Transcript
EMELE DUITUTURANGA: We know from the MDGs, particularly in the Pacific, the results were actually mixed and in fact not very good. So that tells us that even if such an agreement is endorsed by government, unless civil society gets involved, holds government accountable, civil society contributing to the implementation and the reporting, we're not going to get very far. So that's our call and the Agenda 2030 and the SDGs is not for governments alone, but one that civil society and citizens must hold governments accountable for but also make a contribution for its success.
DON WISEMAN: How would you hold them accountable?
ED: Each country, at the country level, is required to come up with their own reports which they will report to the United Nations high level political forum and what civil society is organising to ensure that the reporting mechanisms, at the country level, is multi-stakeholdership. You know, civil society's involved, the private sector, citizens are involved and in that way there can be this mutual accountability that governments are able to report to citizens what is happening in the same way citizens can monitor the goals, the targets and also - because the SDGs, or the Agenda 2030, has a very detailed reporting mechanism, so it's very easy to work through the targets and say 'have we achieved this?' 'where are we in terms of progress?' So this is how we intend to hold governments accountable at the country level but also at the United Nations level.
DW: The SDGs I think are a lot broader aren't they than the Millennium Development Goals were. Do you think governments in the Pacific are going to really get their heads around them all?
ED: Well this is the big challenge Don. We go from MDGs, we had eight goals and now we have the 17 SDG goals. There are 169 targets and there are 250 plus indicators. In the Pacific what's happened with civil society and governments have come together, is to identify some, what's been called 'draft Pacific headline indicators' meaning that we'll have a suite or a menu of what are the key headline indicators that as a region we can report our gains. Of course at the country level, governments no doubt will prioritise what is important for each government, but the whole idea of the Agenda 2030 and the SDGs is that it's a universal agenda that all countries are going to report against. The 17 goals but it also enables countries to select, if you like, those priority goals that really is relevant to them.
DW: The big issue for many Pacific countries of course is this perennial one of a lack of capacity.
ED: Well absolutely. It's a lack of capacity particularly, well on many fronts, particularly in terms of data. I mean, if you're going to report you'll need to have the data to be able to provide the evidence that you have made progress in certain areas and so this is something that we're all grappling with even in civil society and also in governments. The burden of reporting, there's the Agenda 2030, the Small Island Developing States, we have the Samoa pathway. In the Pacific for the Pacific Forum countries we have the framework of Pacific regionalism so there is a real need for coherence and alignment of these priorities and at a country level there are only one or two warm bodies, you know that's doing all of these. So yes, indeed capacity is a major issue which is also why there will be a need to and look at what resources are indeed available.
DW: Do you think that Pacific governments as a rule are happy to work with civil society groups in recognising the skills that they can bring toward things like this?
ED: It differs at different country levels but globally governments have endorsed Agenda 2030, leaving no-one behind as a recognition that you've got to have other stakeholders, that you've got to have people planet participation. Civil society has a major role.