Mainstreaming SDG 16+ in VNRs and National Development Planning

This Learning Lab is a special session of the 2021 High Level Political Forum on sustainable development (HLPF) that will focus on the implementation and reporting of SDG 16+ and its centrality to ensure no one is left behind. Governments and organizations will demonstrate how monitoring and mainstreaming SDG 16 can effectively bring together a cross-section of national actors to review commitments and assess national progress across all 17 Goals and accelerate the 2030 Agenda. The SDG 16+ resources and initiatives presented will offer practical ways to build an inclusive and effective path forward.

The session will bring best practices from Cabo Verde and Costa Rica, examine research on gender, justice, and migration as well as showcase opportunities to strengthen data collection and scale innovation. The learning lab will also demonstrate how VNR reporting on SDG16+ can inform national planning and foster inclusive partnerships, deepening interlinkages across the 2030 Agenda and future cooperation.

The session will highlight innovations on how Member States and civil society have engaged in SDG 16+ implementation and reporting processes, such as the VNR, and examine the support needed to those furthest left behind, with focus on women and migrants, during the restrictions of COVID 19.  Presenters will assess different ways of reporting on and implementing SDG 16+ related to the impact of the pandemic,  explore current research and experiences from national partners to develop SDG 16+ indicators, and map and collect required data with links to respond to COVID 19.  The thematic areas covered will include:  quality reporting at national & local levels; innovation and how SDG 16+ data platforms can be utilized by governments; how to enable wider inclusion of non-state actors and non-official data in monitoring and implementing SDG 16+; the sharing of knowledge, experience and approaches; showcase examples of mainstreaming SDG 16+ in national development plans and in using the VNR; demonstrate ways to take a whole of society approach to SDG 16+ through stakeholder engagement with particular focus on women and migrants.