Network for the Implementation and Monitoring of the 2030 Agenda and Follow-up to the Sustainable Development Goals in Latin America and the Caribbean

Strengthening the institutional and technical capacities of Governments engaged in establishing and sustaining national mechanisms to implement the 2030 Agenda

Towards a Solution

The Committee on South-South Cooperation, a subsidiary body of ECLAC, provides a platform within the existing intergovernmental structure to discuss cooperation and share best practices and common challenges.

At the 37th session of ECLAC in 2018, member States created a network for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and follow-up to the SDGs in Latin America and the Caribbean, which prioritizes South-South and triangular cooperation with a multi-stakeholder approach. The network’s main objective is to strengthen the institutional and technical capacities of Governments in the region. The network’s operational framework addresses SDG 17, particularly target 9 on enhancing international support for national plans; target 14 on enhancing policy coherence; target 16 on enhancing global partnership; target 17 on public, public-private and civil society partnerships; target 18 on capacity-building; and target 19 on building on existing initiatives.

The network has the following structure:

1. Core Group—this decision-making body provides strategic leadership and coordination for the successful implementation of the programme of work. It is currently made up of Cuba, Mexico and Uruguay.
2. Technical Secretariat—ECLAC provides logistical and technical support.
3. Coordination Pillars Working Groups—made up of three countries, one assigned to each pillar: a strategy pillar (Uruguay), a statistics pillar (Mexico) and a cooperation pillar (Cuba). A work plan has been developed for each of these pillars.

During the network’s first meeting, held in Havana in May 2018, the network was defined as a technical forum for countries in need of or providing knowledge in three subject areas:

• Inter-institutional and intersectoral coordination mechanisms for monitoring achievement of the SDGs
• National frameworks and tools to monitor progress on SDG indicators and to govern the methodologies, processes and standards for improving the collection, processing, disaggregation, dissemination and analysis of data to produce reliable, good-quality statistics
• Tools for aligning international development cooperation projects with the SDGs and technological tools on good practices in international cooperation for development

During the second meeting, held in Mexico City in November 2019, the 2019–2020 programme of work was developed and agreed upon. Each pillar of the network gave a presentation: strategy, by the Office of Planning and Budget of the Presidency of Uruguay; statistics, by the Governing Board of the National Institute of Statistics and Geography of Mexico; and cooperation, by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment of Cuba.

As a result of these working meetings and the work carried out under the three pillars, with the support of ECLAC, countries have come together to coordinate requests and offer support on topics such as addressing climate change, adapting SDGs to local and national contexts, budgeting for SDGs and strengthening national statistical capacities for monitoring their achievement.

The network is expected to:

• Create spaces to exchange knowledge and good management practices for the implementation and monitoring of the SDGs at the national and subnational levels, through South-South and triangular cooperation.
• Consider and incorporate cross-cutting approaches in support of the implementation, follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda (focusing on areas such as gender, the environment and territorial decentralization).

Given that the network is still in its infancy, there has been no assessment of its results and impacts; however, it is expected to bring about multiple South-South cooperation projects.

In terms of funding, the network has worked with the Mexico-Uruguay Joint Cooperation Fund, as well as the cooperation agencies of Germany and Spain, to mobilize resources in order to carry out its coordination meetings and secure professional support from specialists in matters concerning its three pillars. At this stage, the network has drafted a 2020 programme of work for its three pillars, with plans to draft a medium- to long-term project for improving resource mobilization. If the network manages to have early success and mobilize regional resources, it will be possible to replicate these practices.