World Public Sector Report 2021

With one third of the implementation period of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) having elapsed, it is important to take stock of how far countries have gone in adapting their institutional frameworks to implement the Goals.

Institutions are paramount to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and all the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This is well recognized in the Agenda itself. Five years after the start of the implementation of the Agenda, governance issues remain at the forefront. Since 2015, most countries have progressively adjusted their institutional frameworks to support their commitments to implementing the 2030 Agenda.

Starting in early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted even more the importance of national institutions for the achievement of the SDGs. The pandemic and governments’ responses to it have impacted the functioning of public institutions in ways that directly affect the capacity of governments to deliver the SDGs, starting with the basic functions of government and public administration such as law- and policy-making and public service delivery. The pandemic has also revealed institutional weaknesses in areas critical for piloting the SDGs. On the other hand, the year 2020 has also witnessed institutional innovations in areas as diverse as administrative management, stakeholder engagement, transparency and accountability.

In this context, it is doubly important to take stock of institutional developments for implementing the 2030 Agenda at the national level. The World Public Sector Report 2021 aims to shed light on this area, through a focus on three aspects of it: the evolution of institutional arrangements for SDG implementation; the development, performance, strengths and weaknesses of monitoring and evaluation systems for the SDGs; and the efforts made by governments and other stakeholders to enhance the capacity of public servants to implement the SDGs. These three dimensions were relevant before the pandemic and have arguably taken on even more importance since then. The report draws on information at the global level as well as desk research on a sample of 24 countries from all regions. The report also examines the broader impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on national institutions and their implications for delivering on the 2030 Agenda.

File added date: 27 August 2021
Author: UN DESA/DPIDG
Download: Full Report; Executive Summary
URL: https://publicadministration.un.org/en/Research/World-Public-Sector-Reports