Sustainable development goals in action:Learning from the South and partnerships on climate resilient poverty

reduction and inclusive green economies

21st Poverty-Environment Partnership (PEP) meeting30 May – 1 June 2016, Savar, Bangladesh

Hosted by the Government of Bangladesh, with support from the Asian Development Bank, Department for International Development, Government of Finland, United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Environment Programme, International Institute for Environment and Development and International Centre

for Climate Change and Development at Independent University, Bangladesh

Meeting summary and proposed next steps

Participants: The 21st meeting of the Poverty Environment Partnership (PEP21) was held in Savar, Bangladesh, with 70 participants representing 32 organisations. This included eight developing country governments: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Indonesia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Mozambique, Nepal and the Philippines. There were five international organisations: the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Global

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Green Growth Institute (GGGI), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). There were also six bilateral organisations: the Austrian Development Agency (ADA), the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), the UK Department for International Development (DFID); and many non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and research organisations, including from Universities.

Objectives and themes: 2015 was an exciting year in the poverty and environment arena, with the finalisation of four major global agreements: the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) signed in New York in September, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Paris Agreement in December, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development in July, and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction in March. Countries are now beginning to implement the SDGs. They are seeking an integrated approach that aligns SDG activities and incorporates the ambitions of these frameworks.

The objectives of PEP21 were to assess the progress of SDG implementation, including the challenges and opportunities experienced; to share experiences across countries and stakeholder groups; and to identify new partnerships and activities for moving forward on the sustainable development agenda. Participants discussed the following themes: integration (of SDGs among the goals and target); inclusion (of poor groups and civil society stakeholders); communication (by PEP members and between stakeholders and groups); and coordinated partnerships (for supporting countries to implement coherent planning and budgeting processes).

Dhaka Tribune coverage: SDGs: Enough planning, it’s time to act. Meraz Mostafa

“It is now high time for all countries to translate what has been agreed to on paper into actions on the ground -- after all, how else are we going to create a more just and sustainable world?”

Summary of discussion

The PEP network celebrates the Sustainable Development Goals, but challenges remain. It is vital to achieve integrated implementation of the goals while prioritising strategically: Countries need to think of the targets as a ‘rope’ of development objectives rather than considering individual goals in isolation. However, some SDGs that did not exist in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) — such as SDG 14 on oceans and fisheries – will require a renewed focus.

Inclusion and empowerment is crucial for implementing the SDGs, particularly in terms of engaging with poor women and men themselves: All stakeholders, particularly marginalised groups (women, youth, indigenous people) must be brought into the implementation process.

The universal nature of the SDGs means much can be learned from South-South and South-North knowledge exchange and partnerships, especially about appropriate institutional responses: Developing countries have much to share with OECD countries in terms of SDG planning as all countries are struggling with institutional reforms to respond to the SDGs in an integrated manner.

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Some countries are creating new institutions (such as a ministry for SDGs) while others are linking up to existing processes, such as the five-year planning process.

Finances are key to enabling SDG implementation: Developing countries are undertaking reforms to help mobilise their domestic resources and enhance public financial management, and to improve tracking and accountability; including tracking domestic and international climate finance to ensure that donor funds received are used effectively.

Better coordination and harmonisation is needed between Development Partners in SDG support and capacity building, to avoid duplication and confusion over planning with competing labels (such as SDGs, Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), Green Growth, low carbon strategies etc). In particular more synergy is needed between SDG planning and INDC planning.

The broader public, including civil society and private sector, need to be fully engaged in implementing SDGs. The general public is not well engaged in SDG debates and this needs to change. Civil society is urgently needed to engage in SDG implementation, although space for this is being restricted in a growing number of countries.

The PEP network has a particular value in terms of knowledge sharing on SDG implementation: This should include South-South and South-North knowledge exchange.

PEP’s branding and communication strategy needs to evolve. PEP needs to engage/re-engage with a wider audience, given the opportunities and new challenges that the SDGs present.

Next steps

Review and endorse the Getting to Zero paper by 20 June — comments to be provided to Paul Steele: Paul.Steele@iied.org by 10 June

Share lessons from PEP21 and country experiences, and launch the Getting to Zero paper, at the High Level Political Forum side event (11–20 July). This event was applied for during PEP and led by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, in partnership with the Government of Bangladesh, Government of Nepal, Government of Indonesia, OECD, IIED, Development Alternatives, Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS) and Ecosystems for Poverty Alleviation (ESPA). Other launch events identified including the World Economic Forum where WWF and Development Alternatives will be participating.

PEP options were identified to support SDGs implementation including:o developing measures of success for SDG integration o joint analytic work on the role of Micro and Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSMEs)o joint analytic work on integrated institutions and o joint analytic work on channelling development and climate finance to the local level.

ADB, GGGI, UNDP, UNEP are all designing support to build countries’ capacity to implement the SDGs. They will seek to promote coherence in their programming, and welcome inputs to their programming from PEP members.

The PEP strategy is agreed and will be updated to reflect PEP21 discussions. 60 per cent of the projected PEP budget (2016-2018) has been raised, with US$250,000 mobilised to date. There is a shortfall of US$150,000; additional partners are welcome.

The PEP website will be redesigned and refreshed with funding from ADA, while the Asian Development Bank will continue to support site rebuilding, maintenance and social media presence.

PEP22 is planned for April/May 2017 in the United States — New York or Washington DC — to engage with the UN, World Bank, philanthropic foundations (such as Rockefeller and Ford) and the World Resources Institute (WRI). Some funds are already available.

Monday 30 May. Implementing the SDGs: planning, budgeting, monitoring and institutional reform

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Objective: To explore how countries are implementing the Sustainable Development Goals and the challenges and opportunities they face.

Welcome and objectives of Poverty Environment Partnership (PEP) 21 Naquib Bin Mahbub: Chief, General Economics Division, Planning Commission, Government of Bangladesh; and Daniele Ponzi, Technical Advisor (Environment), Asian Development Bank.

The Government of Bangladesh (GoB) is honoured to host PEP and extends a welcome to all participants. Over the next 15 years, countries will be working hard to implement the SDGs. In addition, they are seeking protection from the risk of climate change and pursuing climate resilience. PEP provides an opportunity for countries to exchange their experiences to achieve green growth targets. This annual meeting has two purposes:

Learning from partners about how they are implementing the SDGs in their countries, with a focus on the climate and environment-related SDGs

Developing South-South and South-North partnerships and exploring the support delivered through these partnerships. The meeting will focus on how countries can effectively work together to achieve zero extreme poverty, zero net greenhouse emissions and zero net loss of natural assets.

Session 1: Opportunities and challenges for implementing poverty and environment-related SDGs through decisions on planning, budgeting, monitoring and institutional reform

1.1 SDG planning, budgeting and monitoring in middle-income and OECD countries . Panel discussion with Zeenat Niazi, Vice President, Development Alternatives, India; Ganbat Chimeddagva, Senior Officer, Department of Monitoring, Evaluation and Internal Audit, Ministry of Environment and Green Development, Mongolia; Matti Nummelin, Senior Environmental Adviser, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Finalnd; facilitated by Nicolina Lamhauge, Policy Analyst, OECD.

