The Leading Role of National Governments in “Building Forward Better”

The 2030 Agenda emphasizes that national governments have the critical responsibility of implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) along with ensuring their follow-up and review. This requires that governments create national and goals that mirror global ambitions and put in place the necessary institutional mechanisms and monitoring systems to translate these goals into effective implementation. Achieving the SDGs requires addressing the questions related to relevant complementarities and trade-offs to the wider policy domains. This in turn requires having in place policy frameworks that foster horizontal integration given that the SDGs and climate action cannot be achieved by sectoral siloed policies. This multisectoral, comprehensive view of sustainability policies needs to be complemented with a whole-of-government approach that engages local and regional governments (LRGs) to ensure last-mile delivery as well as attracts the private sector to the scene. The implementation of policies needs to be backed by strong high-quality disaggregated data that is capable of informing the decision-making process and strengthens delivery within a data governance framework that promotes trust in data transactions. The cross-cutting theme is that realizing the ambitions of the 2030 Agenda hinges on adequate finance, a factor that has been further stressed by the pandemic. Fiscal policies and public financial management are essential for both aligning the public financial system with the SDGs and unlocking the necessary SDG funds from non-state actors, specifically the private sector. The tripartite of policy framework and effective implementation institutions, dependable data, and adequate finance has been repeatedly stressed in the lessons learnt from the pandemic and other global crises. These are key factors toward investing in infrastructure, resilience, and human capital.