The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals, calls for special attention be given to Small Island Developing States (SIDS), as they face unique vulnerabilities in their pursuit of sustainable development. A key request from the outcome of the 2014 Third International Conference on SIDS - the SAMOA Pathway - was the establishment of the SIDS Partnership Framework, designed to monitor progress of existing, and stimulate the launch of new, genuine and durable partnerships for the sustainable development of SIDS. Guided by a member States driven Steering Committee, the framework has since its launch ensured that SIDS partnerships have remained high on the UN’s agenda, providing a multi-stakeholder platform for reviewing progress made by SIDS partnerships, and for sharing of good practices and lessons learned among all stakeholders, on an annual basis.There is a need to ensure the monitoring process of SIDS partnerships includes all relevant stakeholders. In addition, to ensuring sustainability and longevity, it is crucial to raise the capacity of stakeholders in SIDS in developing and forging new, genuine and durable partnerships. Member states have called upon UN DESA and the Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (OHRLLS) to enhance the necessary analytical and advocacy support for the work of the Steering Committee, and, in particular, to ensure an annual action-oriented, results-focused Global Multi-Stakeholder Small Island Developing States Partnership Dialogue.

The project is expected to result in an in-depth analysis of existing SIDS partnerships, a strengthened process for monitoring of SIDS partnerships on national, regional and global level, and an increased capacity of all relevant stakeholders in the development of durable multi-stakeholder partnerships for SIDS.

The project will be carried out by the Division for Sustainable Development Goals of UN DESA through a broad and inclusive consultation process with SIDS and relevant experts and stakeholders.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is an agenda for prosperity, peace and partnership. It sets out 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which jointly constitutes a comprehensive plan of action to eradicate poverty and ensure sustainable development. The SDGs include a first-ever universal goal on energy (SDG7) that calls to “ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all" with targets on universal energy access, renewable energy, energy efficiency and means of implementation. The objective of this project is to enhance capacities, dialogues and South-South cooperation in support of effective review, follow-up and implementation of SDG7 in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In view of the first global review of the SDG7 at the High Level Political Forum in 2018, this project will also be designed to leverage the HLPF for enhancing partnerships and South-South cooperation, with a special attention to energy’s interlinkages with other SDGs. The project will be implemented by the Division for Sustainable Development, UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA), in collaboration with relevant UN organizations, for an initial period of two years.

The project aims at protecting and broadening the tax base of developing countries in Africa by strengthening the capacity of their National Tax Administrations (NTAs) and Ministries of Finance (MoFs) to effectively apply double tax treaties, drawing on the United Nations Model Double Taxation Convention between Developed and Developing Countries (UN Model). This will help improve the investment climate and combat tax evasion, and thus increase tax revenues for investment in sustainable development. During the first phase of the project, a group of international tax experts will produce a draft of an updated and expanded revision of the United Nations Handbook on Selected Issues in Protecting the Tax Base of Developing Countries (the Handbook), drawing on the latest experiences and pressing concerns of developing countries on tax base protection issues, as expressed by representatives of NTAs and MoFs in recently held meetings and workshops organized by FfDO. To operationalize the guidance contained in the Handbook and make it accessible to a broader audience of stakeholders in developing countries, the experts will complement the revised Handbook with hands-on toolkits, called Practical Portfolios, on relevant tax base protection topics. Feedback and inputs on the revision and expansion of the Handbook, as well as on the Practical Portfolios, will be sought through the capacity development Workshop on Double Tax Treaties and Base Eroding Payments for Developing Countries. This activity will take place in Nairobi in the first quarter of 2017 and benefit from additional sources of UN funding (including through the United Nations Development Account project No. 1415A). The workshop will aim at increasing awareness and understanding of the UN Model among tax officials in NTAs and MoFs of developing countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, and offer an ideal opportunity to discuss relevant BEPS-related issues covered in the Handbook and in the Practical Portfolios.
A second Workshop on Practical Issues in Protecting the Tax Base of Developing Countries will take place in Addis Ababa in the third quarter of 2017, with a view to further strengthen the capacity of NTAs and MoFs officials from Sub-Saharan African countries. The final updated edition of the Handbook and the Practical Portfolios will be officially launched on the occasion of this workshop.