In India, the Planning Commission has been reformed to act as a think tank with national ‘missions’ such as renewable energy and cities. State governments have been given increased flexibility in designing specific programmes. The current five-year plan lays foundations for greener, more inclusive, faster growth; and the government has recently announced an end to five-year plans and a shift to a new 15-year plan, which fits within the SDG framework and defines targets. The main challenges are in coordination and financing, including the need for coordination between ministries working on different SDG targets; and a US$0.56 trillion gap for climate finance, identified by India’s Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change.

The Government of Finland is deeply involved in environment and sustainable development discussions and has provided significant input to the development of SDGs. It has an SDG committee at national level, headed by the prime minister and involving parliament, indigenous people, ministry representatives, private sector, labour unions and 23 non-governmental organisation. They have their own indicator framework, including indicators for labour, municipalities, wise resource use, sustainable living and biodiversity. This was established before the SDG indicators were announced, based on available data that provide a baseline for comparability. Finland faces the challenges of productive rather than ecological perspectives on forests and the pollution of forests, lakes and sea, and unsustainable mining.

Mongolia launched an SDG paper in 2014 as a precursor for implementing the SDGs and to guide development in the country. The country also established a green development policy in 2013. Mongolia is facing implementation problems due to declining income from mining, a sector that the country’s growth has depended on.

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In discussion, it was agreed that national-level growth can mask internal inequities in development. For example, the Indian state of Kerala is developing much more rapidly than West Bengal. Their different development trajectories can in part be explained by differing governance histories and priorities, and by different patterns of migration: economic migration in Kerala and distress migration in West Bengal. The SDGs need to ensure inclusion in development, encompassing the poorest, recognising the central role of women and engaging civil society. OECD’S Network on Environment and Development Co-operation (ENVIRONET) can be understood as the ‘brother of PEP’ with a more formal mode of working.

Overview of Germany’s progress and support for SDG implementation. Henrike Peichert, Advisor, GIZ.

The German government is fully engaged in the SDG process. They have made a strong commitment to working on the SDGs through a three-tier approach: 1) domestic implementation; 2) reviewing Germany’s bilateral function as a donor country; 3) continuous international support for engagement. Their strategy has been rewritten and structured according to the 17 SDGs and is to be published in October 2016. It examines the introduction of indicators aligned with the SDGs and outlines its intention for major dialogues with think tanks, intergovernmental organisations, ministries and civil society. The government has adopted an official sanction mechanism to encourage the fulfilment of targets and is planning to pass legislation in parliament to strengthen this.

There is a clear decision that SDG 12 on sustainable production and consumption will be of particular relevance in Germany — addressed through, for example, sustainable consumption plans to improve the lifestyle footprint of the country and imports of raw materials. In their bilateral strategy this includes reviewing global market chains. For example, GIZ supports the Global Textile Alliance introduced after the Rana Plaza accident, which brings together textile producers to improve value chains. GIZ determines its bilateral activities by engaging with country governments, through the GIZ country offices, to examine needs. GIZ recognize that SDG integration is important but that not everything can be achieved simultaneously; therefore they have set priorities according to their country interests for domestic purposes, and to support specific needs for bilateral programmes.

1.2 SDGs planning, budgeting and monitoring in Least Developed Countries. Panel discussion with Phuntsho Wangyel, Deputy Chief Research Officer, Gross National Happiness Commission, Bhutan; Chakrapani Sharma, Under Secretary, Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Government, Nepal; and facilitated by Anne Juepner, Co-Director, Poverty Environment Initiative, UNDP.

Least Developed Countries (LDCs) face gaps and challenges in implementing the SDGs. A major requirement of integrated implementation is to build on existing processes with a clear plan to expand activities in a way that accounts for SDG targets. Nepal has a new federal constitution and the resulting political transformation process comes with both challenges and opportunities. The transition has focused on the politics not on economics. So economic shortcomings, exacerbated in 2015 by the earthquake and power crisis, have created challenges in meeting citizen demands. The government plans to address SDGs, prioritising environment, biodiversity and sustainable development in their ‘climate smart’ policy, and engaging local communities and local government. They emphasise the role of local government in coordinating local activities and engaging civil society, but recognise limits in their capacity. In the context of a new political system, capacity development requires a long-term pathway of change. Yet transformation also presents opportunities to integrate policies and SDG objectives and to enable local governments to improve themselves.

Bhutan’s political commitment to SDGs is well advanced. Existing plans align with 134 of the 169 SDG targets. The government has prioritised implementing the three goals that are most relevant to Bhutan’s context: poverty, climate change and terrestrial ecosystems, which will be addressed in an integrated

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manner through a targeted rural economic programme. It has established an integrated planning and policymaking process and a monitoring system. It is working towards developing a better system to inform decisions, involve the private sector in SDG implementation and increase inclusivity in the implementation process. SDGs will be included in Bhutan’s 12th plan, which will reach out to other stakeholders, including donors, local governments and the private sector.

1.3 SDG implementation: institutional reforms, planning, budgeting and monitoring in Bangladesh. Panel discussion with Chief Guest Professor Shamsul Alam, General Economics Division (GED) Member, Planning Commission, GoB; Farah Kabir, Country Director, ActionAid; Nurun Nahar, Deputy Chief, Programming Division, Planning Commission, GoB; Mohammed Altaf-Ul-Alam, Deputy Secretary, Finance Division, Ministry of Finance, GoB; Paul Eastwood, Team Head, UK Department for International Development; facilitated by Saleemul Huq, Director, International Centre for Climate Change and Development (DFID).

The Government of Bangladesh (GoB) has made considerable progress in planning and budgeting for the SDGs, recognising knowledge sharing and multi-actor participation as crucial for implementation. It is actively involved in knowledge initiatives, including Gobeshona and the Planning Commission Learning Hub. The Planning Commission is completing various scoping activities to support the development of action plans for each target, which integrate action across ministries. The government stipulates that each development intervention must pass an environmental impact assessment and follow environmental rules. The Ministry of Finance supports SDG financing through their new three-year budgeting plans and process, which includes a quarterly monitoring system. They are also implementing a climate fiscal framework to help budget for climate expenditures. However, Bangladesh requires a significant increase in financial resources to achieve the SDGs. It will generate domestic revenue, but also seek support from development partners. Government acknowledges the need to build capacity, establish transparent processes and improve their own financial management processes in order to access external funds.

DFID has seen real progress in GoB action, including in monitoring and leadership. It plans to allocate US$160 million to Bangladesh this year, integrating climate change across their programming and focusing on information management and coordination between ministries. DFID’s priorities in Bangladesh are accountability, law and climate change, including adaptation and mitigation. Their role in the Bangladesh Climate Change Resilience Fund did not fulfil expectations and the Fund is is closing, but it provided lessons about government and World Bank capacity to deliver. Donors need to improve programme design to secure more institutionally sustainable outcomes, with exit strategies to provide effective transitions to government once the programme ends. This will require a significant investment in planning.

