Agenda 2030 Mainstreaming and Monitoring - Mauritius Bibi Waseefah Elahee Doomun Lead Analyst Ministry of Finance and Economic Development Republic of Mauritius
Political Will. At first, Ministry of Environment Mid-way confusion: (i) Change of Minister of Environment around May 2016 (ii) Scope of SDGs beyond sustainable development Mid 2016: The Strategic Policy and Planning Department (SPPD) Draft Vision 2030 Blueprint However, not published
Data Compilation Recommendation made by the Statistics Board for SDG Committee Early 2016 Statistics Mauritius database of MDGs Three Working Groups set up namely Social, Economic and Environment Mapping of Indicators by Ministries / Departments/ Others
UN fielded a MAPS (Mainstreaming, Acceleration, Policy Support) mission 14-18 November 2016 Guide investment analysis Preparation of a road-map to guide the country engagement Increased capacity of Statistics Mauritius and SPPD Local UN support
Voluntary National Review Mauritius was expected to submit its VNR at the High Level Political Forum (HLPF) in 2018 Informed that list of countries was now closed Inviting early indication of countries desiring to present VNRs in 2019
Institutional Framework for VNR SDG National Steering Committee SDG secretariat based in the SPPD of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development Implementation of 2030 Agenda intended to proceed through thematic working groups Overlapping areas to be determined by the Financial Secretary The themes are yet to be developed but may comprise: social, economic, environmental and governance issues, safety and security Thematic reports validation
Challenges Extent of work involved Cross cutting Qualitative nature of the exercise, contrary to MDGs which was more quantitative Tight time limits Scarcity of resources mostly technical and human resources Absence of Ministry s mapping of goals to current projects for which financing has been secured in the national budget
Challenges Not clear how the SDGs were feeding into the annual budget cycle As per the Environment Protection Act, an inter- Ministerial committee on sustainable development is being chaired by the Minister of Environment that brought together the relevant ministries. Potential duplication of work on SDG reporting has been noted, since the mandate of this Inter- Ministerial Committee also includes sustainable development
Current progress Mapping of indicators to Line Ministries completed Information and data-gathering momentum -as far back as March 2016 Responsibilities attributed to focal points for data submission and sources First SDG database for the Republic of Mauritius published based on existing data at end of March 2017 The database will, as and when, be further improved and updated. SDG database can be accessed at http://statsmauritius.govmu.org/english/statsbysubj/pa ges/mdgs_sdgs.aspx
Lessons Learnt Strong connection between budgeting process of Line Ministries and SDG interventions and Goals SDGs have provided the opportunity for stakeholder engagement in all aspects of decision making Need to ensure ownership by line Ministries SDG fora strengthens partnerships with private sector and development partners for the exchange of ideas, technical expertise and funding.
Lessons Learnt Outreach efforts to be built with specific stakeholders, such as local communities, schools etc at the level of Line Ministries. The highest levels of government should be involved in driving SDG implementation, as well as in oversight of monitoring and follow-up. Central government decision making has not sufficiently involved local governments it is usually a top-down approach Anyway, a large proportion of local authorities funding directed towards operational expenses Monitoring and Evaluation is an area where many Ministries lack expertise. Often this calls for additional resources
Lessons Learnt Ministries fail to take on board SDG dimension in existing and new projects/programmes/policies Ministries tend to identify gaps/challenges/requirements prior to embarking on the SDG thinking process, within their respective programmes/projects/policies An online reporting system is in force for monitoring of budget measures. This system has been identified as a potential reporting mechanism on progress for SDGs
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