ECLAC Will Support the Region’s Countries to Foster Alliances and Ensure the Success of the 2030 Agenda

The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) will support the region’s countries to improve the quality and availability of data to facilitate the implementation of the 2030 agenda for sustainable development, approved on September 25 in New York, according to an announcement made today during the launch of the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data.

“The United Nations regional commissions, ECLAC among them, constitute a key bridge between global and national levels for the implementation, follow-up and review of the 2030 agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),” Alicia Bárcena, ECLAC’s Executive Secretary, stated in a declaration that was read during the meeting in New York. This event took place in the framework of the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly and was co-organized by the governments of Colombia, Mexico, the United States and Kenya.

The Global Partnership launched today is the result of the recommendations included in the report on the data revolution that an Independent Expert Advisory Group (in which Alicia Bárcena took part) delivered to the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, in 2014. This Partnership is made up of 70 governments, international organizations, companies and civil society groups, and it seeks to produce and disseminate timely, accurate and high-quality information that can be used to take action and measure the progress made towards sustainable development.

In her message, the senior United Nations official highlighted the support that ECLAC provides to the existing regional architecture in Latin America and the Caribbean and to South-South cooperation with other regions; she also emphasized the strengths of the regional commissions. These organizations have solid analytical and research capacities, a broad network of contacts with experts and great experience in developing methodologies and operating models that enable them to offer technical support for the achievement of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) included in the 2030 agenda, she said.

In order to provide this, ECLAC also has diverse subsidiary bodies, such as the Statistical Conference of the Americas, which represent a regional architecture for a platform of political and thematic dialogue, Alicia Bárcena stated. The Executive Secretary said that the Commission’s work is also expressed in documents such as the recent analysis on the region-wide results of the Millennium Development Goals, the SDGs’ predecessors.

During the segment in which Bárcena’s declaration was read, other participants included the Secretary-General of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Ángel Gurría; the World Bank President’s Special Envoy on MDGs, Mahmoud Mohieldin; the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Post-2015 Planning for Development, Amina Mohammed; and the Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), Shamshed Akhtar.

According to the promoters of this Partnership, which ECLAC has adhered to, having adequate, timely and innovative information will allow officials to strengthen policy decisions to confront global challenges such as ending poverty, ensuring a decent and healthy life and fighting climate change. As of today, as an example, 77 of 155 countries analyzed do not have trustworthy figures on poverty and 60% of the causes of death on this planet remain unidentified.

During her stay in New York, ECLAC’s Executive Secretary moderated on Sunday, September 27 a high-level side event entitled “Implementing the Post-2015 Agenda: Building Political Leadership for Transformative Change,” organized by various civil society entities.

“The role that civil society played in the formulation of the 2030 agenda is undeniable. This is an agenda made by the people and for the people,” Alicia Bárcena said. She indicated that civil society collaboration will also be fundamental in the definition of indicators to measure the progress of the SDGs, which are still being discussed, as well as in the follow-up to and oversight of the commitments made by each State on these matters.

Alicia Bárcena spoke on Friday, September 25 at the second interactive dialogue entitled “Tackling Inequalities, Empowering Women and Girls and Leaving No One Behind,” where she said that if gender equality is ignored, there can be no significant progress on the SDGs’ implementation. “Sustainable development must include gender equality comprehensively, otherwise it is neither development, nor sustainable,” she stressed on that occasion.

In addition, she met with media editors on Thursday, September 24 and accompanied the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, during a series of bilateral meetings with presidents of the region.