stakeholder engagement with the private sector and the civil society.  The project will be jointly implemented by the Division for Public Institutions and Digital Government (DPIDG) of United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), and Information and Communications Technology and Disaster Risk Reduction Division (IDD) of United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).  

Five years after the adoption of the 2030 and Addis Agendas, mobilization of sufficient finance remains a critical challenge in most countries. The COVID-19 pandemic has further undermined fiscal and external balances, threatening countries’ prospects for timely achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Integrated national financing frameworks (INFFs), a planning and delivery framework to help countries finance sustainable development and the SDGs, can be a valuable tool in helping to formulate a comprehensive strategy for recovery – one that is aligned with the SDGs, the Paris Agreement, and that is sustainably financed. The Inter-agency Task Force on Financing for Development (IATF) set out key features and steps to operationalize the INFFs for the SDGs in the 2019 Financing for Sustainable Development Report (FSDR). INFFs are a tool for governments to (i) align financing policies with national sustainable development priorities, and (ii) strengthen the links between planning processes (such as National Sustainable Development Strategies or national development plans) and financing policies. INFFs can also help Governments bring together and better utilize the wide range of support measures on SDG financing provided by the international community. Ultimately, they can help them raise resources to implement national development plans and finance the SDGs. The project brings together existing capacity and policy support for SDG financing by implementing entities in an integrated offer to target countries. The project addresses capacity gaps identified by target countries in one or more of the four building blocks spelled out in the 2019 FSDR, namely,  to provide support in the assessment and diagnostics phase, e.g. on costing of priorities in national strategies, in the formulation of a financing strategy, in monitoring and review mechanisms, and/ or governance arrangements. The project puts a substantive focus on two elements of a financing strategy in particular, in line with country priorities, and with a view to building back better: mobilizing financing for productive investments in recovery and the SDGs (such as SME or infrastructure financing, sustainable financial sector development, and the role of national and regional development banks); and aligning public financing policies and mechanisms with the SDGs and climate action (such as SDG budgeting, taxation and environmental finance). It will also create spaces for peer learning, making use of existing platforms at the regional level. Success would be demonstrated by identification and implementation of financing policy initiatives and mechanisms to finance the SDGs in selected countries.

The Data For Now initiative (Data4Now) aims to develop countries’ capacities to deliver the information needed by local and national policy and decision makers to achieve the 2030 Agenda and make a positive difference in people’s lives.  To this end, it supports members of the national statistical systems in participating countries to collaborate more effectively with local, national and global partners from intergovernmental organizations, academia, civil society and the private sector, in order to leverage innovative sources, technologies and methods for the streamlined production and dissemination of better, more timely and disaggregated data for sustainable development. The initiative, which was launched by UN Deputy-Secretary General Amina Mohammed on 25 September 2019 on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, seeks to enhance collaboration and promote synergies across increasingly complex data systems, supporting the mainstreaming of data innovations into official statistical production processes, including geospatial information, big data and other non-traditional data sources.  It is co-led by a core team consisting of the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), the World Bank, the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data (GPSDD), and the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN). A set of eight trailblazer countries from 3 continents have already joined the initiative, namely: Bangladesh, Nepal, Mongolia, Paraguay, Colombia, Ghana, Rwanda and Senegal. With this project, it is expected that 8 more countries will join the initiative. Data4Now is about accelerating the sustainable use of robust new methods and innovative tools that improve the timeliness, coverage, and quality of SDG data through collaboration, partnerships and capacity development. The work will also allow more timely and accurate measurement of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and related policy interventions. The Data4Now initiative draws closely from the learnings of previous and ongoing work carried out by UNSD, the World Bank, GPSDD, and SDSN, and has been designed with inputs from government, civil society, academic and private sector partners. An inception workshop of the Data4Now initiative was hosted by the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda, in Kigali, Rwanda, on 13-14 November 2019. In this inception workshop, funded jointly by the four core partners, representatives from national statistical systems in the eight trailblazer countries, as well as partners from the private sector, academia and international identified priority needs and deliverables, and explored possible partnerships and solutions around data, technology and methods with highest potential impact to attain those deliverables. Building on the outcome of the inception workshop and the initial results of the activities in the trailblazer countries, UNSD, in close coordination with the other Data4Now core partners, will develop a work plan to collaborate with 10 additional countries in Africa and Asia that would join the Data4Now initiative. This plan foresees specific activities to support the production, analysis and use of accurate, inclusive and up-to-date data for the SDGs on priority themes identified by the national statistical system authorities of the 8 countries in the initial phase of the project.   
 

The achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the SDGs largely depends on inclusive national and local actions. The primary objective of the present proposal is to support the acceleration and scaling up of SDGs implementation and localization through the preparations of Voluntary Local Reviews (VLRs) of SDG implementation in the target countries and regions and, through this process, to build the capacities of government officials at the national and subregional levels for effective SDGs implementation at all levels, including the subnational level and reviewing and monitoring of progress. The proposed activities will form a comprehensive support structure for the development of the VLRs and their linkages to Voluntary National Reviews in Zimbabwe, Mozambique and local governments in the cross-border Chaco region of Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay, in collaboration with the participating local governments and the United Nations Resident Coordinator’s Offices and United Nations country teams. The activities respond to a direct request received, respectively, from  the Secretary of the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare of Zimbabwe,submitted through the United Nations Resident Coordinator Office (dated 21 August 2021), requesting support for the development of VLRs and from the United Nations Resident Coordinator for Paraguay (dated 28 April 2021), requesting support for the development of a Voluntary Local Review in El Chaco Region (Western region) and potentially in other interested entities. The Offices of the Resident Coordinator in Argentina and Bolivia have also expressed their interest in participating in the present project, as has Argentina’s Commission for Sustainable Development Goals. These activities will also be implemented in line with the priorities identified in the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Frameworks for each country.

The objective of the project is to enhance the presence and leadership of women in public institutions at national and local levels in selected countries of the Africa and Asia regions, currently identified as Mauritius and Senegal, Bhutan and Lao People’s Democratic Republic, respectively. The initiative will enhance the capacity of the governments in the four project countries to develop and implement an action plan that prioritizes gender equality in public administration at the national and local levels and promotes women’s career progression towards leadership positions in the public sector. It will also stimulate a South-South knowledge transfer and cross-fertilization by enhancing the awareness of a broader group of governments (partnering countries) on the importance to prioritize gender equality in public administration. Direct beneficiaries include high- and mid-level government officials from ministries and governmental institutions at the national and subnational levels. Indirect beneficiaries include citizens and communities at large.
 

This document presents the overall strategy for a 4-year cooperation between the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs OdN DESA) and Itaipu Binacional (Brazil/Paraguay), the "Sustainable Water and Energy Solutions" (hereinafter referred to as "the Project"). The objective of this Project is to build a global multi-stakeholder partnership and network to enhance capacities, dialogues and cooperation at all levels, for enabling cross-sectoral approaches, advocacy and knowledge management that address SDG6 and SDG7 and interlinkages with other SDGs holistically, in order to accelerate progress towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This Project will be implemented for an initial period of 4 years, from 2017 until 2021, with the possibility of extension subject to mutual agreement between the UN DESA and ltaipu Binacional, donor to the project. This Project is funded through extra-budgetary contributions. Itaipu Binacional will provide the initial financial contribution to UNDESA. The project forms part of the overall efforts of the UN secretariat "to accelerate the implementation of sustainable development goals, targets and commitments in accordance with the internationally agreed development goals" as set out in the UN's strategic framework for the period 2016-2017(A/69/6), corresponding to sub-programme 3 on Sustainable Development under the programme 7on Economic and Social Affairs.

The overall objective of the project is to increase the capacities of governments, youth-led civil society organizations and the broader Community Based Organization community in the formulation, implementation and evaluation of effective national youth policies and action plans that promote conflict prevention, peacebuilding and sustaining peace in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Youth, Peace and Security Agenda. The substantive focus of the project lies in capacity development for analysis, review and reformulation of relevant social policies through participatory processes involving young people and other relevant stakeholders. These processes will lead to the production, roll out and dissemination of a Training Module for Promoting Sustainable Peace through National Youth Policies. They will also support partnership building and coalition development on issues regarding youth, peace and security and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the target countries.

The project aims at enhancing the capacity of the target groups in the following selected countries in Africa: Angola, Namibia, Uganda and Zimbabwe to engage in constructive policy dialogues and/or participatory mechanisms, with a view to develop strategies and initiatives to advance inclusive development and SDG achievement for indigenous peoples in the framework of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Through capacity building of both national and local governments and indigenous leaders, the project aims to promote the participation of indigenous peoples in decision-making processes at all levels, with a special focus at the local level, where the most vulnerable indigenous peoples live. The project also intends to enhance the capacity of governments to develop and implement policies, programmes and legislation that recognize and respect indigenous peoples’ development priorities and rights, that include their full and effective participation in national socio-economic development policies, enhancing dialogue mechanisms among indigenous peoples, the government and UNCTs. The project also aims to strengthen the capacities of stakeholders in targeted countries to engage in those processes, as well as to work in the implementation of national action plans, policies and measures on the Declaration.

The overall objective of the project is to contribute to government capacity to effectively produce and use time-use data in policy formulation for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda in Africa, Latin America and Western Asia. More specifically, in collaboration with ECA, ECLAC and ESCWA, the project will contribute to building capacity in countries to produce and use time-use statistics, in support of measuring and monitoring their national development plans and indicators, including SDG 5.4.1 on unpaid work, as well as indicators on other development issues such as employment and learning. This will be achieved through the development and testing of methodological guidelines on how to modernize the collection, analysis and use of time-use data based on assessments of national capacity and needs in the following regions Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Western Asia (one project country per region). The resulting guidelines will cover cost-effective tools and a sustainable model to institutionalize the systematic collection of time-use data. As part of the rollout phase, the guidelines will be available for use by all countries and will be widely promoted through regional training workshops and national events in the project countries (one project country per region) to promote stronger collaboration between users and producers of time-use data where participants will also identify/map time-use data needs to national development policies. This way, the project will also contribute to improved data/policies integration.