UN SDG:Learn

Through the collaborative efforts of the United Nations, multilateral organizations, and sustainable development partners from universities, civil society, academia and the private sector, UN SDG:Learn provides a unique gateway that empowers individuals and organizations through an informed decision when selecting among a wealth of SDG-related learning products and services that are currently available. The Platform represents a gateway to the wealth of learning solutions of all partners, allowing finding the most suitable SDG learning solution – in one go and place.

The platform has special community sites on Statistics, Women2Lead, and Evaluation (forthcoming). 

Access the UN SDG:Learn platform here.

Policy brief: Citizen science data to track SDG progress

Citizen science data (CSD) presents untapped opportunities to track progress towards the SDGs offering multiple advantages for Governments and National Statistical Offices (NSOs): help fill in data gaps for indicators where traditional data collection instruments, such as, household surveys or administrative registers may not be well suited or may not have the sufficient coverage, improve the granularity of data and sometimes timeliness, and offer an effective and cost-efficient means for NSOs to address data needs of policy-makers in the context of limited or falling resources. Many citizen science data initiatives and datasets exist already. Why then have NSOs not been using citizen science data to any large extent to date? To begin with, NSOs require a better understanding of how such data can be useful in their specific context and requirements, as well as understanding what exactly needs to be done to leverage it. Citizen science practitionners, for their part, need to better understand policy applications and know how to ensure that the generated data meets necessary quality standards. This Policy Brief aims to bring greater understanding to these issues by drawing on a research conducted as part of the EU-funded Crowd4SDG project with contributions from several international organizations and research centers. It shows how NSOs can give value to CSD benefitting official statistics, policy-making and citizen science communities and helping ensure that no one is left behind.

Read the Policy brief here

Stakeholder Engagement and the 2030 Agenda: A Practical Guide

This new UNDESA – UNITAR practical guide includes key elements about how to strengthen stakeholder engagement in the implementation and follow-up of the 2030 Agenda, including:

  • The 2030 Agenda and commitments related to stakeholder participation at global, regional and national levels.
  • Aspects, principles and constituencies related to meaningful stakeholder engagement and provisions for participation, including leave no one behind.
  • Concrete examples, tools and methods that can be adapted by government representatives and other stakeholders in setting up and implementing stakeholder engagement plans.

The practical guide is available in English, French and Spanish

UNDESA - UNITAR
UNDESA - UNITAR
UNDESA - UNITAR

StaTact

UNITAR in partnership with UN Statistics Division (UNSD) developed a problem-solving toolkit “StaTact” in support of monitoring the Sustainable Development Goals with donor support received by UNITAR. StaTact is a web-based tool developed to support short-term statistical planning in the context of monitoring the SDGs. As the name suggests, it provides a tactical approach to addressing selected SDG-related data gaps that require urgent action. Its main strengths are a collaborative environment for multi-stakeholder discussion and a problem-solving methodology that helps you set up a Working Group and take it through three key stages such as a problem statement, problem analysis, action plan, and an implementation interface. The analysis stage uses the Generic Statistical Business Process Model (GSBPM) to analyse the processes of data production and the Generic Activity Model for Statistical Organizations (GAMSO) to map the institutional arrangements that govern these processes. The end product is a realistic low-cost tactic action plan with assigned responsibilities, a timeline, and a budget. The implementation interface enables the Working Group to track in real-time progress on this plan.

StaTact is typically coordinated by appointed focal points or national administrators from National Statistical Offices who can create Working Groups upon the request of members of National Statistical Systems or Government in general. Working Group members are invited by Group Leaders and can be from Government or outside as relevant for a specific data problem at hand.

You can access the tool here.

Integrated policies and policy coherence for SDGs

Advanced toolkit with the how-to of integrated planning

This toolkit has been jointly developed by UNITAR, the Division for Public Institutions and Digital Governance (DPIDG) and Division for Sustainable Development Goals (DSDG) of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) and the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). It goes a step further in promoting policy coherence through the participatory strategic planning and is recommended for use in situations where there is an interest to go deeper into the “how-to” of integrated planning, beyond the good practices presented in the foundational toolkit “Policy cycle, integrated approaches and SDGs”.

The toolkit is comprised of comprehensive training materials to apply systemic approaches to analyze the interactions between different SDG areas and to design integrated policies. Key methodological areas of the toolkit are system thinking, policy coherence, institutional arrangements and stakeholder engagement among others. The toolkit aims to enable government officials, academia, UN Country Teams, and other national experts to apply integrated planning methods in practice and train others in this area. The toolkit is available in English and French.

Register and access the toolkits here: English version and French version.

Policy cycle, integrated approaches and SDGs

Foundational toolkit 

This toolkit is a set of comprehensive training materials – PPTs, exercises, manuals - intended for national experts – government officials, academics, UN Country Teams and others – to enable them to run training workshops for senior to junior government officials and other audiences on SDGs and policy cycle.

This new toolkit developed by UNITAR in collaboration with the UN family explains the theory and practical implications behind policy integration and Leave No One Behind imperatives. Based on this improved understanding, it then aims to support more harmonized approaches towards incorporating the SDGs across the national policy cycle: from integrated planning to aligned budgeting frameworks, monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems, reviews and reporting. The toolkit is available in two versions. The first version is specifically customized for African Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and accessible in both English and French. The second version is a Generic one in English with world-wide case studies.

You can register and access the toolkits here: English version and French version and Generic version

Learning Environment for Integrated Planning (LEiP)

UNITAR and Millennium Institute have jointly developed a simulation game called Learning Environment for Integrated Planning (LEiP) based on the Millennium Institute’s iSDG Integrated Simulation Tool. The learning environment uses a multi-player, asymmetric, multi-laptop blended approach. This game simulates an investment planning process of a country to achieve selected SDGs. This exercise instantly demonstrates progress towards a selected SDG, and shows cross-sectoral effects, as well as synergies and trade-offs with other selected goals. The LEiP uses a model developed on trends characterizing the development of an average LDC, SIDS, middle-income and high-income countries.

You can register here to access the game.

Preparing for Action "National Briefing Package": The 2030 Agenda and SDGs

This integrated toolkit has been created by UNITAR together with UNDG and is being used at country level since May 2015. It contains a briefing package designed for use by national governments and can be easily adapted to each national context. The toolkit includes guidance materials for facilitators, which enables national stakeholders to deliver the workshops themselves. UNITAR experts are available for coaching and support if required. This training package is available to all and is free of charge thanks to donor support received by UNITAR. It is available in English, French, Spanish, and Russian. The toolkit is to be used for organising national briefings with two main objectives: (a) to raise awareness among key governments and national stakeholders about the content of the 2030 Agenda and implications for the country-level; (b) to enable countries to begin preliminary discussions on mainstreaming the agenda into each national context, including the initial mapping of the SDGs in the context of existing national plans and strategies, and to reflect on priority-setting, as well as data, monitoring and review requirements.

Register here: English, French, Spanish, and Russian.

Share with