The Evidence and Data for Gender Equality (EDGE) Initiative is a new partnership that seeks to accelerate existing efforts to generate comparable gender indicators on health, education, employment, entrepreneurship and asset ownership. This initiative was launched in May 2011 by the United States at the OECD Ministerial Session on Gender and Development and builds on the work of the United Nations Inter-Agency and Expert Group on Gender Statistics. 2. In 1995, the UN Beijing Platform for Action identified 12 critical areas of concern, and urged Governments to regularly collect statistics related to each of these areas, to serve as a basis for monitoring progress and evaluating the impact of policies. Despite this and other commitments in intergovernmental processes, there remain major gaps in the availability, quality and comparability of gender statistics. The EDGE initiative aims to fill some of these gaps.3. Initially, this initiative will cover the period from July 2012 to December 2015. Activities during this first phase will include three elements: (1) the development of a platform for international data and metadata compilation covering basic health, education and employment indicators; (2) the development of standards and guidelines for measuring entrepreneurship and assets indicators; and (3) piloting data collection on entrepreneurship and assets in several countries.4. This initiative contributes to implementing UN Women’s management results framework, as outlined in UN Women’s Strategic Plan 2011-2013, specifically to institutionalize a strong culture of results-based management, reporting, knowledge management and evaluation and to enhance organizational effectiveness. It also contributes to the UN Statistics Division’s global gender statistics programme, including its components of international data compilation and development of metadata, as requested by the UN Statistical Commission. 5. Consistent with these results, and the clear imperative for evidence-based policy-making, the longer-term aim of this initiative is to gradually build a cost-effective and sustainable model to integrate gender issues into regular statistical production and to build countries’ capacity to produce gender data in all policy areas. For example, while this first phase focuses initially on the aforementioned areas, the same model could be used to collect data on important yet often neglected areas such as violence against women. 6. To achieve these goals, the proposed initiative will establish a participatory mechanism that will be guided by a steering committee, composed of members of the UN Statistical Commission mandated Inter-Agency and Expert Group on Gender Statistics, regional commissions, regional development banks and key agencies that coordinate statistical work including the World Bank and the OECD. In particular, the World Bank will play a key role in helping developing countries mainstream gender statistics into national statistical systems, including strengthening data collection necessary to inform critical gender policy issues. The OECD, on the basis of their extensive work on indicators on gender equality in education, employment and entrepreneurship, will contribute to data compilation by sharing statistics and metadata, and will contribute to the methodological work related to the development of new indicators, particularly in the area of women’s entrepreneurship. The project will also benefit from strong guidance from the UN Statistical Commission (UNSC) and the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). To create further leverage, this initiative will also foster a culture of dynamic knowledge sharing, by promoting networking and facilitating technical collaboration between project countries. 7. The estimated cost of the programme over three years is approximately US$ 6,000,000 which will include costs related to methodological development of international standards for measuring entrepreneurship and asset ownership, with related capacity building and pilot data collection in five countries. Once these standards are developed, we anticipate that data collection in each additional country not included during the first phase will cost on average approximately US$ 150,000 to cover training, data processing, data analysis and publication and dissemination of results. 8. Given that available funds currently consist of US$ 3.66 million, the initial budget covers five pilot countries and a reduced scope for some planned activities. However, resource mobilisation efforts are underway to generate additional funds, which will enable the full EDGE programme, including 10 pilot countries, to be implemented.

