Achieving SDG Results in Development Co-operation

3. How to support an inclusive and sustainable recovery and work towards the SDGs together

These are times of crises that cross borders at a pace rarely seen before. Tackling these crises at home and abroad will require stronger leadership that rises to the sheer size of the challenges ahead. Leaders in development co-operation ministries and agencies have a pivotal role to play in managing the organisational transformation needed to be fit for the occasion.

This report concludes with six strategic actions that would help development co‑operation leaders and policy makers manage this transition successfully.

The pandemic creates an opportunity for organisational transformation

COVID-19 triggered one of the most significant development crises in recent times. It forced governments and development partners to reset their long-term strategies and review their policies and internal systems. This situation offers ideal conditions to push for an institutional transformation that uses the SDG framework as a common reference point in planning a more sustainable recovery on the road to 2030.

• Action 1: Promote the achievement of SDG results from the top. Leadership widely communicates the purpose and benefits of SDG alignment. Management sets clear SDG results for the organisation and uses the SDG results information to improve strategic management at all levels. The SDGs are not only part of the narrative and justification for development co-operation, but they steer action too.

• Action 2: Invest in organisational transformation needed for the SDGs. Leadership provides guidance, incentives and resources to support changes in management processes and systems that will allow using the SDGs to their full potential, and as a road map for an inclusive and sustainable recovery. These investments will increase the organisation’s managerial focus on long‑term outcomes and its capacity to work across sector silos – essential for addressing the complex development challenges ahead.

Country leadership in SDG alignment remains a critical enabler

Country leadership continues to be essential. However, most development organisations tend to define their SDG alignment strategies individually, which leads to fragmented or incoherent support for SDG achievement in partner countries. Partner country governments can create an enabling environment for a more harmonised SDG alignment across development partners, chiefly by realigning their policies, budgets and programmes to target SDG results.

• Action 3: Adapt SDG alignment strategies to each country context. Recognising that partner countries should lead the alignment to SDG results at country level, be selective in sequencing the alignment of development co‑operation programmes to SDG results on a case-by-case basis. As a general rule, synchronise your alignment process with country-led initiatives at national, sector or subnational levels. Avoid going solo.

Realigning national policy making towards SDG results requires time and effort, and no country has completed that process. In many cases, partner country capacity to steer and monitor SDG progress is limited. International support can play an essential role in accelerating country-driven processes and strengthening capacity – particularly in lower income countries and fragile situations. The seven country case studies show that when partners encourage and support SDG mainstreaming, countries accelerate their alignment to the SDGs. And SDG data also become more available and used for policy making. But the case studies also find that only parts of the United Nations system and some other development partners have systematically done so to date.

• Action 4: Support countries in SDG mainstreaming. Wherever relevant, join forces with partner governments in realigning national or sector policies, financing and monitoring systems around SDG results. To ensure broad ownership and sustainability, help promote inclusive and participatory approaches around these processes.

• Action 5: Invest in country-led SDG data to monitor progress towards the SDGs. Use the country-led data for joint monitoring of progress. Avoid collecting SDG data that only meet internal domestic reporting and accountability needs.

Achieving SDG results requires better partnerships

In many country contexts, the proliferation of development partners and a decline in mutual trust weaken the principles of harmonisation and country ownership. They also inhibit cross-donor co-ordination around a transformational agenda. However, the case studies show that the SDG framework, as an agenda for consensus, often acts as a catalyst for better partnerships and greater co‑ordination (at sector level). Such partnerships are more capable of tackling complex development challenges and achieving very tangible results.

• Action 6: Build partnerships with others around specific SDG results. The scale of the issues reflected in the SDGs surpasses the capacity of any individual partner to deliver. Join with others in co-designing, co-financing, analysing, monitoring, implementing and evaluating development programmes in support of specific SDG results.

Further reading

Overview of guidance and findings:

• Managing for Sustainable Development Results: Guiding Principles, OECD Publishing, Paris, 2019, https://doi.org/10.1787/d571f17c-en

• “Aligning to SDG Results in Development Co-operation: A Comparative Study”, OECD Development Co-operation Policy Papers, OECD Publishing, Paris, forthcoming.

• “A baseline survey of the guiding principles on managing for sustainable development results”, OECD Development Co-operation Working Papers, No. 93, OECD Publishing, Paris, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1787/f8974d89-en

• “The path to policy coherence: How OECD members (could) use the SDGs at home and abroad to better support developing countries”, Chapter 3 in OECD/EC-JRC, Understanding the Spillovers and Transboundary Impacts of Public Policies: Implementing the 2030 Agenda for More Resilient Societies, OECD Publishing, Paris, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1787/862c0db7-en

Case studies:

• Sustainable Results in Development: Using the SDGs for Shared Results and Impact, OECD Publishing, Paris, 2019, https://doi.org/10.1787/368cf8b4-en (including case studies of Ethiopia, Kenya and Myanmar)

• “Aligning development co-operation to the SDGs in least developed countries: A case study of Uganda”, OECD Development Co-operation Working Papers, No. 102, OECD Publishing, Paris, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1787/5551470f-en

• “Aligning development co-operation to the SDGs in small island developing states: A case study of Samoa”, ”, OECD Development Co-operation Working Papers, No. 100, OECD Publishing, Paris, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1787/f6fbc798-en

• “Aligning development co-operation to the SDGs in upper-middle income countries: A case study of Peru”, OECD Development Co-operation Working Papers, No. 99, OECD Publishing, Paris, 2021,https://doi.org/10.1787/e84d2bf8-en

• “Aligning development co-operation to the SDGs in low-middle income countries: A case study of Bangladesh”, OECD Development Co-operation Working Papers, OECD Publishing, Paris, forthcoming.