Project Title: Facilitate the Landing of 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at the National Level

Donor Organization: United Nations Development Program (UNDP) – Governance Reform Fund (GRF) through SIDA – Swedish International Development Agency

Project Number: 0097412

Grant Amount: $82,440

Project Duration: 25 December 2017 – 25 September 2018

Problem Statement

The Government of Georgia (GoG) offered high-level political support to prioritize SDGs on a national level. In 2017, The Administration of Government of Georgia (AoG) as SDGs coordinating body, institutionalized the SDG Council along with its four Working Groups (WGs)on Social Inclusion, Economic Development, Democratic Governance and Sustainable Energy & Environment Protection.

In addition to the coordination mechanisms, AoG together with the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) and a legal entity of public law, Data Exchange Agency (DEA) under the Ministry of Justice, continue to develop theElectronic Management System (EMS) platform to effectively monitor the implementation of SDGs in Georgia. Once the EMS is tested and launched in the beginning of 2018, all involved government institutions shall be trained in its effective use.

Now that the SDG coordination mechanism is set through the relevant Council, the GoG intends to strengthen the Council’s capacity and make the body a functional tool for coordination and oversight. For this purpose, the AoG is committed to ensuring that SDG Council meetings occur on a regular basis. While the Council oversees policy decisions, its WGs will target specific thematic areas and will be charged with coordinating the work of various bodies, compiling content and data from relevant institutions, and incorporating the SDG targets into existing or prospective National Strategies and Action Plans.

AoG and other responsible government institutions lack the capacity to generate and analyze relevant data for the implementation of SDGs. Starting from next year, the production of monitoring reports will call for the Council and its WGs to assume a key role in data collection and analysis. This will necessitate expert involvement in each of the WGs to ensure that WGs are adequately equipped to carry out effective data collection and analysis. In addition, one of the key functions of the WGs will be to integrate SDG targets into all existing and prospective national policy documents. It will be necessary for WGs to consult expert advice to ensure accuracy throughout the target integration process, which will create a strong basis for the future alignment of SDG targets into national policies.

Despite the comprehensive awareness raising campaign conducted within the previous project – “Support to the Implementation of UN Sustainable Development Goals in Georgia” the lack of meaningful involvementin the SDGs implementation process among Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), the private sector and academia remains a persistent challenge. A more targeted awareness-raising approach is important at this stage to encourage greater contributions from the aforementioned groups.

Project Objectives

The objective of the sub-project is to strengthen the data collection and coordination, capacities of leading national SDG mechanisms (the SDG Council Secretariat, the Council itself and the Council’s WGs.), along with the capacity development of civil servants to effectively monitor SDG implementation and apply newly-acquired skills in the development of the first progress report on SDGs implementation in Georgia.The project also aims to increase awareness on SDGs.

To meet with the objectives of the project the national data and policy experts will be engaged in the process. Data experts will strengthen the WGs on data collection standards, while policy expert will work on incorporation of SDGs targets into national policy documents.

In the framework of awareness raising campaign thematic discussions with the CSOs, meetings with the representatives of private sector and academia will be conducted.

Project Goals

- Strengthen data collection and coordination practices of leading national SDG mechanisms through facilitated  institutional capacity development;

- Increase public awareness and facilitate knowledge-sharing regarding global, regional and national developments on SDGs and their implementation, with a special focus on CSOs, private sector and academia;

- Enhance the monitoring capacities of civil servants in terms of measuring the effectiveness of SDG implementation and supporting the development of the first SDG progress report.

Expected Results

- Improved data collection standards for the Council, WGs and AoG;

- Strengthened Monitoring and Evaluation capacity of civil servants involved in the SDGs implementation process, through the effective application of the EMS;

- SDG targets linked with national strategy documents;

- Elaborated and disseminated first progress report on the implementation of SDGs;

- Increased engagement of CSOs, academia and private sector in SDGs implementation and monitoring.

Planned Activities

Budget

Independent Auditor Report

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