Resources

The 2030 Agenda recognizes that capacity in governments at all levels is critical to steer and support the transformations which it calls for. Thus, public servants at all levels of government need the capacity to successfully implement, follow up and review the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs are an umbrella framework encompassing almost every sector of human activity. In a broad sense, “capacity for implementing the SDGs”…

Five years after the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with one third of the implementation period of its 17 Sustainable Development Goals having elapsed, it is important to take stock of relevant institutional arrangements at the national level. Institutionalization of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs lays the foundation for their effective implementation. It also serves as an indicator of the degree to which the Agenda is…

The 2030 Agenda highlights the importance of the follow-up and review of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as an accountability mechanism and sets clear principles to guide it. Accountability institutions such as parliaments and supreme audit institutions (SAIs) are playing an increasing role in SDG oversight and assessment. However, while countries have made significant progress in institutionalizing SDG follow-up and review, the…

Can smart cities help us achieve true sustainable development? With merely a decade to go to deliver on the 2030 agenda and the universal Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), digital development is seen as a forceful catalyst that can help governments close developmental gaps and accelerate progress. In particular, smart and sustainable cities are becoming microcosms of policy and governance transformation challenges we face in our drive…

The emergence and spread of the coronavirus in late 2019 and the impact of its disease, COVID-19, which has been categorized by the World Health Organization as a global pandemic, is, at the time of writing, ongoing.   Efforts by governments to try to control the pandemic’s spread while managing its wide-ranging impacts demonstrate the critical role of the relationship between state and people in shaping and determining government responses,…