Botswana to link SDG indicators to Vision 2036
Isaac Pinielo | Friday April 1, 2016 15:35
Mguni was addressing local journalists last week at a press briefing organised by Statistics Botswana on the just-ended 47th United Nations Statistical Commission that was held in New York at the beginning of March.
He said the statistical commission agreed on a set of global indicators that will measure success towards the new sustainable development agenda, which will lead anti-poverty efforts through 2030.
He also said Botswana indicators at the national and district levels will need to be developed, adding that the commission emphasised that the approved global indicators are intended for global monitoring and are not necessarily applicable for all national contexts. “Accordingly, indicators for the regional, national and sub-national levels of monitoring and follow-up of the 2030 agenda will need to be developed at the regional and national levels,” he said.
The statistical commission also discussed other issues covering demographic, socio-economic and environment statistics, according to the statistician.
These included the coordination and capacity building in statistics for the 2030 sustainable development agenda; refugees, climate change statistics; international statistical classifications; big data for official statistics, ICT statistics, industrial, environmental-economic accounting, governance statistics and many other topics.
The framework provides that SDG indicators should be disaggregated where relevant, by income, age, race, ethnicity, migratory status, disability and geographic location, or other characteristics, in accordance with the fundamental principles of official statistics.
Mguni said the statistical agency, had at its previous session, agreed to set up an International Agency Expert Group (IAEG-SDGs) to work and propose a sustainable development goals indicator framework and submit a proposal for its consideration at the 47th session.
“The approved indicator framework comprises 230 global indicators for use in the follow-up and review of progress at the global level towards achieving the 17 SDGs,” he said. He added that the universal 2030 agenda for sustainable development comprises the declaration by UN member countries, the 17 SDGs and 169 goal-linked targets and the indicator framework.
According to the deputy statistician general, the 17 SDGs and 169 targets were endorsed by a high-level summit at the UN in September 2015 and the related indicator framework was expected to be finalised at a later stage.
“The statistical commission has now approved that indicator framework and will now as per procedure pass it on the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) for adoption in early June 2016 with the UN General Assembly expected to adopt the same framework later in the same month,” he said.
In approving the indicator framework, he said the statistical commission recognised that the development of a robust and high-quality indicator is a technical process that will need to continue over time.
He added that the commission thus gave the IAEG-SDGs a mandate to further define and refine the methodologies of each indicator and propose standards to be agreed at the international level with a view to guaranteeing international comparability.
The statistical commission also recognised that for the implementation of the SDG indicator framework there will be need for capacity building in all countries, including small island states, (SIDs), least developed countries (LDCs), land-locked developing countries (LLDCs) and other countries in special circumstances.
Mguni said a crucial point with regard to the 2030 agenda is its intent for “no one to be left behind”. The indicator framework provides for as wide as possible disaggregation of each of the 230 indicators.
The UN statistical commission is the highest body of the global statistical system. It is the highest decision-making body for international statistical activities, including the setting of statistical standards, the development of concepts and methods and their implementation at the international, regional and national levels.
The commission generally holds annual sessions to conduct its deliberations. All chief statisticians of the UN member states are invited to attend and participate in these annual sessions of the commission.