Executive Summary
"Sustainable peace and development are essential to the future of the planet and humanity. This vision is laid out in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2030 Agenda), which aims to end poverty, build peaceful societies, and promote prosperity and people’s well-being while protecting the environment for current and future generations. The agenda adopted by the United Nations member States in 2015, calls all countries to translate the ambitious and transformative Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into national priorities and to engage civil society actors, the private sector, academia and science in the quest for a world in which “all human beings can fulfil their potential in dignity and equality.”
Agenda 2030 explicitly recognizes that parliamentarians have a critical role to play in the adoption and achievement of the SDGs – not only as lawmakers, but also as elected representatives of their people. In addition, parliamentarians played an important role in shaping the content of the Agenda by contributing perspectives on gaps, opportunities and priorities for action through global, regional and national groupings. This input was fed back into the final production of the 2030 Agenda and its 17 goals and 169 targets for action.
Since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda countries have made significant advances in incorporating the SDGs into national development plans and monitoring and evaluation frameworks, including indicator frameworks to track progress. There have been continued efforts towards integrating the SDGs and their targets into sectoral policies and investment plans, and in strengthening national statistical systems. Furthermore, mechanisms, guides and partnerships have been developed to promote the engagement of diverse stakeholders – including women, young people and traditionally marginalized groups – in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. However, much remains to be done.
Legislators are uniquely positioned to act as an interface between the people and state institutions, and to promote and adopt people-centered policies and legislation to ensure that no one is left behind. Parliamentarians in the Americas and the Caribbean have therefore an opportunity and at the same time a responsibility to play a protagonist role in supporting and monitoring SDG implementation, as stated by the 2030 Agenda Declaration.
In 2015, the Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption, the Islamic Development Bank and the United Nations Development Programme, produced a global handbook to enhance parliamentary engagement on the Sustainable Development Goals.¹ This publication, developed by ParlAmericas and the UNDP's Regional Hub for Latin America and the Caribbean, is an adapted and updated version of that handbook with a focus on the mechanisms, instruments and practices that parliaments in the hemisphere are using in order to mainstream the SDGs in their work and contribute to the effective implementation of the 2030 Agenda in their countries.
Parliaments and their members, in dialogue with relevant stakeholders, are best placed to determine the most appropriate ways in which they can play an active role in the realization of the SDGs. The present handbook seeks to support this dialogue in the Americas and the Caribbean by: 1) providing a framework to evaluate and design engagement options; 2) sharing information on good practices and 3) discussing opportunities and challenges in the application of international standards to the work of parliaments.
This publication includes a checklist with key factors parliamentarians are invited to consider when evaluating draft laws or legislation from the perspective of the SDGs. It is also helpful for parliamentarians involved in conducting budget and expenditure oversight."
To read the full document, click on the file below.
