This policy group is a public policy instrument to bring cohesion and coherence to Panama's social development strategies through broad and open discussion among government and non-governmental stakeholders. It leverages on the country's recent policy alignment between the national long-term development vision, the medium-term governmental strategic plan and the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda led by the National Concertation for Development.

This practice helps government and non-government institutions identify potential opportunities to articulate their sectorial-based interventions in order to (1) project each of their brands as direct contributors to Panama sustainable development path, which consequently also improves the SDG position as a common guide to public policy development; and (2) leverage the many underused financial, in-kind and technical resources available within the country to expand the benefits of complementary actions and investments across multiple groups who suffer from poverty and other limitations related to unsustainable development.
One of this tool’s comparative advantage to other similar solutions in the country is that it is currently orchestrated within the Social Cabinet Technical Secretariat, a public organization with a legal mandate to lead the government’s efforts to implement the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and its SDG goals and targets. Simultaneously, the Secretariat, with the help of UNDP Panama, is also strengthening an information system specialized to monitor and report on the SDG goals and the country’s efforts to meet the SDG targets. This digital monitoring tool is unique to this organization and sets it apart in its capability impact on the country’s development agenda.

This policy discussion instrument is based on a mixed-tier interaction model whereby government and non-government organizations can organize either separately or cooperatively to prepare inputs within committees and afterwards share findings in plenary discussions to build consensus on policy frameworks. Main government participants are institutions’ planning officers, who understand and manage, the public budget cycle, the extent to which each project or intervention impacts SDG goals and the extent that relevant indicators are available. The non-governmental sector is led by the National Concertation for Development a multi-stakeholder organization, created in 2007 to create the country’s development vision.

One of its most important goals was to prioritize Panamas most urgent SDG goals and targets. As a result, the Multisectoral Public Policy Group identified 85 priority target among the 17 SDG analized.