Review and Reflection Meeting on Status of SDGs and UPR – Third Cycle
9 February 2021.
Nepal SDGs Forum, coordinated by NGO Federation of Nepal (NFN), held a review meeting on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and made review and reflection of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Third Cycle of Nepal held on 21 January 2021. In this meeting held on 9 February 2021, updates on the SDGs were shared while associating them with the UPR process and human rights instruments, and in consideration with COVID-19 pandemic. The meeting was chaired by Jitram Lama, President of NFN, and Hon. Min Bahadur Shahi, Member of National Planning Commission (NPC) was the chief guest.
In his presentation, Hon. Min Bahadur Shahi analyzed the progress Nepal has made towards realizing the SDGs and shared the gaps and challenges. As he presented the progress update in some indicators, it was evident that enhancing the disaggregated data and quality aspects were the most important aspects to be considered. He also accepted the weak data system in terms of SDGs implementation, especially SDG 16. It means measuring the progress is not possible or ineffective.
Notably, Government of Nepal has recently unveiled the SDG progress report and SDG localization guideline which will be useful for implementing SDGs at the local level.
Similarly, at the meeting Joint Secretary of Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Minsters Koshal Chandra Subedi made his presentation on UPR Third Cycle of Nepal from the perspectives of SDGs. Having shared the process, experiences and lessons, he showed how SDGs are associated with key human rights principles or how they are interrelated. Subedi’s presentation was useful for the participants to know about interconnection between human rights and SDGs and how they can utilize these instruments to hold the concerned agencies accountable.
During the open discussion session, the participants expressed their concerns related to the inclusive realization of the SDGs, enabling environment for the participation and contribution of CSOs, localization of the SDGs, assessment and acknowledgement of CSO contribution, and rights and entitlements of the marginalized and vulnerable groups. They also focused on and asked the Government of Nepal for the making the data and information available on SDG 16 and take this more seriously. Data generated by CSOs and from other sources was suggested to reduce the data gaps.
Arjun Bhattarai, Deputy Secretary General of NFN, shared the recent updates on SDGs at the national and international level. This was useful for everyone to get updated, as this meeting was held physically after a long time due to the coronavirus pandemic. Secretary General of NFN Ram Prasad Subedi facilitated the meeting.
The organizations associated with Nepal SDGs Forum as Conveners of different Goals, coordinators of thematic sectors or MGoS, INGOs or development partners associated as advisors of Nepal SDGs Forum, representatives of CSOs, and media persons joined the meeting.
Presentations of the day are available here
