The United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) constitute a universal, integrated and transformative vision for a sustainable world. For the goals to be reached, everyone needs to do their part--the government, the private sector and civil society in every country-and apply creativity and innovation to address development challenges and recognise the need to encourage sustainability. The government creates an enabling and monitoring environment for implementation; civil society creates advocacy and awareness; the academic and research community provides knowledge, technologies and innovation for implementation; and the private sector does much of the implementation towards achieving the SDG targets. These different roles and responsibilities imply that the development goals cannot be achieved in isolation. There is a need for integration and partnerships between different role players. These partnerships need to be accountable, as well as people- and planet-centred.
AGENDA 2030 FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: In the opening declaration of the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, the world leaders declared: 'As we embark on this great collective journey, we pledge that no one will be left behind. Recognizing that the dignity of the human person is fundamental, we wish to see the Goals and targets met for all nations and peoples and for all segments of society. And we will endeavour to reach the furthest behind first' (UN, 2016).
This 'leave no one behind' commitment aims to address several, interrelated concerns such as ending extreme poverty - in all its forms--and ensuring that those who have been left behind (in either relative or absolute terms) can catch up with those who have experienced greater progress. The key to the implementation of Agenda 2030 is the prioritisation and fast-tracking of action for the furthest behind.
At the core of the 2030 Agenda is a list of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, hunger and inequality; take action on climate change and the environment; improve access to health and education; care for people and the planet; and build strong institutions and partnerships. The SDGs are unprecedented in terms of scope and significance and include sustainable and inclusive growth, sustainable production and consumption, sustainable urbanisation, innovation, data generation for tracking progress and the importance of peace and justice for all in the agenda.
Each of the 17 SDGs has specific targets and there are 169 targets to be achieved by 2030. The goals and targets are universal, and reaching the goals requires action on all fronts - governments, businesses, civil society and people everywhere; and all have a role to play.
BANGLADESH AND THE SDGS: Bangladesh, as an active participant in the global process of preparing the Agenda 2030, started its implementation from the very beginning through the integration of SDGs into the national development agenda. The SDGs were integrated with the country's 7th Five Year Plan (7FYP, 2016-2020) and these were given emphasis while setting the priority areas of the 7FYP such that the achievement of Plan objectives and targets also can contribute towards the achievement of the SDGs. All the 17 goals were integrated into the 7FYP. A Development Results Framework (DRF)--a robust and rigorous result based monitoring and evaluation framework-- was also embedded in the Plan for monitoring the 7FYP. The outcomes and targets in the DRF were aligned with the SDGs focus on macroeconomic development, poverty reduction, employment, education, health, water and sanitation, transport and communication, power, energy and mineral resources, gender and inequality, environment, climate change and disaster management, ICT, urban development, governance, and international cooperation and partnership.
INSTITUTIONALISING SDGS IMPLEMENTATION: A high powered Inter-Ministerial Committee on SDGs Monitoring and Implementation has been formed with the Principal Coordinator (SDGs Affairs) in the Prime Minister's Office as the Chair to coordinate SDGs monitoring and implementation. The Committee comprises of Secretaries from 20 Ministries/ Divisions; and the General Economics Division (GED) of the Planning Commission is the secretariat of the committee which coordinates implementation at the policy level along with monitoring and reporting SDGs attainment status.
The Committee has completed the task of priority setting and contextualising global goals with the national ambitions and the ministries have identified relevant goals and targets and reflected these in their respective sector plans as well as in their annual performance appraisals (APAs).
SDGS MAPPING: Since the targets of SDGs cover multiple ministries/divisions of the government, they are jointly responsible for attaining a particular target. In order to delineate the responsibilities of different ministries/divisions to each of the targets, a mapping has been done to identify relevant ministries/divisions by goal and associated target. The mapping exercise has assigned the lead role in attaining a target to a particular ministry/division or organisation which is supported in most cases by a co-lead ministry/division. All other ministries/divisions which have a stake in a particular target are grouped under associate ministries/divisions. The SDG mapping is done in the action plan format that identifies the actions during the plan period, existing policy instruments and proposed global indicators for performance measurement.
PREPARATION OF ACTION PLANS: As a follow up of the mapping exercise, the ministries/divisions/organisations have prepared their respective action plans which have specific actions/activities and interventions to achieve their respective goals/targets. Afterwards, the GED has prepared the National Action Plan (NAP) for the implementation of the SDGs which coordinates the action plans of 43 lead ministries/divisions through undertaking a rigorous process of consultations, review and feedback. The NAP lists the on-going projects/programmes that contribute to the achievement of a particular goal and its targets, identifies new projects/programmes that need to be undertaken during the remaining period of the 7th Plan and beyond with indicative costs. New policies/strategies that might be needed in the process are also stipulated. The NAP intends to guide the ministries/divisions/agencies to determine their respective investment portfolio that will attain the SDGs as well as the related objectives of the five year plan; and help assess the performance of the ministries in achieving the goals/targets. The NAP is a dynamic/living document which leaves scope for amendment/revision during the preparation of the 8th five year and subsequent plans.
DATA GAP ANALYSIS: In order to translate the SDGs and related quantitative targets into concrete policies and actions, progress must be regularly tracked through appropriate monitoring, reporting and verification system, in which the indicators remain at the core. The SDG indicators inform policy making by improving the understanding of relevant trends, by raising awareness about the importance of underlying sustainability issues and by motivating action for improvement. Bangladesh's SDGs indicators, both at the national and sub-national levels, have been designed to build on the existing measurement systems, but they have been tailored to the SDGs context and agreed targets.