DFID also embraces civil society organisation (CSO) engagement, for which there is significant opportunity. CSOs in Bangladesh seek to fulfil SDG objectives by delivering at the local level, playing a role in capacity building, building bridges across different levels scales, sharing knowledge, monitoring and advocacy. ActionAid has developed ‘multi-logs’ to define SDGs’ relevance and reality for poor people on the ground in Bangladesh. They advocate for inclusivity in development actions — particularly of women and youth, who are central to building natural and social capital.

Session 2. SDG focus on climate and oceans: linking SDGs with poverty reduction, resilience and inclusion

2.1 Oceans SDG 14: Turning the tide on oceans and fisheries. Panel discussion with Md. Khurshed Alam, Secretary, Head of Maritime Affairs Unit, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, GoB; Jocelyn Pendon, Executive Director, Bureau of Local Government Finance, Department of Finance, the Philippines; Wunna Aung Deputy Director, Department of Investment and Company Administration, Ministry of Planning and Finance, Myanmar; facilitated by Essam Yassin Mohammed, Senior Researcher, International Institute of Environment and Development (IIED).

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SDG 14 provides a new focus on oceans and fisheries, illuminating their potential for development and environmental gains. In the Philippines, fishing contributes to 13.8 per cent of the agricultural sector at current prices and provides a significant contribution to gross domestic product (GDP). There are challenges with regard to municipal enforcement and limited fishery development. Attention to development is critical: the fisheries sector has a high incidence of poverty, at 30.2 per cent of people working in the sector living in poverty in 2012. It is important that revenues are generated from this sector. The agriculture and budget management departments are developing a database of fishers, to target revenue generation by identifying areas of fishery development. The government tackles poverty reduction through tax exemption for those whose income is below 50,000 Philippines pesos (US$1,084). It also aims to generate knowledge and conserve species, having recently established research centres working directly with fishers on small-scale research projects. Last year, fishers were prevented from farming certain species of fish to conserve the species and allow it to develop.

Bangladesh and Myanmar engage in marine fishing, inland fishing and aquaculture. Bangladesh requires better technology to improve their marine fisheries, for instance through monitoring water quality and reducing the labour intensity of deep-sea fishers. Their success in land fisheries can contribute to SDG targets. An international conference, the United Nations Conference to Support the Implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 14, is planned by Fiji and Sweden from 5 to 9 June 2017. Under the Climate Vulnerable Forum, Bangladesh and the Marshall Islands are responsible for taking the ‘blue economy’ industry forward. Related activities include aquaculture, coastal shipping, mangrove restoration and productivity of coastal and riverine islands. Myanmar benefits economically from fisheries through exporting produce to China, Thailand and Malaysia. The country generates internal revenue and manages fish resources through enforcing fishery permits and licences. NGOs support fishers by helping them to secure licences and loans.

SDG 14 responds to the call to “leave no one behind” while balancing this with environmental gains. The SDGs cannot be met without reaching Goal 14, which contributes to the sustainable management of natural resources, poverty alleviation and job creation — and is closely linked to other SDGs.

2.2 Climate SDG 13: Integrating the Paris climate agreement including Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) into the SDGs through institutional reform, planning, budgeting, monitoring and climate tagging. Panel discussion with Mohammd Altaf-Ul-Alam, Deputy Secretary, Finance Division, Ministry of Finance, GoB; Hageng Suryo Nugroho, Head of Infrastructure and Environment Fiscal Policy, Ministry of Finance (MoF), Indonesia; and Jorge João Francisco Chindela, Technician, Ministry of Economy and Finance, Mozambique; facilitated by Khurshid Alam, Assistant Country Director, UNDP, Bangladesh.

There are challenges inherent to addressing climate change and SDGs. These include the increased development challenges presented by a changing climate and achieving climate resilience simultaneously with development.

In Indonesia, the government has carefully considered how to tackle each of the SDGs in unison with their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) by mapping out and ranking related priorities in the Ministry of Finance’s Green Planning and Budgeting Strategy. Priorities include power, sustainable mining, public transport, waste, and climate-proofing policy, such as integrating disaster risk reduction. Their next steps are to leverage resources, ensure line ministries’ adoption of the programme , engage the private sector and determine how to monitor progress.

In Bangladesh, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) have developed a Climate Fiscal Framework. They have reviewed 69 development codes, ranked the climate relevance of expenditures and estimated the total climate expenditure at about US$1 billion per year. The intention is to institutionalise this by creating a

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climate budget code that allows each year’s climate expenditure to be calculated easily. The MoF acknowledges the challenge of defining climate expenditures, and disaggregating between the climate change relevance of different activities. The government followed the OECD’s approach to identify the relevance of different activities to climate change adaptation or mitigation, with highly relevant expenditure counted as climate expenditure. Bangladesh continuously increases funds for mitigating adverse climate impacts, and plans to introduce a carbon tax.

Mozambique is transitioning to a ‘green blue economy’. The government is integrating climate change into national plans and budgets. Their fiscal system is designed so that one budget line can support more than one programme, with climate change integrated into programmes in different sectors.

All countries indicated their evolution from a traditional one-year planning cycle to considering the long-term nature of progress and ensuring their planning systems support this. Implementation of the INDCs simultaneously with SDGs highlights the need to integrate across goals and targets. The SDGs can be considered a network of goals that interconnect across levels — international, national, local and individual (the latter referring to an individual’s role as both a national citizen and an international or global citizen). SDG 13 should not be considered separately; instead we must consider how to integrate climate change risk across goals and how to make sure that all of the goals relate. There is a need to ensure that climate change does not hinder other SDGs, that governments and other stakeholders work together effectively, and that cross-country comparisons are enabled through complementary accounting methods. Integration across goals can replace separate sectoral goals to achieve strategic alignment and progress in SDG objectives.

Related materials:

UNDP 2015 Climate Budget Tagging IIED 2016 Climate Finance Short Course Report

Formal dinner hosted by the Government of Bangladesh

Participants enjoyed a formal dinner hosted by the GoB. They heard speeches by Paul Steele, PEP Coordinator; Seon-Mi, Regional Manager, Poverty Environment Initiative (PEI) Asia Pacific; Saleemul Huq, Director, International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD); and Professor Shamul Alam, GED Member of the Planning Commission, GoB. The speakers noted the highlights of the first day’s proceedings at PEP21. They thanked the organisers, participants and panelists for their contributions. The speakers emphasised the importance of partnerships for implementing SDGs. Saleemul Haq outlined the International Centre for Climate Change and Development’s activities, including its focus on generating and sharing knowledge in Bangladesh, and on South-South and South-North learning. Professor Shamsul Alam expressed thanks for the opportunity to host PEP. He further emphasised the need for applying knowledge in implementing the SDGs. This will be a critical part of the GoB’s ministry action plans. He said that the contribution of multiple stakeholders, providing innovative solutions across sectors, can help to turn knowledge into greater action.

Tuesday 31 May. Partnerships for SDG implementation

Objective: Exploring partnerships to support SDG implementation

Summary of previous day. Marla Pinto Rodrigues, Advisor Environment and Natural Resources, Austrian Development Agency.

