December 2022 - You are accessing an archived version of our website. This website is no longer maintained or updated. The Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform has been migrated here: https://sdgs.un.org/

Creating ownership at the national level
Wednesday, 13 July 2016
10:00 AM - 11:30 AM
Conference Room 4

Official meeting

Biographies
In September 2015, the Member States of the United Nations adopted the historic 2030 Agenda, with 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at its core. The Agenda and the SDGs were only aspirations, however, until they were brought back to Capitals around the world—and to cities, states, regions and provinces—and absorbed into the national context. This session will address the process of nationalizing and localizing the SDGs, including the institutional and policy challenges and opportunities, progress to date, and prognosis for the future.

The 2030 Agenda is defined by its universal nature, serving developing and developed countries alike. But this universality is meaningful only with the understanding that one size does not fit all circumstances. As Member States embark on the process of bringing the SDGs to the national level, they are adapting the 2030 Agenda to pre-existing national sustainable development strategies and plans and also, concurrently, adapting national strategies and plans to the Agenda. This two-way process takes a variety of shapes. Based on the experiences and institutional arrangements from the Millennium Development Goals, countries will be focusing on a broader range of goals and targets under a universal agenda. Thus domestic implementation means breaking new ground and adopting a new mind set.

In both developing and developed countries, governments will succeed in implementing the 2030 Agenda only if they engage a wide range of stakeholders from the public and private sectors. Civil society, academia, parliamentarians, local authorities, and business people together constitute the national landscape, and they together will create national ownership of the SDGs. By working with diverse stakeholders, Member States can help ensure that all voices are heard and that no one is left behind.

Possible questions for discussion:
  1. How can Member States strike the balance between respecting the universal nature and transformative ambition of the 2030 Agenda and tailoring it to their national contexts? What are the challenges and opportunities in this regard?
  2. How will countries adapt the global SDG indicators framework in light of its national circumstances?
  3. How will the process of localizing the SDGs and creating national ownership contribute to the scope and effectiveness of global follow up and review?

Chair:
  • H.E. Mr. Frederick Musiiwa Makamure Shava, Permanent Representative of Zimbabwe to the UN and Vice President of ECOSOC

Moderator:
  • Ms. Jessica Espey, Associate Director of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN)

Panellists:
  • Mr. Yonglong Lu, Professor at State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences
  • Mr. Louis Meuleman, Senior Fellow at the University of Massachusetts, Boston and Wageningen University, Netherlands

Lead discussants:
  • Ms. Annika Lindblom, Counsellor to the Ministry of the Environment, Finland
  • Mr. Ivane Shamugia, Head of the Donor Coordination Unit, Administration of the Government of Georgia
  • Mr. Adolfo Ayuso, Deputy Director General for Internationals Affairs at the Office of the President of Mexico
  • Mr. Gomer Padong, Development Cooperation and Advocacy Director of the Philippine Social Enterprise Network
Biographies
Mr. Gomer Padong
Development Cooperation and Advocacy Director of the Philippine Social Enterprise Network
Mr. Gomer Padong

Development Cooperation and Advocacy Director of the Philippine Social Enterprise Network

Mr. Padong is the Development Cooperation and Advocacy Director of the Philippine Social Enterprise Network. He represents his organization in the core group of Together 2030, a civil society initiative that promotes national implementation and tracking progress of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. He also coordinates the Social and Community Enterprise constituency of the Asia Pacific Regional CSO Engagement Mechanism with UNESCAP. He previously was a member of the Executive Committee of Beyond 2015 and was National Coordinator of the Beyond 2015 campaign in the Philippines.

Mr. Ivane Shamugia
Head of the Donor Coordination Unit, Administration of the Government of Georgia
Mr. Ivane Shamugia

Head of the Donor Coordination Unit, Administration of the Government of Georgia

Ivane Shamugia is the Head of Donor Coordination Unit of the Administration of the Government of Georgia. University Lecturer at the Faculty of International Relations. Prior to joining the Administration in 2014, for over five years, he worked on various analytical and managerial positions at the UNDP Georgia; He had worked as a diplomat and a foreign policy journalist. His experience covers a wide range of themes. He holds Master in Diplomacy from the Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies, Malta.

Mr. Louis Meuleman
Senior Fellow at the University of Massachusetts, Boston and Wageningen University, Netherlands
Mr. Louis Meuleman

Senior Fellow at the University of Massachusetts, Boston and Wageningen University, Netherlands

Dr. Meuleman is a senior fellow at the Center for Governance and Sustainability of the University of Massachusetts Boston, USA and research associate at the Public Administration and Governance Group of the University of Wageningen, the Netherlands.
He was the first Project director at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies, Potsdam, Germany (2010-2011); director of the Netherlands Advisory Council for Research on Nature, Environment and Spatial Planning (2002-2009), and head of unit and project director at the Netherlands Ministry for Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (1991-2001). He has over 25 years of experience as public manager at European, national and subnational level. Dr. Meuleman holds a PhD in Public Administration from Erasmus University, Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Mr. Yonglong Lu
Professor at State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Mr. Yonglong Lu

Professor at State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Dr. Yonglong Lu is the Chair and Research Professor, Regional Ecological Risk Assessment and Environmental Management Group at Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences (RCEES), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); Co-Director, RCEES, CAS; Fellow of TWAS (the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World); President of Pacific Science Association (PSA); Past President of Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE); International Resource Panel member of United Nations Environment Program (UNEP); Science Advisor, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN); Vice President, Ecological Society of China. Dr. Lu is also Editor-in-Chief of the journal Ecosystem Health and Sustainability, and Associate Editor of Science Advances.

Ms. Annika Lindblom
Counsellor to the Ministry of the Environment, Finland
Ms. Annika Lindblom

Counsellor to the Ministry of the Environment, Finland

Ms. Lindblom works in the Ministry of the Environment of Finland as Counsellor for International Affairs and as Secretary General of the Prime Minister led multi-stakeholder Finnish National Commission on Sustainable Development. She coordinates the process for a National Agenda2030 Implementation Plan together with the Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and takes operational responsibility in the work of the National Commission. She also works with the international aspects of the follow up and review of the Agenda2030, as well as UNEP-led processes regarding Sustainable Consumption and Production and Inclusive Green Economy. Ms. Lindblom belonged to Finland’s negotiation team during the Rio+20, Open-Ended Working Group on SDGs and Post-2015 processes, leading to the adoption of the Agenda 2030.

Ms. Jessica Espey
Associate Director of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN)
Ms. Jessica Espey

Associate Director of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN)

Ms. Espey is the Associate Director of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and head of its New York office. Prior to joining SDSN, Jessica served as a special adviser on the post-2015 agenda within the Office of the President of Liberia, supporting the work of The High Level Panel of Eminent Persons (of which President Sirleaf was co-chair) and the development of the Common African Position on the Post-2015 Agenda. Ms. Espey holds a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Modern History from the University of Oxford and a Masters of Sciences in the Political Economy of Development from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Over the past 9 years she has lived and worked in the UK, US, Liberia, Kenya and Rwanda.

Statements
Statements
Stakeholder Group of Persons with Disabilities
United Nations