Progressing the SDGs: What are the barriers and solutions to national implementation?

MELBOURNE — At Australia’s second Sustainable Development Goals Summit, held in Melbourne on March 13, participants highlighted a number of barriers in implementing the SDGs on a national scale and within a country that considers the goals more linked to the Millennium Development Goals than with domestic politics. But the day was also an opportunity to discuss how to overcome these challenges. At the summit, Devex spoke with participants about how to boost a domestic focus on SDGs, with the aim of achieving true national and global progress by 2030. Here are the highlights of the discussions. Overcoming the lack of visibility in domestic politics In Australia, the SDGs were quickly embraced by the Department of ForeignAffairs and Trade — the goals linked well with the work of Australia’s aid program and enhanced what they had been doing to support the SDGs. But outside of foreign aid, the SDGs are not being discussed. Few ministers are linking new policy announcements on health care, education, environment, employment, gender equality, housing affordability, and more to Australia’s international requirements under the SDGs. Labor Senator Claire Moore, a member of the committee that will be undertaking an inquiry into the SDGs, said this was an issue for all politicians — including her own party. The process to build awareness among politicians, Moore believes, needs to be stepped up. “We made a commitment in our last election policies to be engaged with the SDGs but it was within the foreign affairs portfolio,” she explained to Devex. “What we have got to do is get that full understanding that it is not the MDGs — we are beyond that. I’m hopeful that by July we will have a better integrated policy. It won’t be quite the way of Nordic countries yet, who have everything integrated into their budgets, but that is what I am hoping we will get to.” For Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, the minister for international development and the Pacific, Australia’s review to the United Nations in July will be an important step to shift the framing of the SDGs beyond international politics and integrated into domestic politics. Fierravanti-Wells said the goals could already be linked to the work of domestic politics, but it was a matter of creating those direct links for politicians themselves to be thinking globally. And the key, she said, is integrating the SDGs into work Australia is doing everyday — and not establishing a new national agenda and body of work. But Moore said it was also important that outside groups pushed government to understand issues such as the SDGs were important to voters — particularly youth networks, which she pointed out have already had success on issues such as keeping funding for foreign aid. Overcoming the challenges of bringing together multiple jurisdictions and sectors Australia’s strategy for implementing the SDGs has a lead federal government agency assigned to each of the 17 goals. And they are not only required to ensure cross-agency collaboration, but collaborate with the two levels of government sitting below them — state or territory governments and local governments, as well as potential partners outside government including from nonprofits, for-profits, and the research sector. Bringing this all together is a challenge, and whether it is achievable without a national action plan to guide how everyone could collaborate together has been a topic of debate. But this was a suggestion that was rejected by the lead agency for Australia’s national implementation, the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, or PM&C. “There are 17 SDGs that are very cross-cutting,” Jason McDonald, chief adviser for the Domestic Policy Group with PM&C, explained at the summit. “The idea that there is a plan that can coordinate everything and get it done I just don’t think can happen.” The key, according to McDonald, is to be transparent in their body of work, enabling them to be open to feedback as well as being open about the barriers — particular as part of the upcoming voluntary national review. In the absence of a national action plan, Moore urged leaders in this space to better use their networks. The Melbourne City Council, for example, has a strong policy linked to sustainable cities. And using the Australian Local Government Association they can communicate better with more than 500 local governments across Australia, sharing their knowledge and encouraging others to contribute to the goals. But visible leadership at the top, Moore believes, will also enable better awareness and action to trickle down to all levels of government. Overcoming the lack of SDG awareness The lack of awareness among Australia’s general public on the SDGs and relevance to their lives was a huge sticking point for progress — and Fierravanti-Wells acknowledged more needed to be done to improve communication and was open to suggestions. “If we’ve got good ideas as to how we can drill down those messages — whether it is through schools or other things like libraries, schools, small business, big business, universities, the union movement — right across the spectrum, I think these are good ideas we need to take on board in communicating our messages,” she said In communicating to the public, however, Fierravanti-Wells said the SDGs needed to be strongly linked with the objectives outlines in the Foreign Policy White Paper — the stability, security, and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific region. “Everything we do as part of this process dovetails into that objective of stability, security, and prosperity in our region,” she said. And the message needed to