Report by Alexandra Samokhvalova, InterCap/World University Service (WUS) Germany
Source: http://www.oecd.org/gov/pcsd/hlpfsideevent2020.htm
A high-level interregional online dialogue, organized by the OECD, IGES (Institute for Global Environmental Studies) and other partners and co-hosted by the governments of Mongolia and Romania, took place on 15th July 2020 and brought together governmental representatives, policy makers, researchers and civil society activists from many different countries all over the globe. The aim of the dialogue was to discuss the role of governance and policy coherence for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the post-COVID-19 era.
The discussion revolved around the issue of post-COVID-19 recovery of countries and its connection to the Agenda 2030 for sustainable development. The participants identified concrete policy coherence actions at the domestic and international levels and provided examples of good practice in implementing Policy Coherence for (Sustainable) Development (PCSD). Thus, Malta’s representative George Said, Director of the Department for Sustainable Development, Office of the Prime Minister, presented the country’s first success in aligning the budget measures of the government with the SDGs as the important task of PCSD, which has been implemented since 2019. Both Romania’s and Italy’s speakers talked about their deep commitment to adapting the PCSD recommendations by the OECD at the national level, while Egypt gave an overview of some concrete initiatives such as an online policy tracker to ensure alignment of the policies to the Agenda 2030 and an app to locate all Egypt-based projects that work on SDGs.
All participants agreed on the need for more commitment of the governments all over the world to build more inclusive institutions and ensure that the SDGs are a priority in all policy-making processes. In the words of Ahmed Hussein, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development of Canada: “It is not that we need to build back [after COVID-19], but to build back better!” The importance of this agenda was also highlighted in the closing remark by Tatyana Teplova, Head of Division of the Policy Coherence for SDGs, OECD, who insisted on the need of the governments to bring together the short-term post-COVID-19 recovery measures and the long-term SDG-Agenda to strengthen the policy coherence at the national and international levels.
You can find the agenda of the online meeting here
For the (almost) full recording of the event please visit:https://youtu.be/_YvAGguSu34
Please find the link to the PRELIMINARY VERSION of the OECD policy brief on BUILDING COHERENT RESPONSE FOR SUSTAINABLE POST-COVID 19 RECOVERY here
More information on the OECD work with Italy on implementing PCSD approach here