Raise awareness and strengthen capacities of major groups and other stakeholders, in particular in developing countries, to effectively participate in the review and implementation of the 2030 Agenda on sustainable Development

The proposed project will enhance the resilience, accessibility, and sustainability of infrastructure assets in developing countries along the Belt and Road Initiative and in support of the 2030 Agenda. The main challenge it seeks to address is the lack of sustained and systematic strategies, policies and actions at the national and local government levels to ensure that infrastructure assets support inclusive, affordable and sustainable essential public services over their entire lifespan. It will train local and central government officials in beneficiary countries in designing, implementing, monitoring, and reviewing forward-looking, risk-informed, and data-driven infrastructure asset management strategies, policies, and action plans in support of essential public services that leave no one behind.  It also aims to build capacity at the level of central governments on how to design and implement an improved national policy, regulatory and legislative framework to support infrastructure asset management at the national and local levels. The key stakeholders include central government ministries (finance, municipal government, urban development), municipal development banks, local government officials (elected and administrative) as well as civil society and the private sector. UNDESA is the main implementation entity with UNOPS and UNCDF as co-implementing partners. UNDESA will also consult and engage with relevant UNCTs, UNDP, UN Habitat, and regional economic commissions in the implementation of the project activities.

Countries face common challenges in moving from siloed elaboration and implementation of policies to the formulation of integrated policies reflecting the interrelations across the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and addressing cross-cutting sustainable development issues such as poverty eradication, climate change and food security. To realize the vision of the Agenda 2030 of leaving no one behind and to ensure inclusive development, countries will also need to ensure more inclusive, accountable and participatory policymaking and public service delivery. This requires, among other things, organizing government and related institutions engaged in SDG implementation and making them effective, inclusive and accountable. It also calls for strengthening public servants’ capacity to implement the SDGs through the development of new skills, attitudes and behaviors and through new ways of working together across organizational boundaries.
The objective of the Project 1819G is to strengthen the capacity of selected developing countries in Africa and Asia in organizing and mobilizing their institutions and public servants to enhance effectiveness and institutional coordination, public accountability, and engagement of key stakeholders in the implementation and review of the SDGs. The project is structured around two expected accomplishments, namely: (i) Improved capacity of beneficiary countries to mobilize public institutions and build their capacities for SDG implementation and review, according to country-specific circumstances and priorities, as well as ensure public accountability and engagement of key stakeholders; (ii) Enhanced capacity of beneficiary countries to formulate strategies and policies to strengthen the technical capability and skills of civil servants to support SDG implementation and review. Recipient countries will also be encouraged to participate and present their findings during the UN High-Level Political Forum (HLPF), as well as to take part in other related divisional capacity development workshops.

he adoption of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals in September 2015 brought increased attention to the international community on the need to strengthen the statistical capacity of developing countries to measure, monitor and report on the sustainable development goals, targets and indicators.  Goal 17 specifically addresses strengthening the means of implementation, with target 17.18 calling for enhanced capacity building support to developing  countries to increase, by 2020, the availability of high-quality, timely and reliable data disaggregated by income, gender, age, race, ethnicity, migratory status, disability, geographic locations and other characteristics relevant in national contexts. The global indicator framework for the monitoring of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, with currently over 230 indicators, represents a tremendous challenge for producers of official statistics in all countries, developing and developed alike.  Countries must absorb the new data demands which have been placed upon them if they are to meet the 2030 Agenda, including quickly defining national targets and indicators. They will need to update their National Strategies for the Development of Statistics (NSDS) to respond to these demands, and to put into place streamlined processes to ensure the timely production of official statistics. They will need exposure to methodologies and tools being developed at global level to measure the sustainable development goals and targets, particularly in new statistical areas.  As such,  the development and strengthening of institutional and technical capacities in developing countries for the production of high-quality, timely, reliable and disaggregated data which responds to the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics, and which can assist policy-makers in shaping evidence-based policies which fully integrate economic, social and environmental considerations, has become critical. The 2030 Agenda, which is centered on the achievement of the sustainable development goals, calls for enhanced efforts by the international community working together  to augment its capacity development efforts,  particularly in the domain of statistics and data,  so that developing member States will be able to accurately measure progress against the SDG targets and determine where gaps remain.  The repeated emphasis by member States on the importance of developing robust national statistical systems should not be overlooked.  Given this call for increased support, the Development Account Programme on Statistics and Data, hereinafter referred to as  “the Programme”,  strives to maximize its resources by working jointly with all 10 implementing entities which receive funding under the Account (DESA, UNCTAD, UNEP, UN-Habitat, UN-ODC and the 5 Regional Commissions – ECA, ECE, ECLAC, ESCAP and ESCWA).  The Programme will also seek partnerships with agencies within and outside the UN system, with the donor community, academia, civil society and the private sector.  The emphasis of the Programme will be to refine existing methodologies, tools and approaches for Tier I and Tier II indicators and commence analysis which will inform the development of new statistical methodologies for Tier III indicators within the environmental, social and economic domains. It will also orchestrate the roll-out of a vigorous capacity development programme to support countries in improving statistical capacities to monitor indicators and targets in all data areas.  The Programme will work across all regions, and at the national and local levels, raising awareness within developing countries on the statistical data requirements to meet the 2030 Agenda; on strengthening of institutional environments to respond to the data demands; on streamlining of statistical production processes and exposing countries to the use of new and innovative data sources, including new tools and techniques.   The Programme will also, through its capacity development efforts, promote resource mobilization and new partnerships so that developing States have the right tools, mechanisms and technology to drive their production of official statistics.  

