- The ECA Office for North Africa launched on Friday 2 November in Tunis (Republic of Tunisia) the first Report on SDG implementation in Maghreb countries.
This report is being published three years after the launch of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) which summarize global development ambitions, thus providing an opportunity to make an initial stock take of progress made by Algeria, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia.
The report assesses national approaches to SDG implementation in the four countries, especially in areas such as SDG appropriation and integration, governance (strategic coordination and stakeholder commitments), financing and assessment. The report also aims to promote the exchange of experiences and best practice between Maghreb countries, as they are confronted with similar challenges.
This initial report focuses on strategic issues in Maghreb countries, with a focus on SDG 2, 7, 9, 13, 8 and 15 on food security, energy transition, youth employment, industrial transition, climate change and desertification.
"The scope of the SDGs and the complexity of the challenges to be met in order to achieve these goals, mean that we need to reconsider the way we view the stakes at hand, to design more coherent and integrated policies. This context also requires the adoption of new governance methods that facilitate the appropriation, partnerships and co-responsibility of players at all levels, to implement transformative projects in support to our societies", said Lilia Hachem Naas, Director of the ECA Office for North Africa.
The first of its kind, this report identifies the need for Maghreb countries to:
- speed up the appropriation and integration of SDGs in planification frameworks,
- finalize the setup of mechanisms to coordinate national efforts to implement the SDGs and the commitment of all stakeholders;
- to strengthen the coordination of national statistical and regional systems to improve data availability and coherence.
So far, countries have developed different approaches. For example, Mauritania has included the SDGs in its Strategy for Accelerated Growth and Shared Prosperity (SCAPP, 2016-2030). For its part, Tunisia has recently carried out a rapid, integrated evaluation of its five-year development plan (2016-2020), which presents a general alignment with SDGs goals by 50% and a partial alignment with the SDGs by 32%. In the meantime, Algeria and Morocco have included a significant number of SDGs in their national environment and sustainable development strategies as well as their implementation frameworks.
The report also recommends that additional efforts be made:
- to align national priorities with the SDGs (increasing SDG awareness and ownership, establishing a coordination and monitoring mechanism for more coherent policies and programmes, integrating SDGs into the strategic planning of local development, etc.);
- to increase concertation and partnerships between involved players (governments, international organizations, private sectors, local governments, academic and scientific spheres, civil society, etc.);
- to have SDGs taken into account in national budgetary processes.
The report was produced in response to a request by the Arab Maghreb Union and within the framework of the mandate assigned to UN regional economic commissions for the implementation and monitoring of Agenda 2030. An initial draft was discussed at the 33rd meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts of the ECA Office for North Africa, organized in partnership with the Tunisian Ministry of Development, Investment and International Cooperation (MDICI) and the Tunisian Union of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts (UTICA), from 30 October to 2 November 2018.
At the request of member countries, the Office will produce a regional profile on SDG implementation in the whole of North Africa to provide an overview of country progress and challenges.
Communication Team
Economic Commission for Africa
Office for North Africa
Tel: +212 (0) 537 548 749
