UN Side Events on Tracking Progress on the SDGs: Indicators and Review Mechanisms

On January 20, the SDSN, with the Governments of Mexico and Germany, hosted a side-event entitled “Tracking Progress on the SDGs: Indicators and Review Mechanisms” at the 1st session of the UN Intergovernmental Negotiations on the Post-2015 Development Agenda. Over 120 people, including several Permanent Representatives and Mission Representatives, attended the event.

Dr. Ingolf Dietrich – joint post-2015 negotiator for the Government of Germany – reflected on possible levels of review, emphasizing the need for a globally co-ordinated, incentive based system, with a finite set of global reporting indicators (GRIs). Francesca Perucci, Chief of the Statistical Services Branch of the UN Statistical Division, discussed key lessons from the MDGs, including the need to agree upon a robust global reporting process in advance of implementation, with multi-stakeholder engagement. Jessica Espey of SDSN presented key principles for choosing GRIs, followed by Dr. Roberto Dondisch, lead negotiator for Mexico, and Marcela Ordoñez, Minister Counsellor from Colombia, who shared lessons on national reporting, drawing upon their national experiences. Carmen Barroso, Regional Director of the International Planned Parenthood Federation and former Member of the IEAG on the Data Revolution, chaired the discussion which covered global versus regional reporting, the alignment of targets and indicators, and standardization of indicators across contexts.

The SDSN also presented the Indicators report at the Netherlands Data Days Breakfast Meeting and SDSN and UNEP Live luncheon on January 16. Permanent Representatives to the UN, UN experts, and non-governmental organizations participated in all three events. The discussions at the 1st session of the Intergovernmental Negotiations on Post-2015 demonstrated a strong interest among member states for a robust indicators framework and a collaborative review process of the SDGs.