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Session 3. Partnerships for SDG implementation: how we work together to support the integration of the SDGs related to poverty, environment and climate into planning, budgeting and monitoring. Discussion facilitated by Paul Steele, PEP Coordinator, IIED.

3.1 Global Green Growth Institute: launch of the Inclusive, Green Growth publication and partnerships on SDG implementation. Thomas Nielsen, Poverty Reduction and Social Inclusion Adviser, Global Green Growth Institute.

The Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) was established in 2010 in South Korea. It then expanded to include Denmark, Mexico and Norway. Today it is an international organisation open to all UN member countries, with 26 involved to date. The GGGI focuses its support on middle-income and low-income countries. It aims to spend approximately 50 per cent of its budget in LDCs. New programmes are being launched in Uganda, Senegal and Myanmar, and Bangladesh is a potential country of focus from next year. The GGGI’s Strategic Plan 2010–2020 aims for environmentally sustainable approaches that achieve poverty reduction. On 5–9 September 2016, GGGI will host Global Green Growth Week on Jeju Island in South Korea. This will include multiple activities including the Green Growth Knowledge Platform meeting on inclusion. GGGI are making an effort to align with other development partners to avoid duplicating efforts and complicating implementation. They recognise the need for inclusion, but have found it hard to identify an effective approach for consulting and engaging poor people and marginalised groups. They are asking their country partners to identify relevant CSOs to work with and help ensure inclusivity.

3.2 Asian Development Bank. Daniele Ponzi, Technical Advisor (Environment), Asian Development Bank and Peter Hazlewood, Consultant, Asian Development Bank.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is preparing a new ‘Strategy 2030’ to align with the SDGs. Last year ADB started to consolidate resources, enabling an increase in total lending from US$14 billion to US$20 billion. Despite progress on poverty reduction in the Asia-Pacific region, challenges remain. These include the remaining poverty, income inequality and gender inequity; climate change and environmental vulnerability; fragility, other vulnerabilities and natural disasters; insufficient infrastructure and rapid urbanisation; skills, technology and productivity gaps; demographic changes, youth unemployment; governance and institutional bottlenecks.

ADB has proposed a new regional technical assistance project (TA), Agenda 2030: Supporting the Sustainable Development Goals through Strategic Partnerships and Preparedness. This will have three components. There will be two external tracks, on 1) regional tracking and progress reporting on SDGs and 2) SDG knowledge products (studies, regional and country-level strategic and technical papers), policy dialogue, consultations and workshops. And there will be one internal track on the ADB response to the SDGs, including preparing a strategic and operational framework. A second regional TA (US$1 million over 18-24 months) is proposed on Supporting Early Implementation of Environment-Related SDGs in Asia and the Pacific. Preliminary thinking suggests it will have three components, generating three central outputs:

Output 1: Regional rapid assessment of priority capacity development needs, to advance early action on implementing environment-related SDGs (to inform the design of Output 2)

Output 2: Application of diagnostic and ‘screening’ tools and institutional mechanisms in 3–4 selected developing member countries for integrating environment-related SDGs into national and sub-national policy, planning and budget frameworks, and supporting the identification and design of integrated investment programmes

Output 3: Regional learning, experience-sharing and forward planning to support longer-term efforts on integrating environment-related SDGs in national and sub-national policy, planning, budget and investment frameworks.

The programme aims to achieve enhanced knowledge, experience sharing and capacity among public and private stakeholders on integrated approaches to incorporating environment-related SDGs into national

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and sub-national policy, planning and budget frameworks and identifying and designing investment programmes. ADB welcomed input from participants to feed into the concept paper for the regional TA. Participants applauded the TA but had concerns about the limited time frame and financing; the need for greater engagement and coordination with other stakeholders, particularly the Poverty-Environment Initiative; the need to link more closely with ADB’s investment frameworks; and to engage more with universities. ADB welcomed the comments. After consideration of these concerns the concept paper will be developed further, before being circulated to PEP members. The TA programme is intended for approval by the third quarter of 2016.

3.3 United Nations: UNDP Mainstreaming, Acceleration and Policy Support and the UNDP-UNEP Poverty-Environment Initiative. Anne Juepner and Isabell Kempf, Co-Directors, Poverty-Environment Initiative, UNDP.

The UN system response to the SDGs is known as Mainstreaming, Accelerating and Policy Support (MAPS). This uses various tools, including the Rapid Integrated Policy Assessment Tool, which helps countries assess their readiness for SDG implementation. The UNDP works with the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) to create tools to identify triggers for accelerating SDG implementation. They have a special focus on integration, examining multi-stakeholder solutions, completing analyses to ensure no one is left behind, and promoting risk management to avoid disasters derailing development.

UNDP-UNEP Poverty-Environment Initiative (PEI) is a joint programme that provides guidance and support to make poverty-environment issues mainstream. PEI have started catalysing action on the ground, working closely with UN country teams to meet their objectives. Within the UNDP/UNEP partnership, PEI is viewed as a precursor to the SDG agenda. PEI-related tools, methodology and experience have contributed to mapping related approaches for implementing SDGs. PEI aims to sustain, at country level, integrated planning and budgeting processes, green accounting, monitoring and accountability to achieve sustainable results.

PEI recognises the challenges of ‘siloed’ goals and working practices, the marginalisation of poor groups, bringing civil society representatives together and understanding the links between SDGs. The new PEI programme aims to create a poverty-environment nexus for SDGs, including capacity development. The main focuses are the ‘means of implementation’, mainstreaming pro-poor and the management of environment and natural resources, and directing public and private investment to poverty-environment objectives. PEI will continue to enhance the partnership between UNEP and UNDP, expand donors and partnerships, develop exit criteria for sharing PEI support and provide support to SDG implementation based on PEI lessons. PEI will begin to engage further with the social dimension of UNEP’s work and environmental governance; integrate further gender and rights-based approaches to address inequity; explore urbanisation, land degradation and displacement; and enter into new partnerships, especially with regional organisations, development banks and the private sector.

Discussion explored the challenge of ensuring development partner coordination. There is no formal approach to coordinate with banks, multilaterals and bilaterals; however, respective government coordination channels should guide the coordination of each organisation. Programmes are intended to be complementary rather than competitive. For example, the MAP programme is about developing partnerships to support marine and coastal protection and sustainable development. The PEI Annual Report 2015 provides further details on PEI activities.

The Green Economy Coalition is working on donor coordination and inclusivity in an inclusive green economy, but were unavailable to attend PEP21.

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3.4 Civil society engagement with SDG implementation. Panel discussion with Sanjay Vashist, Director, Climate Action Network South Asia (CANSA); Ranga Nadeera Pallawala, CEO, Janathakshan, Sri Lanka; Zeenat Niazi, Vice President, Development Alternatives, India; facilitated by Céline Beaulieu, Head of Public Sector Partnerships, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) International, Switzerland.