be linked to the needs of Australia to explain what the SDGs are, why Australia is involved, and how it directly benefit them. While there is work to do in communicating the goals, Fierravanti-Wells believes awareness is increasing. “The circle of advocates and understanding has broadened — there is no doubt about that,” Fierravanti-Wells explained. “It’s a much, much broader group in the 18 months since we had out [inaugural] summit in Sydney. The challenge now for us is breaking that down even further to everyday Australian life.” Overcoming the knowledge gaps Australia is still in a position of not fully understanding the goals and what work they are already doing to support this. As part of the voluntary national review, they are pulling information together to start get a better picture. “It allows you, through a very transparent process — based on data and statistics — to be able to then assess realistically and, in a very salutary manner, how and what you need to do to achieve your goals, targets, and the various initiatives that we are doing,” Fierravanti-Wells said. “For me, it is the immediacy of getting through that process and coming to properly assess where we are at and then, of course, that is going to give us a very, very good indicator of the work that will need to be done over the coming years to ensure that we achieve leaving no one behind by 2030.” But the senate inquiry into the SDGs also aims to be a tool to fill in the gaps — including data, approaches, and awareness. “I don’t want it to be just a standard inquiry where you have senators sitting there with people giving evidence,” Moore said. “I think there are ways we can do this better. We’ve got the agreement that this can be a long-term inquiry as well.” And she expects to find a lot of gaps. Currently, submissions are being received from what she sees as the usual suspects in this space — organizations and individuals already committed to the SDGs. Within government, she expects to find gaps in domestic politics. “DFAT get it [the SDGs] — it’s the domestic component that’s the issue,” Moore said. “People aren’t engaging because they have never had to. And it is hard for them.” But there are also challenges of defining what the goals aim to achieve. “We are hearing here [at the summit] that in 2018 we can’t get an accurate definition of poverty,” Moore said. “It’s hard to know where you are going if you don’t know where you are building from.” The gaps that can be identified through the inquiry are not just from the information submitted, but the voices missing from submissions. And this may identify groups that are not engaged with the SDGs — either through lack of awareness or interest. When the inquiry is over, a report will be prepared by the committee and delivered to government, and Fierravanti-Wells intends to utilize the information gathered. “That will be an opportunity for us to examine the submissions that have been made, and as a government, we will respond accordingly,” she said. “But it’s another component to this process that we are undertaking at the moment of assessment stock take and seeing what we are doing, where the gaps are, in a transparent manner, and then taking it after July to the next step.” Overcoming concerns that disadvantaged populations — including Indigenous populations — are being overlooked. PM&C has insisted that Indigenous Australians will not be overlooked, but Gary Oliver, chief executive officer of the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples, told Devex there is concern that Australia’s reporting as part of the voluntary national review would highlight initiatives and progress nationally or by state — a level that can easily hide disadvantage, particularly among Indigenous communities. “When we have a look at our unemployment levels, rate young people are dying, and domestic and family violence, we wonder why that is so high,” Oliver told Devex. “But when you go to our communities, they are third world — 18 people living in a house with no walls but a washbasin and paying rent to a state government for that house, for example.” Adding to his concern is that fact that a national program aiming to close the gap between Australia’s Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations for a range of indicators including economic development, education, employment, health, infancy, and early childhood are not being directly linked to the sustainable development goals — despite there being direct connections. Moore raised this concern as well, explaining that a closing the gap report released a month ago had no link to the SDGs. And this was despite the work being led by PM&C, also the lead agency on Australia’s implementation of the SDGs. Oliver said there was determination to ensure Indigenous voices were not lost — and the National Congress will be reporting directly to the United Nations in April on the SDGs from the viewpoint of Indigenous Australians. “We are doing it without Australian government funding and it means we are not bound by the rules of the Australian government in what we want to do with our truth telling. We want to paint the real picture.” The report will be combined with side events to promote both the good work being undertaken as well as highlight the problems and issues within Australia — that would be expected more within a developing country. And reporting is expected to be an ongoing independent activity to keep governments in check. Knowing that there are other Indigenous communities within developed nations facing similar problems, Oliver hopes their work will also inspire others to provide the checks, balancing, and truth telling required to effectively deliver what all countries have signed up to through the SDGs.