For meeting the need for data and statistics to monitor the progress on SDGs, two separate exercises have been adopted - one by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) and the other by the Planning Commission (GED) to identify the current state of data availability and explore the nature and extent of data deficit to monitor progress and take informed policy decisions on the implementation of the post-2015 agenda.
Accordingly, the GED undertook in 2017 an assessment of the current status of data in the country - the availability of data from different sources and the gap that needs to be filled through generation of new data. The exercise involved all the relevant data generating agencies including the BBS.
The assessment has divided the indicators into three types depending on the status of data availability: (i) Indicators for which data are readily available, (ii) Indicators for which data are partially available meaning that some modification, addition and analysis are required in the existing census or survey for obtaining the pertinent data, and (iii) Indicators for which data are not available giving rise to need for new census or survey. For the entire data set, 70 indicators (29 per cent) belong to the first category, 63 indicators (26 per cent) belong to the third category, and 108 indicators (45 per cent) belong to the second category. This shows that data availability, including its timeliness and quality, pose a significant challenge to effective monitoring that could help informed policy decisions.
The exercise, undertaken by BBS in 2016, identified the data gaps in setting the base year and the reference year and in monitoring progress on the implementation of the Development Results Framework (DRF) of 7FYP (2016-2020) and the targets of the SDGs. The BBS classified the data into three categories: data available from BBS, data available outside BBS, and data not available. BBS can directly provide the first category of data and it needs to mainstream "administrative data" in the second category. Further, BBS can play a leading role in generating administrative and official data. The exercise also identified relevant short, medium and long term projects and programmes that have to be undertaken to fill the data gaps and establish strong data base for reference/base year for measurement of progress implementation of 7FYP and the SDGs.
MONITORING AND EVALUATION: The Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Framework of SDGs (GED, 2018) has been developed to track progress on implementation and achievement of SDGs in Bangladesh over the decade until 2030. Several characteristics of the M&E framework should be highlighted. First, since a wide range of aspects of the economy and their depth are needed to be measured to assess the progress of SDGs, the set of indicators to measure progress is diverse and complex. In many cases, a target is not measured by a single number rather multiple numbers are required depending on the level of disaggregation. Secondly, BBS does not generate data on many aspects of the economy to meet the data requirements of the national development plans and consequently data on many indicators are not available. Thirdly, data are mostly generated by BBS or other government agencies through periodic surveys; and usually the periodicity varies from five years for Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) to three years for Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS). The BBS conducts Quarterly Labour Force Survey which it used to conduct traditionally at three years interval. Fourthly, data generation through more frequent surveys as well as generation of more disaggregated data (such as spatial, gender, age-group, ethnicity, employment status) requires additional financial and human resources, logistics support as well as the use of modern technology.
The M&E framework provides baseline data for each indicator for which data are available and the target for the terminal year of SDGs, i.e., 2030 with two milestones -- 2020 and 2025, in the intervening period. Information on relevant agency currently responsible for generating data along with the ministry/division to which the agency belongs as well as the title of the publication where the data appear are provided for quick and easy identification of data sources.
Due to non-availability of data, uniform baseline could not be set for all the indicators. The indicators for which annual data are available for 2014-15, the final year of MDGs, has been taken as the baseline. On the other hand, if an indicator does not have data for 2014-15, the latest available survey data is taken as the baseline. The baseline data is set for 127 indicators and the M&E framework is designed for 108 indicators. Milestones are yet to be set for some of the indicators that are of qualitative in nature.
Following the classification in the data gap analysis, the indicators are also classified into three categories: readily available, partially available, and not available data. Presently, 64 indicators belong to readily available, 58 indicators are in partially available and 110 indicators are in not available categories. Since there is a lack of data from national sources, international sources like WB, FAO, WHO, and ILO have been used to set baseline for 22 indicators. The not available category includes 81 indicators for which metadata is yet to be finalised by the IAEG-SDGs. This indicates the enormity of the data generating task confronting Bangladesh.
Some other aspects of data in terms of availability and sources should also be highlighted. First, an analysis by goals shows that while SDG 2, SDG 3, SDG 4, SDG 5, SDG 7, SDG 8, SDG 9, and SDG17 are in better situation in terms of data availability, data availability is challenging for SDG 12, followed by SDG 10, SDG 11, SDG 13, SDG 14, SDG 15 and SDG 16. Secondly, the majority of data on SDGs are generated by the Statistics and Informatics Division (SID); out of 244 indicators, data on 105 will be provided by SID. The Ministry of Environment and Forest is the second largest data provider (42), followed by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (34). Economic Relations Division (ERD) provides information for 28 indicators and Finance Division (FD) for 20. Thirdly, considering agencies or units of ministries/divisions that are responsible for data generation for SDGs monitoring, it is seen that BBS, the NSO of the government, is the single most important institution to produce reliable and disaggregated data timely. BBS is followed by DoE, DGHS, BFD, NIPORT and BB.
Dr Shamsul Alam is Member (Senior Secretary), General Economics Division, Bangladesh Planning Commission and a Recipient of Ekushe Padak in Economics in 2020.