Civil society plays an active role in SDG implementation with critical engagement across different levels of interaction, with an emphasis on the local level. The World Wide Fund for Nature is active in 100 countries with offices in 80 countries. The promotion of SDGs has been at the heart of their policy engagement since Rio +20 in 2012. Activities include developing policy capacity and moving in international and national circles to impact agendas. Their focal areas align with the SDGs. These areas include climate and energy, oceans, forests, water, wildlife and food security. The two top issues identified in this context include: 1) working together to implement SDGs in an integrated fashion to ensure strong action to maintain the poverty-environment nexus; and 2) building civil society space in these processes and allowing dialogues to be the basis for SDGs.

Climate Action Network South Asia have had significant involvement in international negotiations in the last year, with a particular focus on UNFCCC proceedings and SDGs – particularly SDG 13 on climate change. In India the Climate Action Network (CAN) has been pursuing local initiatives, while in South Asia they have framed a regional agenda. CANSA recognises the challenges of integrating, funding and coordinating implementation activities. Schemes have many co-benefits. For example, about half of the SDGs involve climate change. While action has started on the ground, much more can be achieved through coordination. Capacity building for proposal development could help CSOs to gain funding from the Green Climate Fund or Adaptation Fund.

Janathaksha is a technology support organisation, established with support from Practical Action. They focus on the skills and knowledge associated with effective technology application rather than on hard technologies. Examining the range of technologies available, they infer impacts and what they mean for the poor. Janathaksha recognises the challenges of urbanisation and of localising the SDGs. While low-income countries are being upgraded to low-middle income countries, many internal inequalities exist. These need to be tackled and changed through working on the one hand with the poor and marginalised, and on the other with market chains and forces to make sure they are more inclusive. The economic agenda is often driven from the top down. Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) can play an important role in ensuring economic growth is equitable. Such local-scale business needs to come to the attention of the private sector .

Development Alternatives (DA) is an action partner and a think tank that works on the ground to provide support to local government, advocacy groups and civil society networks. DA has a research group examining issues such as secondary resource streams for large industry and waste, and how these are integrated into industry processes; and low carbon and low-resource cements. They are looking at local-level models to help countries manage low-carbon economic growth, helping communities to shift to more sustainable lifestyles, and working with youth to explore how they adapt to greener urban environments. They examine the gaps in climate change indicators, resource indicators and how they connect to the rest of the goals. DA is working with the climate change community to mainstream climate change and SDGs. A framework is being drafted and will be finished in the next year.

Group work explored two central questions:1. What can civil society do to support government and hold it to account?

Build local government capacity for service delivery Raise awareness, communicate people’s needs, encourage local discussion to create demand for

SDGs, and empower local people so that their concerns are heard and taken into account Identify pockets of hidden poverty Support policymaking by helping government prioritise areas for improvement and action

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Encourage a focus on environmental concerns Align with different ministries to help build capacity in certain areas Act as a watch dog, examining programmes and policies direction and identifying contradictions Map and share the expertise of in-country CSOs Implement programmes Ensure that CSOs embrace the universal and integrated dimensions of SDGs in their own work.

2. What should PEP and government consider to support civil society involvement in the SDGs? Coordinate CSOs’ actions and support transparency through improved information, improved

systems and monitoring Address accountability in CSOs Support civil society media relationships Empower civil society to undertake work with local governments Explore options for institutionalising civil society engagement in programmes Encourage CSOs to re-think how their own agenda contributes to the SDGs, moving beyond

business as usual All PEP members should promote integrated, participatory and inclusive dialogue with non-state

actors and empower CSOs to participate by ensuring equitable access to information so that participants can meaningfully contribute

PEP members to provide support to CSOs, whose space in authoritarian environments is shrinking.

Civil society is very diverse. CSOs need to work together to clarify roles, operating in different forums at different levels. The government needs to work with civil society to think about what can be done to advance the SDG agenda.

Session 4. Next steps for the Poverty Environment Partnership facilitated by Steve Bass, Senior Associate, IIED.

4.1 PEP’s paper, Getting to Zero by 2030: Poverty, Environment and Climate — presentation and discussion of endorsement, launch and communications strategy. Steve Bass, Senior Associate, IIED; and Matti Nummelin, Senior Environmental Adviser, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.

The PEP paper on ‘getting to zero’ communicates the message that despite people’s durability in and knowledge of changing environmental conditions, sustainable development progress is limited. This is due to limited policy support, capacity barriers and structural barriers, including the exclusion of rights. Examples of more interdisciplinary approaches are being adopted, and recent agreements provide the mandate to scale up contributions. The paper anticipates a work phase of building institutions and capacities. While the 2015 agreements present a potential game changer, historically such agreements lack inclusivity. Therefore, four critical areas to push for action include: 1) empowerment; 2) institutions; 3) finance; and 4) metrics.

The Getting to Zero publication needs to be launched. This will be sought at the UN High-Level Political Forum in July. The Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland has agreed to apply for a slot in the meeting, but needs other PEP partners to become involved. Interest has been expressed by IIED, Indonesia, DA, WWF and other PEP members. The more members involved the better chances they have to be granted a platform to highlight the linkages between poverty and environment.

The ‘Getting to Zero’ paper is to be reviewed and endorsed by PEP members in time for publication before the meeting in July. It will be disseminated through PEP members’ various networks.

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4.2 PEP options in support of SDG implementation: selected government, civil society and international organisations. Peter Hazlewood, Consultant, Asian Development Bank.

Preceding PEP21, members provided feedback on their SDG implementation activities, to provide an idea of who is doing what (see Annex 1). The feedback focused on policy and procedure, guidance and tools, gaps and challenges; and ideas for PEP. The responding PEP members indicated that most are in the process of building SDG and other agreement objectives (such as the Paris Agreement) into their policies, plans and programmes for the coming years. Tools and methodologies applied in support of SDG implementation include climate change and environment financial assessment and planning tools (expenditure reviews and budget codes), mainstreaming tools (such as MAPS), analytical tools, operational guidance, planning frameworks, policy alignment approaches and other service offerings from development partners. The gaps and challenges included institutional capacity; budgeting and finance; monitoring methodology and implementation; knowledge generation and sharing; policy and programme integration and coherence; SDG alignment with government and partner priorities; understanding diverse implementation approaches; mainstreaming SDGs; local-level capacity and coordination; and SDG misalignment with systems of aid and particular political priorities.

4.3 Break-out groups to develop PEP priority options. Facilitated by Steve Bass, Senior Associate, IIED.

Break-out groups developed PEP priority options under different themes of engagement, exploring the catalytic tasks that PEP is best placed to undertake and the action needed for this in the next three months.

Country readiness for SDGs: Shared PEP experience/guidance PEP to analyse the alignment of environmental policies, programmes and projects with the SDGs:

Coordinate with PEI’s upcoming 'readiness' support activities Focus on non-PEI countries, while using PEI's experience and methodology Provide an independent, critical perspective with civil society and private sector input.

Map gaps and best practices for readiness assessment in developing and developed countries: Map and analyse country practices for SDG readiness, useful for ‘slower’ starting countries Identify 'gaps' requiring greater attention to initiate SDG implementation.

Develop tools for readiness assessment of countries: Develop a tool/methodology/checklist to help countries prepare for SDG implementation.

