African countries reviewing their progress on sustainable development have come together to share stories, best practices and lessons learned at ECA’s annual regional workshop on Voluntary National (VNR) and Local Reviews.

This year, a record number of 21 African countries will undertake reviews of their policy alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals and the African Union’s Agenda 2063. In his opening remarks, Hanan Morsy, Deputy Executive Secretary of ECA, commended these countries, noting that this represents “continued monitoring by Africa of its global commitments to sustainable development.”

Participants stressed the urgency of moving from plans to action and implementation, while ensuring that the frameworks in place promote inclusive growth.

Liberia is among the countries pursuing VNRs. The country’s Deputy Minister of Economic Management, Augustus J. Flomo, emphasized that the VNR represents a means of aligning national development policies with the SDGs, while taking into account national priorities. He underscored the need for stakeholder involvement to ensure that the review contributes to meeting the development needs of the people.

The discussions shed light on how to ensure that the contributions and voices of young people and civil society groups are well reflected in the VNR process, and how this can be closely linked to the localization of SDG initiatives at the municipal and municipal levels. district.

Specific sessions focused on unique issues facing countries undertaking their first VNR, how to link pre- and post-covid reviews of SDG progress, and regional and global partnerships to support implementation. artwork.

The results of this workshop will help the 21 countries improve and finalize their VNRs before their presentation at the High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development in New York in July.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).