The Office of Intergovernmental Support and Coordination for Sustainable Development (OISC/DESA) of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), United Nations is continuously developing its programme of capacity development related to the Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) with a view to strengthen the capacities of countries presenting their VNR at the high-level political forum on sustainable development (HLPF) in 2022 and 2023.
The voluntary national reviews (VNRs) aim to facilitate the sharing of experiences, including successes, challenges and lessons learned, with a view to accelerating the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. As stipulated in paragraph 84 of the 2030 Agenda, regular reviews by the HLPF are to be voluntary, state-led, undertaken by both developed and developing countries, and involve multiple stakeholders. Participation during the actual presentations of the VNRs by various countries provides valuable opportunities when lessons, experiences and solutions from the different presenters are shared, allowing the countries’ participants to learn, bring these lessons learned/experiences/solutions back 
to their countries, try them out, and adapt them to their situation in their efforts to implement their plans. VNRs are also mandated to lead to the launching of partnerships. At the 2016 HLPF - the first HLPF since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs - 22 countries conducted voluntary reviews. Since this first VNR exercise, the number of countries conducting VNRs has steadily grown. Out of 45 countries that will be presenting their VNRs at 2022 HLPF under the auspices of ECOSOC, there are 12 first time presenters, 28 second time presenters, 3 third time presenters and 2 fourth time presenters. For the 2023 HLPF, it is expected that 30 – 40 countries will conduct their VNRs. The preparations of the VNRs thus provide the opportunity for countries to review the range of policies and efforts related to the 2030 Agenda. VNRs also provide a unique opportunity to drive institutional change towards ‘whole-of-government’ and ‘whole-of-society’ approaches and to bolster capacity-building at the national level to implement the 2030 Agenda. The workshops will provide capacity building support for countries presenting their VNRs by allowing peer learning on core issues related to adapting policies and institutions to the SDGs, and sharing lessons learned from the VNRs for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. It will provide the opportunity for VNR countries to learn from each other and facilitate future peer learning amongst government officials. The first stage of the project will focus on organizing the Second Global VNR Workshop to be held in Gaborone, Botswana (11 – 12 April 2022). At the second stage of the project, the First Global VNR Workshop for 2023 will be organized in Italy (October 2022). It is proposed that a total budget of US$ 220,000.00 be provided for this project for related contractual services, general operating and other direct costs and travel expenses.

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.