GFDD and Funglode Submit Written Statement during UN Post-2015 Talks Focused on Draft Sustainable Development Goals

Along with countries, the foundations raise questions around possible technical revisions to a list of proposed development goals and targets and provide input on how to craft relevant indicators to measure success in attaining those goals.

Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD) and Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo (FUNGLODE) were present last week during the 3rd session of the post-2015 Development Agenda
Intergovernmental Negotiations: Goals and Targets (March 23-27, 2015) as divisions on how best to finalize a set of sustainable development goals (SDGs) moved to the fore. The meeting, which took place in New York, charged Member State delegates with hammering out a post-2015 development agenda. Along with countries, GFDD and Funglode submitted a written statement which raised questions around possible technical revisions to a list of proposed goals and targets, put forward last
July, and provided input on how to craft relevant indicators to measure success.

A copy of the written statement submitted by GFDD and Funglode is available here.

In the document, GFDD and Funglode make particular reference to the issue of climate change as an issue which has considerable affected the development of the Dominican Republic, be it through acidification
of its oceans, the vitality of its natural resources, the extent of vector-borne diseases and the frequency of natural disasters, such as hurricanes, which inflict economic damage to the island nation on a regular basis. Cautioning against the desire of some member states to reorganize the SDGs into themes, GFDD and Funglode explain that the importance of a standalone goal, such as goal 13 on climate change, could be diluted by reorganizing it under a specific theme.

A proposed timeframe and process for developing a set of indicators for the SDGs was also in the spotlight during last week’s negotiations. The UN Statistical Commission (UNSC), which brings together chief statisticians from member states, presented the outcome of its latest meeting to delegates at the start of the week. Turning to this issue of indicators, GFDD and Funglode oppose in their statement the contradictory desire of delegates to implement national indicators
into a global development framework, which could jeopardize the overall balance of the post-2015 development agenda.

The SDGs will form a core part of the post-2015 development agenda and will replace the current Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) when they expire at the end of this year. The new agenda will be adopted by world leaders at a high-level summit at UN headquarters in September.

Delegates also agreed last week to hold a joint session in
April with their counterparts negotiating the outcome document for the Third International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD3).

The ongoing FfD talks – which also convene in New York – aim to outline development financing commitments at a high-level conference scheduled for July in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. However, while UN members have indicated a preference for mutually supportive outcomes in the two negotiations, differences reportedly remain on the nature of
the relationship between these frameworks.

Four remaining sessions are on the calendar for UN members to reach agreement on the technical details discussed last week. Delegates will meet again from 21-24 April in a joint session with FfD negotiators.

That session will focus on any outstanding issues on the means of implementation, or the means to achieve the goals and targets, not covered under the FfD track. Delegates will look at how to build
coherence between the two processes and discuss a possible technology facilitation mechanism.

Related links:
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015
http://www.un.org/esa/ffd/overview/third-conference-ffd.html