Poverty-environment-climate: Synthesising PEP experience Mainstreaming must be an ongoing, constant, repeated effort:

PEP participants can share experience of mainstreaming in different areas.

Budgeting for poverty, environment and climate projects: For example, the climate budget system in Nepal; examples from Mozambique and Indonesia Address how aims and activities are being integrated.

PEP measurement of successful mainstreaming/integration: Propose global/regional measurement framework to measure SDG integration into budgeting and

planning processes and enable cross-country comparison A common framework can support government accountability for services or programmes.

Capacity building: To suit individual needs and ensure sustainable approaches

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For instance through tailor-made poverty, environment and climate mainstreaming programmes at central and local level.

Integrated institutions and capacity: What to support and howIntegrating ‘Getting to Zero’ and SDGs at country level:

Synthesise policy by integrating the two, focussing on poverty, climate and natural capital For instance, by developing a concept paper with input from PEP members and their contacts.

Greater inclusion: Greater involvement of developing countries, civil society groups and networks, and private sector,

to enhance legitimacy, perspectives and peer exchange.

Strengthening government participation: Including central and powerful ministries such as ministries of finance and planning Incorporating sectoral and influential ministries such as energy, transport and water.

Regional PEP networks: Regional/sub-regional knowledge and lesson-sharing for better institutional integration Initial groups in South Asia and Southeast Asia with gradual extension to East Africa, West Africa

and Latin America.

Whole of society approach: A more systemic engagement with civil society and especially small businessLocal poverty, environment and climate solutions for the SDGs – meeting the scaling-up challenge:

Growth paths in low and middle-income (and even some developed) countries have not been inclusive, particularly for rural areas and populations

Investments need to reach the level of the local economy where resources are scarcest and where the SDGs will be achieved or not

While there has been a lot of discussion about MSMEs’ potential to deliver the integrated solutions needed to open up viable pathways out of poverty and help achieve the SDGs (see the PEP20 report), PEP has not yet made this a focus of its support/action

These could be primary, secondary or tertiary sector enterprises — in agriculture, nature-based enterprise, processing and manufacturing or services

A key concern is the barriers to and slow pace of scaling up MSME business models and the sustainability and robustness of the MSME sector in the face of ecosystem decline and climate change.

As a first step, PEP could undertake joint analytic work on the potential of the MSME sector to deliver poverty, environment and climate solutions, the barriers to and drivers for scaling up, and a framework for action. This could include the following:

Social, economic and environmental impacts/benefits of MSMEs (such as potential for job creation per dollar invested, or for integration into circular/zero-waste economic systems)

Policy and regulatory barriers and drivers to scale up MSMEs Investments needed and financing models that have worked and can be multiplied through public

policy and private sector partnership approaches Institutional structures that support the growth and sustainability of MSMEs Business eco-systems that facilitate technology, capital and capacity into the MSME sector and

open up markets.

A second and related strategy could be to explore how to more effectively integrate the ‘bottom-up’ work of local organisations and small businesses with the ‘top-down’ support (enabling environment) provided by governments and public sector institutions through national policy, planning and investments.

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This needs to be brought into strategies and action plans of both donors and governments (national policy and planning institutions)

The analytic work/framework for action as discussed above could be tested in countries through the integration of bottom-up/top-down approaches

Operationally, the analytic work/framework for action by PEP could be taken up and tested in PEI-supported countries, as well as in non-PEI countries by the PEP members who are involved there.

In order to have a more systemic engagement of civil society and small businesses in the PEP going forward, a key strategy could be engaging through networks:

These could be networks of civil society groups that work with or for small businesses, or platforms that bring in other businesses that are concerned with sustainability issues in business and are likely to respond to the environmental and social vulnerabilities of small businesses in their supply chains

PEP has already initiated the engagement with a few such networks/platforms, and some relationships need to be revived. For example:

o The Green Economy Coalition ( GEC) was a participant at the Edinburgh meeting and may be brought in again

o CSOs, such as Indigenous People’s Networks; Climate Action Network – South Asia has joined the meeting in Dhaka and could be more actively engaged; the Global Network of Civil Society Organisations for Disaster Reduction (GNDR) – a network of over 800 organisations working on disaster resilience and response

o Private sector, such as Global Compact; WBCSD; and Home.net, which works with home-based small entrepreneurs.

A first step could be to already share the ‘Getting to Zero’ paper with groups and seek their response, as well as ideas on how this could be shared and used more widely.

Knowledge into practiceProvide knowledge in a way that is useful for practitioners:

Capture experiential and theoretical knowledge Create a feedback loop for successful approaches to guide good practices Invest in analysing successes and failures.

Increase accessibility: Improve and increase accessibility of the PEP website Consider unique elements, such as using specific analytical tools, massive open online courses

(MOOCs) and social media to further engage people.

External PEP ambassadors To spread the PEP message and indicate the significance of the poverty-environment nexus.

Communications: How to keep poverty, environment and climate to the top of SDG agendasDefining, understanding and revitalising PEP:

PEP is an advocacy coalition; a partnership of partnerships It influences programme pipelines and works in innovative ways across topics It is at a crossroads with the SDGs; it can influence policymakers through common messaging New engagements for PEP require promoting its strategy and revitalising its activities.

Getting to Zero paper: Phrase needs to be carefully considered; it is quite edgy — getting to zero but not starting from

zero

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Other potential titles could refer to people, prosperity, planet, ahead, at the crossroads, health, no-one left behind.

Branding; strength of common messaging: Develop sharply written briefs to motivate policymakers. Under each message deliver facts,

citations, data, evidence to drive the message — PEP can rework and build on that kind of structure (Henrike from GIZ has offered to draft this).

An ‘op-ed’ (opinion article) could be drafted.

Spread the message: Diverse stakeholder engagements: government, multilateral banks, research organisations,

universities, CSOs, private sector Presence at high level and regional events at global, regional, national levels Strategic opportunities at international level, such as:

o Group of Seven (G7) and Group of Twenty (G20) (Germany to chair) o Conference of Parties to the UNFCCC (COPs): UNFCCC COP22 in December 2016 in

Marrakech; Convention on Biodiversity (CBD13), theme: ‘Mainstreaming’ in December 2016 in Mexico; Habitat 3 , 10–20 October 2016 in Ecuador

o Global Green Growth Week , 5–9 September 2016 in Jejuo Partnership for Action on Green Economy Learning Event in October 2016 in Turino World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting 17–20 January 2017, where WWF and DA

will be participating. PEP members to consider strategic opportunities at regional and national levels.

Online tools and social media: Engage ICT sector: explore social media partnership for large-scale information sharing Twitter: create a #PEP-SDG hashtag Revitalise the PEP website (underway with funding from ADA) Link to other websites more proactively, such as Climate Action Network International and other

CSO networks.

Approaches: Engage government involvement in the agenda through advocacy and exchange.

FinanceDefinition of climate finance:

Need to define climate finance to mobilise resources from climate funds Consider how we define climate versus development finance More concessional finance needed such as concessional loans.

Local finance - how to get finance down to the local level? Local and household levels need to receive some money from outside. Money is not reaching the

local level, but local is very important to generate action. Need to explore how local governments and local NGOs can access finance.

