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Originally submitted in Spanish and translated to English by the
Secretariat
Strategies for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals
It was confirmed in December 2015 that the National Council for Social
Policy Coordination would coordinate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda
for Sustainable Development. The inter-institutional mechanism for
implementation and monitoring of the 2030 Agenda comprises 26 institutions
coordinated by the Council, as indicated in Figure I (available in the main message attachment).
The National Institute of Statistics and Censuses is a member of one of the
working committees, in addition to providing ongoing statistical expertise.
Civil society organizations, businesses, academia and subnational
governments are aligned with the national institutions that comprise the
mechanism.
Priority Sustainable Development Goals
In adapting the 2030 Agenda to its national context, Argentina took into account the indivisibility, integrality and cross-cutting nature of the Agenda. Consequently, it incorporated the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and prioritized the related targets, in accordance with the aspirational goal of eliminating poverty and the Government’s national priorities. This work was carried out by the Council between December 2015 and March 2016.
Main challenges and areas of progress
• Ownership and institutionalization. The decision of the executive branch to implement the 2030 Agenda has facilitated the alignment of the Sustainable Development Goal targets with the Government’s strategic and sectoral plans, and their harmonization with other international initiatives.
• Global-local balance. The alignment of Sustainable Development Goal targets with national policies requires the selection of relevant indicators to monitor these targets. However, even using the framework proposed by the Inter-Agency and Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goal Indicators as a basis, there may be differences that, it is hoped, the corresponding fact sheets will help to explain.
• Indivisibility and integrality of the Goals. This required strong cross-cutting coordination and ongoing consensus-building. Grouping relevant ministerial departments into teams was particularly important to allow them to be informed of international discussions on issues related to the Sustainable Development Goal targets. Robust initiatives with the national departments concerned were also proposed. Both aspects were recognized as positive side-effects of contextualizing the 2030 Agenda.
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Linkages with other government branches, subnational governments, the
private business sector, civil society and academia
. While partial progress was made, creating opportunities for participation to foster partnerships, in order to achieve better development policies and outcomes, remains a challenge.
• Consolidation of monitoring. The implementation and follow-up mechanism has been established at the institutional level, although its monitoring capacities need to be consolidated.
• Mobilization of resources for implementation. Progress has been made towards achieving alignment between national priorities, the Sustainable Development Goals and the national budget, but work remains to be done to ensure the budgetary resources and legal instruments required to reach the established targets.
• Strengthening of statistics. The selection of indicators facilitated the identification of gaps in data and methodological weaknesses. The so-called “data revolution” also presents the challenge of striking a balance between big data, data coverage and data quality. These findings could be taken into account in statistical plans.
Involvement of other actors
The legislative and judicial branches work in strategic partnership with the Council in order to create a favourable legal environment for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda; ensure that government budgets reflect the commitments undertaken by the executive branch; mobilize resources for implementation; and encourage citizen participation and accountability. The “localization” of implementation initiatives at various levels of government requires coordination between policies and efforts at the local and national levels. The Council has organized multiple activities aimed at raising awareness and encouraging the participation of civil society organizations and the private business sector in implementation efforts. It has also urged national ministries and institutions to collaborate with civil society and the business sector to obtain inputs and achieve synergies in implementation efforts and in the monitoring of progress. As for academia, in 2017 the Council encouraged universities to begin considering strategies for the integration of the Sustainable Development Goals. In that connection, it signed an agreement on joint action in February 2017.
Resources for implementation
The national Government is working to align its own priority goals and initiatives and the Sustainable Development Goals with the programmes and activities under the 2018 budget. Through this process, an estimated budget will be developed for each activity and necessary adjustments will be made to ensure its effective implementation. This relationship will be set out in the State management dashboard overseen by the Ministry of Modernization and the leadership of the Cabinet of Ministers.