Challenges

The Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development, established by Resolution?700?(XXXVI) under the auspices of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), is the regional mechanism to monitor and review the implementation of the 2030?Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development. The meetings of the Forum offer peer learning opportunities through voluntary presentations, the sharing of knowledge and best practices and discussions in that regard.

Nearly five years after the 2030?Agenda was adopted, the challenges facing its implementation are becoming greater and more complex. There is a need to align the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to national, subnational and sectoral development plans; adopt national measures for the effective implementation of the 2030?Agenda; train technical specialists to monitor compliance with SDG indicators; and identify concrete national strategies that can enhance the role of international cooperation, particularly South-South and triangular cooperation, in supporting such measures. This requires a significant national effort to develop strategies, adapt indicators and connect cooperation policies with the global agenda. It is therefore essential to build national capacities, for which international cooperation plays a significant role.

Toward a Solution

The Committee on South-South Cooperation, a subsidiary body of ECLAC, provides a platform within the existing intergovernmental structure to discuss cooperation and share best practices and common challenges.

At the 37th?session of ECLAC in 2018, member States created a network for the implementation of the 2030?Agenda and follow-up to the SDGs in Latin America and the Caribbean, which prioritizes South-South and triangular cooperation with a multi-stakeholder approach. The network’s main objective is to strengthen the institutional and technical capacities of Governments in the region. The network’s operational framework addresses SDG?17, particularly target?9 on enhancing international support for national plans; target?14 on enhancing policy coherence; target?16 on enhancing global partnership; target?17 on public, public-private and civil society partnerships; target?18 on capacity-building; and target?19 on building on existing initiatives.

The network has the following structure:

1. Core Group—this decision-making body provides strategic leadership and coordination for the successful implementation of the programme of work. It is currently made up of Cuba, Mexico and Uruguay.
2. Technical Secretariat—ECLAC provides logistical and technical support.
3. Coordination Pillars Working Groups—made up of three countries, one assigned to each pillar: a strategy pillar (Uruguay), a statistics pillar (Mexico) and a cooperation pillar (Cuba). A work plan has been developed for each of these pillars.

During the network’s first meeting, held in Havana in May?2018, the network was defined as a technical forum for countries in need of or providing knowledge in three subject areas:

• Inter-institutional and intersectoral coordination mechanisms for monitoring achievement of the SDGs
• National frameworks and tools to monitor progress on SDG indicators and to govern the methodologies, processes and standards for improving the collection, processing, disaggregation, dissemination and analysis of data to produce reliable, good-quality statistics
• Tools for aligning international development cooperation projects with the SDGs and technological tools on good practices in international cooperation for development

During the second meeting, held in Mexico City in November?2019, the 2019–2020?programme of work was developed and agreed upon. Each pillar of the network gave a presentation: strategy, by the Office of Planning and Budget of the Presidency of Uruguay; statistics, by the Governing Board of the National Institute of Statistics and Geography of Mexico; and cooperation, by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment of Cuba.

As a result of these working meetings and the work carried out under the three pillars, with the support of ECLAC, countries have come together to coordinate requests and offer support on topics such as addressing climate change, adapting SDGs to local and national contexts, budgeting for SDGs and strengthening national statistical capacities for monitoring their achievement.

The network is expected to:

• Create spaces to exchange knowledge and good management practices for the implementation and monitoring of the SDGs at the national and subnational levels, through South-South and triangular cooperation.
• Consider and incorporate cross-cutting approaches in support of the implementation, follow-up and review of the 2030?Agenda (focusing on areas such as gender, the environment and territorial decentralization).

Given that the network is still in its infancy, there has been no assessment of its results and impacts; however, it is expected to bring about multiple South-South cooperation projects.

In terms of funding, the network has worked with the Mexico-Uruguay Joint Cooperation Fund, as well as the cooperation agencies of Germany and Spain, to mobilize resources in order to carry out its coordination meetings and secure professional support from specialists in matters concerning its three pillars. At this stage, the network has drafted a 2020?programme of work for its three pillars, with plans to draft a medium- to long-term project for improving resource mobilization. If the network manages to have early success and mobilize regional resources, it will be possible to replicate these practices.