Ecosystems accounting - Wealth Accounting and the Valuation of Ecosystem Services (WAVES); System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA):

UN guidelines to evaluate finances incorporating environmental value PEP to share experience of how countries are using guidelines, such as Indonesia.

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Environmental fiscal reform: Carbon tax/climate tax; remove fossil fuel and other subsidies Incorporate climate action into fiscal system through public financial manaement reforms Need to consider how to combine those kinds of ideas to strengthen economic systems, mobilise

finance and accelerate sustainable development PEP can collect ideas and experiences from countries and facilitate sharing among different players.

Discussion and feedback offered further insights on action around these themes. Knowledge dissemination should be inclusive and accessible to all groups. PEP could consider engaging financing institutions, such as KfW Development Bank, to play the role of financial aggregators so that finance can be shared more equitably at the local level. Increasing private sector and other non-traditional sources of finance requires raising awareness of the environmental impact of business activities.

4.4 The future of PEP, and final remarks

PEP membership has evolved organically since the partnership was established. It is inclusive and informal and will continue in that direction. PEP is now considering how to engage with members and others more strategically between meetings. It seeks to continue engagement with emerging economies, middle-income countries and the private sector, and to reengage bilateral institutions as a key audience. It will allocate a small budget to invest in engagement between annual meetings. PEP has a budget of US$400,000 from 2015 to 2018 to facilitate meetings and side events and develop PEP outputs. Contributions from ADA, ADB, DFID, UN and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland total US$250,000. There remains a gap of US$150,000 to fill — additional contributions are welcome.

PEP needs to address challenges for the future. These include defining and identifying the issues being examined, such as mitigation versus adaptation, and ensuring poverty and environment are both part of the agenda. The partnership should focus on building knowledge, through experiences and case studies, to be shared with all countries. Meetings need to be well represented by different countries to enable experience sharing.

PEP needs to consider how to communicate lessons to the group effectively and how to more effectively link to real world testing at country level. An untapped strength and niche of PEP is its ability to make links between local, national and global level. PEP branding and communications are very important. Members need to come up with something compelling to grab people’s attention. A ‘network of networks’ should be part of the branding alongside the updated website and effective communications. PEP will use their website to manage and share the knowledge gained.

ADB: PEP is well-aligned with ADB knowledge objectives and the need to go beyond finance. ADB have established a Public-Private Partnership office, supporting countries working with the private sector. Action is currently limited, and more support is needed in terms of policy dialogues and support. Knowledge is key. ADB host the PEP website and are currently working on redesigning it. They will seek input from PEP members, to ensure it is as useful and effective as possible.

UNEP/UNDP: The UNEP/UNDP partnership is excited to work with PEP at this time. They advise making a concrete plan for targeting less active and new members, and stress the need to maintain some structure and formality. They offer in-kind resources to support PEP. The website should be revitalised and made efficient for ease of searching and sharing knowledge remotely.

ADA: PEP is an important forum for ADA. They want to continue to be part of the partnership and contribute towards it. They are pleased with their active engagement.

KOICA: PEP21 has inspired KOICA to remain involved in the partnership and support climate change-related activities.

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Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies: Bangladesh can be understood as ‘chaos in action’ or managed informality. Development works best when government, CSOs and other stakeholders work together. For example, collaborative action in Bangladesh has resulted in a lower population growth rate. Integrating climate change, poverty and environment is one of the greatest inputs the PEP has made.

ICCCAD: ICCCAD is a new PEP member. It offers support for knowledge sharing through organising short courses for PEP. It stresses the difference between MDGs and SDGs as universality; learning between South and North is now reciprocal, not one-directional as in the MDGs. ICCCAD is keen to support both South-South and South-North learning.

IIED: There has been a positive spirit among PEP members. PEP21 was a good meeting with a wealth of ideas and emerging next steps. Paul Steele will continue to play the role of PEP facilitator. Government representatives are invited to join the PEP Reference Group. PEP22 will take place in the United States, to engage major international partners such as the UN and World Bank, and to reach out to foundations such as Rockefeller, Ford and the WRI. The annual meetings will continue to switch between developing and developed countries. The website will be updated with support from ADB and the .

Conclusions and closing remarks. Matti Nummelin, Senior Environmental Adviser, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland; Daniele Ponzi, Technical Advisor (Environment), Asian Development Bank; Isabell Kempf, Co-Directors, Poverty-Environment Initiative, UNDP; Chief Guest Professor Shamsul Alam, GED Member, Planning Commission, GoB.

Panellists expressed thanks to the organisers and participants for their input to the meeting and the partnership. The work being done and the ideas shared were very rich. PEP is an excellent network to be engaged in, and such activities are useful for enhancing the impact of the SDGs and celebrating the reol on addressing poverty, environment and climate that they can support. Moving forward, PEP needs to consider the ongoing implementation of SDGs at national level. Challenges are apparent around the world; such issues as government coordination are real in developed as well as developing countries and must be addressed. PEP members’ cross-country and multidirectional knowledge sharing can help identify solutions. Professor Shamsul Alam concluded by highlighting Bangladesh’s rapid development. In particular, Bangladesh has a significant focus on gender equality in its development agenda. The country was a leader in achieving the MDGs and intends to be just as successful in achieving the SDGs.

Wednesday 1 June. Field trip

Fisheries in Bangladesh. Essam Yassin Mohammed, Senior Researcher, IIED.

The Bangladeshi government’s Department of Fisheries has some innovative policy reforms underway, such as the bans on hilsa fishing during the spawning period. The department provides incentives and compensation to fishers in the form of rice and alternative livelihood training. The following short video demonstrates incentive-based fisheries management in Bangladesh; this is the result of IIED’s support to Bangladesh over the last four years. It is summarised in the synthesis report, Balancing Carrots and Sticks: Incentives for sustainable Hilsa fishery management in Bangladesh. The video is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYor_Xcuzhg .

Fieldtrip briefing. Sardar Shafiqul Alam, Field trip coordinator, ICCCAD.

The PEP field trip explored fishery activities in Manikganj District, 70 kilometres west of Dhaka. Participants visited Aricha Ferry Ghat, the nearby fishing market and two fishing villages in Teota Union. The field site was selected due its location at the confluence of two major rivers, the Padma and Januma Rivers, previously known as a major open water fishing ground in Bangladesh. The vast species availability provided jobs and secured livelihoods for hundreds of fisher families in the region. However, fish catch and production has recently declined due to siltation, ecosystems change, disrupted water flows due to

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barrages, illegal and increased fishing and declining river water levels. This has resulted in negative impacts on fishers’ livelihoods and incomes.

The GoB has undertaken several initiatives in response, including aquaculture development. In an attempt to conserve fish species, the GoB introduced a hilsa fishing ban in 2015, while providing provided fishers with rice as compensation. NGOs and local communities (farmers and fishers) are involved in aquaculture activities in ponds and other open water bodies and have developed culture fisheries in private ponds or as leaseholders of small fishponds. Fisher family members are undertaking new livelihood income activities such as rickshaw pulling, agricultural labour and small businesses. Fishers’ children attend school and college to prepare them for diversified livelihoods and to contribute to family incomes. NGOs in the area provide fishers with microcredit to support various income-generating activities. Fisher communities are unfamiliar with the SDGs. However, families have ‘development activity plans’, which include alternate livelihood activities, children’s education, human resource development and fish culture in private ponds and water bodies.

