Supporting National-level Accountability: A Consultation on the “SDG Accountability Handbook”

Organized by the Transparency, Accountability & Participation (TAP) Network

When: Friday, 13 July 2018; 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM

Where: UN Church Center, Second Floor

(777 United Nations Plaza, New York, NY 10017)

Breakfast, coffee and lunch will be served for workshop participants

Background

While global processes around the 2030 Agenda to date have seen unprecedented levels of engagement by civil society, a significant gap still remains in overall awareness and action from states on the SDGs. This is particularly true at the national-level, where action and follow-up by civil society with their governments will be most critical.

In an effort to help support Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) working at the national-level promote accountability for the 2030 Agenda, including the SDGs, the TAP Network is currently drafting an SDG Accountability Handbook – a resource guide aimed at helping these national-level CSOs better understand approaches to holding governments accountable to the SDGs, using both existing mechanisms of accountability and newer ones, and guide them through practical steps they can take to enhance monitoring and accountability in their country.

This workshop around the 2018 High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) will serve as an important consultation opportunity to solicit concrete inputs from national-level CSOs on various topics related to SDG Accountability. All of these inputs will provide invaluable guidance to the TAP Network and its partners in finalizing this SDG Accountability Handbook in the months ahead. This workshop will feature highly interactive breakout groups that cover a wide range of approaches for ensuring accountability for the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs, facilitated by some of the foremost experts on each these issues. Discussions will focus on highlighting practical guidance for national-level CSOs, and in many cases will provide hands-on opportunities to provide comments and edits on drafts of various chapters of the SDG Accountability Handbook.

Through this workshop and the SDG Accountability Handbook itself, the TAP Network hopes that the expertise and active participation of civil society at all levels will play a key role in supporting SDG Accountability at the national level, and all are welcomed and encouraged to attend and contribute.

This workshop has the following objectives:

1. To solicit concrete inputs and guidance on various issues and chapters of the SDG Accountability Handbook
2. To provide an opportunity for national-level civil society to share best practices around their own work around SDG Accountability
3. To help identify the needs and opportunities of national-level CSOs for utilizing this SDG Accountability Handbook, with an aim to explore further work and partnerships to address these needs