This event is by invitation only.
Background
Bangladesh is heading to the middle-income country tier through its consecutive growth trends marking satisfactory progresses in various social indicators.The pandemic posed a sudden challenge which the current government demonstrated efficient management skills in handling health emergencies including balancing the life and livelihoods of the citizens. On the top, the Russia-Ukraine war is imposing another challenge amidst the global declining trends of ODA. This demands effective cooperation among development actors ranging from development partners, CSOs, private sectors, philanthropists etc.
Whatever initiatives for achieving SDGs are being taken in Bangladesh are mostly from the central. Government has high impetus to work on SDGs and all those are from the central government which lacks quality of the interventions and targeting the actual audiences confirming the LNOB principle. Therefore, localization of SDG particularly focusing on the lagging districts are critically important. Although, the country on average scale is performing well and recognized globally for its SDG implementation but there remain pockets unattended and to address those and addressing spatial discrepancies the localization approach will help confirming development effectiveness. It requires convergent approach bringing all the actors together starting from scanning the challenges, planning, and designing the solutions mapping with interventions.
Four principles of effective development cooperation – country ownership, inclusive partnerships, focus on results and transparency and mutual accountability should be taken into consideration in maximizing development results.
To confirm the ongoing development interventions particularly the SDG Localization effective, the Government of Bangladesh, through the Economic Relations Division of the Ministry of Finance, in collaboration of the Development Cooperation Effectiveness Working Group under LCG organised an Action Dialogue to stimulates multi-stakeholder discussions and mobilize all partners to bolster on-going efforts and actions for effective and efficient use of resources towards the achievement of the 2030 Agenda. It will help Bangladesh government and partners build a shared understanding of obstacles and priorities to increase efficient and effective utilization of development cooperation and cultivate stronger partnerships in the current development context.
In SDG implementation, the government is keenly putting its best efforts to track the progress and document the achievements. Organization of the regular SDG Implementation Review (SIR) conference helps track every ministry’s progress against plans. However, for ensuring the effective translation of the SDG results into people’s lives, localization is important.According to the Global Taskforce of Local and Regional Governments, UNDP and UN Habitat, ‘Localization is the process of taking into account subnational contexts in the achievement of the 2030 agenda, from setting the goals and targets to determining the means of implementation and using indicators to measure and monitor progress.’ In doing so, engagement of all the actors is essential for making the results effective and efficient.
General Objective
The Action Dialogue will help identify what actions are needed to advance the effectiveness of cooperation and partnerships to deliver sustainable development impact through SDG Localization.
Discussion Questions
- What opportunities exist to increase the effectiveness of cooperation and partnerships to deliver the sustainable development impact at the local?
- What are the main challenges to working through multi-stakeholder partnerships/working towards shared results/gearing collective development efforts towards SDG localization?
- What can be done to strengthen inclusiveness and effectiveness of engagement with stakeholders such as civil society, private sectors and the policy makers?
- What specific changes in policies, behaviour or systems would make it possible to advance and fully meet the effectiveness commitments?
Meeting Document
