As part of its follow-up and review mechanisms, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development encourages member states to “conduct regular and inclusive reviews of progress at the national and sub-national levels, which are country-led and country-driven” (paragraph 79). These national reviews are expected to serve as a basis for the regular reviews by the high-level political forum (HLPF), meeting under the auspices of ECOSOC. As stipulated in paragraph 84 of the 2030 Agenda, regular reviews by the HLPF are to be voluntary, state-led, undertaken by both developed and developing countries, and involve multiple stakeholders.

The voluntary national reviews (VNRs) aim to facilitate the sharing of experiences, including successes, challenges and lessons learned, with a view to accelerating the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. The VNRs also seek to strengthen policies and institutions of governments and to mobilize multi-stakeholder support and partnerships for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Twenty-two countries participated in the first round of VNRs, held during the 2016 meeting of HLPF, under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council. Reports, summaries, presentations and other documents submitted as part of the VNRs are available in each of the country pages below.

Other resources

• Synthesis of Voluntary National Reviews 2016
• E/HLPF/2016/6 - Multi-stakeholder forum on science, technology and innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals: summary by the Co-Chairs
  [Arabic] [Chinese] [English] [French] [Russian] [Spanish]
• A/70/684 - Critical milestones towards coherent, efficient and inclusive follow-up and review at the global level
  [Arabic] [Chinese] [English] [French] [Russian] [Spanish]
• Q&A for national reviews at the 2016 HLPF
• Summary on the Retreat on the preparation for the 2016 session of the HLPF

ECOSOC functional commissions and other intergovernmental bodies and forums, are invited to share relevant input and deliberations as they addresses goals and targets from the perspective of “Ensuring that no one is left behind”. inputs could follow the following template, inspired by the report of the Secretary-General on Critical milestones towards coherent, efficient and inclusive follow-up and review at the global level (A/70/684).

• an assessment of the situation regarding the principle of "ensuring that no one is left behind" at the global level;
• the identification of gaps, areas requiring urgent attention, risks and challenges;
• valuable lessons learned on ensuring that no one is left behind;
• emerging issues likely to affect the realization of this principle;
• areas where political guidance by the high-level political forum is required;
• policy recommendations on ways to accelerate progress for those at risk of being left behind.

Outcome document:

• E/HLPF/2016/5 - Synthesis of voluntary submissions by functional commissions of the Economic and Social Council and other intergovernmental bodies and forums
  [Arabic] [Chinese] [English] [French] [Russian] [Spanish]

In an innovative provision of the 2030 Agenda (para. 89), major groups and other relevant stakeholders were called upon to report on their contribution to implementation. That provision is particularly important for the voluntary reporting and accountability by non-governmental actors who manage significant resources or assets, and therefore play an important role in the achievement of individual Sustainable Development Goals and targets on the ground. These could include, for example, business, non-governmental organizations, specific partnerships and alliances, large cities, and others. To ensure comparability, reports from such stakeholders could build on a voluntary template based on existing tools and models.

• Proposal for voluntary common guidelines for major groups and other stakeholders to report to the high-level political forum on their implementation of the 2030 Agenda
• E/HLPF/2016/2 - Discussion papers on the theme of the high-level political forum on sustainable development, submitted by major groups and other stakeholders
  [Arabic] [Chinese] [English] [French] [Russian] [Spanish]

In an innovative provision of the 2030 Agenda (para. 89), major groups and other relevant stakeholders were called upon to report on their contribution to implementation. That provision is particularly important for the voluntary reporting and accountability by non-governmental actors who manage significant resources or assets, and therefore play an important role in the achievement of individual Sustainable Development Goals and targets on the ground. These could include, for example, business, non-governmental organizations, specific partnerships and alliances, large cities, and others. To ensure comparability, reports from such stakeholders could build on a voluntary template based on existing tools and models.

This section will feature inputs from multi-stakeholder partnerships and voluntary commitments, generated from those partnerships that have submitted a progress report through the Partnerships for SDGs online platform.