Bangladesh won\'t lag behind

Being one of the role models in achieving the MDGs, the incumbent government of Bangladesh has its full political commitment towards implementing the SDGs properly and has the thrust to perform well more than it did in implementing the MDGs. Currently, the government is making strides towards SDG implementation, and the development of a common platform to facilitate a unified, whole-of-society approach. In particular, various agencies have spearheaded specific initiatives that: align themselves better with the SDGs; are designed to inform green policy cycle; and, lend added weight to the three elements of policy, data, and monitoring and evaluation, which anchor the overarching approach in a cycle of finite and ongoing reform.
Creating ownership of the SDGs: a) Bangladesh's Proposal to UN for inclusion of SDGS: Bangladesh performed well in MDGs, especially in reducing child and maternal mortality, achieving gender parity in primary and secondary education, enhancing school enrollment, and rapid alleviation of poverty. Like many other nations, Bangladesh came up with a Post 2015 Development Agenda proposal (taking leadership by a core committee headed by the Member GED for preparation) suggesting 11 goals along with 58 targets with corresponding 241 measurable indicators for Post 2015 Development Agenda to be implemented by 2030 and thus participated in the process of formulation of SDGs. Ten specific issues of Bangladesh Proposal are common with the UN adopted SDGs. The remaining was also in Bangladesh proposal as target of different Goals.
b) Inter-Ministerial Committee on SDGs Implementation and Monitoring: The highest level of government commitment is demonstrated with the formation of an inter-ministerial SDG monitoring and implementation committee. The Principal Secretary of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) convenes the committee, with the General Economics Division (GED) of the Planning Commission, serving as secretariat. 15 Senior Secretaries/ Secretaries/Members of Planning Commission/ministries/divisions comprise the membership of the committee. The committee will report to the Prime Minister every six months.
c) Whole of Society Approach: The government has adopted a "whole of society" approach for implementation and attainment of the SDGs. The GED in collaboration with UNRC (United Nations Resident Coordinator) in Bangladesh has organized dialogues with the NGOs, CSOs, DPs and media to ensure private sector involvement in SDGs implementation. Thematic and goal wise consultation with stakeholders from private sector along with Development Partners at a large scale will be carried over regarding Action Plan and Monitoring Framework.
Incorporation of the SDGs in national planning tools: Addressing SDGs in National Plan of Bangladesh: Bangladesh has formulated the Seventh Five Year Plan (7FYP) to be implemented in the period between 2016 to 2020. While formulating the plan document, the proposed goals by both OWG of UN were well taken into consideration so that the probable goals of the SDGs can be illustrated in the national plan. The goals of SDGs were also given emphasis while setting up the priority areas of the 7FYP. Bangladesh tried to address the issues of international goals into the 7FYP because it is the guiding document of the country that is implemented in next 5 years' time.
As the goals of the SDGs are well taken care of in the formulation process of the 7FYP of Bangladesh, it can be said that the country is an 'early starter' in the implementation process of the SDGs. In addition, being a commendable achiever of the MDGs and 'early starter' of SDGs, Bangladesh will surely perform well in attaining the targets as a committed nation
Goals and targets: a) Mapping of Key Ministries and Govt. Agencies for SDGs implementation: After aligning the SDGs with the 7FYP, the GED took the initiative to map key lead/co-lead and associate ministries/divisions, those will be responsible for implementing the SDGs and achieving the specific targets bestowed upon them in Bangladesh. The mapping exercise focused on the roles and responsibilities of government ministries/divisions, as implementing entities of SDGs, to which they are linked with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and its associated 169 targets. The Allocation of Business of the government was the key to identify the lead ministries/divisions for each of the targets of SDGs. This implies to set up a strong national collaboration and cooperation among government ministries/ agencies in order to transform SDGs agenda into the national context as well as the successful implementation of SDGs. The exercise figured out that 49 ministries/divisions, including Prime Minister's Office and Cabinet Division are directly linked with the implementation process of SDGs in Bangladesh. The implementation of SDGs will follow this mapping adopted by the Government to ensure synergies among the ministries to achieve each of the targets.
b) Action Plan of 7th FYP to Achieve SDGs: As the 7th FYP is the means of implementation of SDG targets in Bangladesh, an "Action Plan of 7th FYP to Implement SDGs" are being prepared in Planning Commission. The responsible lead ministries/divisions, as identified in SDG Mapping, have already initiated to prepare their own action plans for implementing the SDGs. Ministries/Divisions are identifying the Actions/Activities/Interventions to achieve the SDG targets in accordance with 7th FYP for the next five years. In order to support this facilitation process by the GED, an Action Framework has been drafted in line with the 7thFive Year Plan and thereafter GED will arrange training workshops for the officials working in development and planning wings of the ministries/divisions/ agencies. The workshop outputs will be taken into account for the action plan of each ministry/division. Furthermore, the action plan of implementing 7FYP to achieve SDGs and its associated targets will be reflected in ministries' annual work plan as well as in newly introduced Annual Performance Appraisal (APA).
c) Data Gap Analysis for SDGs Monitoring: A preliminary data gap analysis for monitoring SDGs has already been conducted by GED, Planning Commission. Existing survey, MIS, census, national accounts and data generating system of several statistical organizations including BBS are reviewed in light of UN proposed indicators. GED annually will report on the performance assessment by the SDGs indicators.Data Gap Analysis found that data on 63 indicators only are available in existing data generating system of Bangladesh and 67 can be generated by modifying existing census (from aggregation to disaggregation), survey, MIS etc. It also found that additional 108 indicators will require new survey or census to generate information for measuring the performance in achieving targets of SDG. That is a data revolution has to be worked out.
Relevant Steps taken: a) Needs Assessment and Costing for SDGs Implementation: The SDGs Needs Assessment and Costing exercise for Bangladesh will proceed through an effort of the GED to estimate the resources needed for achieving SDGs in Bangladesh up to 2030. The study is underway and is expected to be finalized by February 2017. Once the study is conducted, the government will then take initiative in mobilizing resources (domestic and external) for the implementation of the SDGs.
b) National Monitoring Framework for SDGs: Another initiative in the frontier of SDGs is designing a national monitoring framework. On the basis of the findings of SDG Data Gap Analysis the SDG Monitoring Framework will be evolved. The GED has planned to finalize the framework on the basis of Data Gap Analysis through a series of consultations with all government and non-government stakeholders. Relevant thematic or goal wise groups will be identified considering linkages between SDGs and its associated targets. The groups will have national level consultations after having released of the final SDGs indicators by the UNSC.    
c) Web-based Data Repository System for Results Based M&E: To facilitate the results based monitoring system within Government, a macro-level data repository system will be developed. It will include all relevant outcome and output indicators of the national development framework (e.g., Development Results Framework (DRF) of the 7thPlan and SDGs). The database will also capture other essential statistics that will provide the development context. In this way, the data repository system will help the government institutions particularly GED and BBS, for results monitoring as well as contextual analysis of achieving the national development plan targets.
Professor Shamsul Alam is Member (Senior Secretary), General Economics Division (Government Focal Point for Poverty/MDGs/SDGs), Bangladesh Planning Commission. [email protected]