The participants engaged in discussion with some fishers and local government officials during the field trip. The main challenges highlighted were the decline in fisheries and the lack of alternative job creation for fishers’ educated children. Fishers are receiving little to no support to manage the situation or to develop skills to diversify their livelihoods. The government support is largely focused on agriculture as opposed to fisheries – for example the government provides subsidies for agricultural inputs. The GoB provides information technology centres in every union parishad (local government units), accessible to everyone, to seek job opportunities, copy documents and prepare and submit applications. However, alternative employment opportunities are largely in factories some distance from the villages, while the fishers said they wanted to remain residents of the area, rather than moving away for work.

Photos PEP 21

Photos of the PEP21 meeting can be accessed here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/icccadarchive/sets/72157668766566682

Photos of the PEP21 field trip can be accessed here:https://www.flickr.com/photos/icccadarchive/sets/72157668873580081

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Annex 1. PEP member activities for SDG implementation

A quick PEP survey of member engagement in SDG implementation: summary of forms received (by 29 May 2016)

Institution Policy/procedure Guidance/tools Gaps/challenges Other Ideas for PEP

1. PEI PEI programmatic, learning-by-doing approach could offer an SDG delivery mechanism (conclusion of PEI evaluation)

Climate/environment expenditure review.Economic analysis.PEI handbook

Institutionalisation and capacity for poverty and environmentIntegrated budgeting, financing, measurement/baseline

P/E mainstreaming case needs to be stronger than ever

2. UNDP UNDP Strategic Plan at same time as Agenda 2030: Sustainable development pathways, resilience, governance

MAPS – Mainstreaming, Acceleration, Policy Support.Guidance on support to mainstreaming SDGs, national reporting on SDGs, SDG analytical toolkit

Institutional support for SDGs – data and knowledge, resilience, integrated and aligned approaches.Last-mile poverty reduction.Changing nature of aid

Aligning SDGs across both national government systems and development cooperation

Share experiences on how SDG implementation is advancing P/E objectives

3. ADB New ADB Strategy 2030 in preparation.New ADB results framework to reflect SDGs (in 2017)

New operational guidance for environmental and safeguard department.New project classification

Support to countries on SDG national customisation, policy integration and coherence

Need to focus more on: Adaptation Natural capital Pollution/health

4. GGGI Country planning frameworks and 2017–18 plans include SDG implementation

Country planning framework and biennium planning guides look at integrating SDGs/INDCs.Offers policy alignment service.Operational guide on pro-poor inclusive green growth

Aligning to SDGs: across government, and with other GGGI partners

5. ADA Doing roadmap for SDGs implementation; will

Currently fine-tuning environment and

How to attribute progress to SDGs (developing a

PEP sharing country experiences of SDG

mainstream into 4 areas which include water-energy-food nexus plus environment and gender cross-cutting.

social/gender assessment manuals, and appraisal systems for SDG alignment

marker system) implementation, including on joint programming.PEP sharing indicators/ how to assess multiple contributions to SDGs.

6. Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland

New ‘Development Cooperation White Paper’ takes SDGs on board

Guidance deriving from new white paper

Digest and analyse the range of approaches to SDGs being taken in developing countries

7. Embassy of Finland in Nepal

Country strategy 2016–19 based on Nepal SDG commitments

Knowledge and (interdisciplinary) skills at Finnida mission.Training on SDG implementation and monitoring

Real-world economic and political vulnerabilities.Accountability

8. GIZ German government SDG/Agenda 2030 Unit; SDG implementation ‘starter package’ for certain countries.GIZ – SDGs one of 5 business goals.German government – National Sustainability Strategy key to mainstream SDGs domestically and internationally

Existing System of Environment Economic Accounting training.Promoting Agenda 2030 review processes and monitoring

Methodologies for integrated SDG programme design.Policy analysis of P/E hotspots

9. KOICA None Korea developed 5 programmes for SDGs: 1) inclusive growth by education and health; 2) inclusive and sustainable rural development; 3) safe life for all from infectious

Mainstreaming SDGs in the agency

Leadership and partnerships are really needed given multi-stakeholder and complex nature

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diseases; 4) science and technology innovation for better life; 5) climate compatible development

10. Bangladesh Ministry of Finance, Economic Relations

National policy for development cooperation in progress – wider view

New Joint Country Strategy and Action Plan in progress - covering aid commitments and SDGs

Capacity needs on integration.Concessional funds

Official development assistance remains catalytic.Need coherent LDC graduation criteria.Climate funds must be simple and add to ODA.

11. Bangladesh United International University

Research and education on renewable energy technologies

Academic programmes and interdisciplinary approaches to SD

Capacity for interdisciplinary research and education

Engaging local people and private sector in SDG planning and engagement

12. Nepal (Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Government)

SDG National Report.Looking to effective implementation of Environmentally Friendly Local Governance EFLG to achieve SDGs

National climate change budget code.Looking at current practices of Natural Resources revenue generation

Capacity, personal and institutional, especially at local levels.Mass media and school education about SDGs

Jobs from sustainable Natural Resources managementGovernment staff motivation on SDGs through visits

13. Development Alternatives

Climate change concerns integrated into village/local and state plans in Madhya PradeshDA aims to develop interventions o integrate climate change and SDGs into national and state plan/budget.

Various DA products:India’s views on SDGs.Financial requirements for achieving SDGs.SDG indicators in Indian context.Post-2015 development priorities in South Asia.Capacity modules (soon)

Aligning SDGs and sub-national development targets, cherry-picking SDGs.Integrating SDGs across government (individual SDGs allocated to ministries).Regional sharing of knowledge and capacity (common/cross-border vulnerabilities).

Partnerships and resources for regional sharing.Stimulate dialogues and hold international workshops for subnational officials

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14. WWF15. + WWF

Pakistan

WWF Conservation Strategy 2016–20 has 5 goals aligned to SDGs

Methodology to assess organisational communications / alignment to SDGsWWF/CARE 2016 Twin Track report

Is environment truly integrated into national SDG plan?Lack of coordination at local levels.Core environmental indicators and capacity for standard data for SDGs needed soon.SDGs in High Income Countries too.WWF country office policy capacity needed

Building the CSO space to engage on SDGs.Reduce cherry-picking.Focus on policy coherence for SD

16. IIED IIED 5-year strategy being updated for SDGs/Paris

Convene LDC Independent Expert Group on SDGs/Paris.Member of the Independent Research Forum group of think tanks looking at SDG implementation

Donors need to analyse how SDGs challenge the aid system.High and middle-income SDG implementation as important as in Low Income Countries.How can SDGs gain traction with real-world ‘political’ constraints and opportunities?

Work on real-world ‘political’ constraints/oppositions to SDGs implementation; bring in lessons from MDGs

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