The aim of this project is to strengthen national capacity in the three project countries to formulate, implement, monitor and evaluate effective and evidence-based national policies and programmes aimed at social and economic integration and inclusion of young people with disabilities. As set out in the Programme of Action of the Copenhagen World Summit for Social Development, the aim of social integration is to create “’a society for all’, in which every individual, each with rights and responsibilities, has an active role to play.” In the case of the present project, inclusion of youth with disabilities means that they are to be actively engaged, as both agents and beneficiaries, in the two focus areas of the project: 1) the design and implementation of national policies for social inclusion of youth with disabilities, and; 2) the design of national programmes and strategies for creating employment opportunities and including youth with disabilities in national labour markets.
Project activities will consist of a combination of analytical and operational capacity building work engaging national and international experts in conjunction with UNDESA and ECLAC/UNDP staff. The main beneficiaries/participants in the project will be policymakers, members of parliaments, and Government officials with mandates related to youth, employment and persons with disabilities. Representatives of youth organizations and disabled persons organizations will participate as both beneficiaries and resource persons for the project.
Activities will further include delivery, in project countries, of comprehensive training on formulating and monitoring participatory evidence-based youth policies and programmes aimed at achieving social inclusion and employment opportunities for youth with disabilities. This will support policymakers to work with and create the space for the participation of young people and relevant civil society organizations. It will also contribute to effective policy-making, and a greater awareness of the needs of young people with disabilities in national planning initiatives.
Upon the completion of the project, national programs for training and employment of young people with disabilities will be incorporated into the existing national development plans and programmes in the project countries.

The Technology Facilitation Mechanism (TFM) was launched as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with the objective to support the SDGs. It includes three major components – an Inter-Agency Task Team (IATT) of over 30 UN-system agencies; an annual multi-stakeholder Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) Forum; and an on-line platform that is expected to serve as a gateway for information on existing science, technology and innovation (STI) initiatives, mechanisms and programs, within and beyond the United Nations. These are advised by a 10 –Member Group of academics, policy makers, entrepreneurs and others, appointed by the Secretary-General. This project aims to strengthen the capacity of key constituents in developing countries to access, operationalize and benefit from STI for the SDGs. It will strengthen the learning and adoption of relevant innovations by developing countries across both the South and the North; improve the capacity of governments and entrepreneurs to access relevant STI solutions through on-line mechanisms (including through improving their design); and strengthen the off-line partnerships, policy supports and institutional structures needed to make these self-sustaining. Throughout, the natural synergies across the different components of the TFM will be fully utilised. The direct beneficiaries of the project are STI and SDG communities in the target countries, including government officials, academics, scientists, technologists, practitioners, business persons and community leaders. The project will enhance their capacity to develop, disseminate and adapt STI solution in key strategic SDG areas, including a better understanding of relevant policy instruments and the sustainable development implications of new technology trends. The ultimate key beneficiaries of the project are all stakeholders around the world that will use the Online Platform to increase their capacity to use STI for SDGs.