Implementing the SDGs in 2019: Which way now?

Agenda

09.00 – 10.00:	General progress and challenges in implementing the 2030 Agenda Welcome Dan Banik, Centre for Development and the Environment, University of Oslo Introductory statements Jon Lomøy, Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) Endre Stiansen, UNDP Oslo Governance Center Comments Catharina Bu, Agenda Fredrik Magnussen, Civita General discussion
10.00 – 10.15	Break
10.15 – 12.00	Roundtable conversation: What works in SDG implementation? Introductory statements Redd Barna Kirkens Nødhjelp Plan Norge Forum for Utvikling og Miljø Norec Norsk Folkehjelp Røde Kors Flyktninghjelpen Comments Arnfinn Nygaard, RORG-samarbeidet Anne Cathrine Uteng da Silva, FN-sambandet General discussion
12.00	Lunch

 

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Background

The SDGs have been around for more than three years now, and by all accounts progress has been mixed. The 2030 Agenda appears to be at a crossroads and important decisions must be taken for the world to even have a reasonable shot at achieving the ambitious goals. 

Although there is growing awareness about the goals and the corresponding targets and indicators, the emerging consensus in most academic and policy discussions in 2018 was that the pace of action is slow and that far too many people of the world continue to be excluded from the development process. And apart from a few exceptions, many governments are struggling to understand the SDGs and coordinate policies that promote both positive environmental and developmental outcomes. Moreover, most lowincome country governments have been slow to allocate sufficient resources in domestic budgets for speedy implementation of the SDGs. Some of this is due to lack of sufficient revenue generation, while in other cases it is due to a general political reluctance to fully engage with the 2030 Agenda. Even the governments of more affluent countries have been slow to react, often making symbolic pledges without undertaking measures to make significant changes to existing policy. In still other cases, the private sector – large parts of which have warmly embraced the SDGs – have become accustomed to making grand declarations of their intent to engage with the SDGs, but have not followed up with evidence of their actual actions on the ground.
 

The Oslo SDG Initiative at the Centre for Development and the Environment, University of Oslo, invites you to a dialogue on the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs. In this brainstorming session we wish to highlight Norwegian engagement with the SDGs, and better understand what is working, where, how and why. At the same time, we wish to discuss challenges facing various stakeholders as they gear up for another new year working towards promoting and achieving the SDGs. The discussions will feed into policy briefs and various side events currently under planning in connection with the High Level Political Forum at UN headquarters in New York in July.