The National Planning Commission’s Sustainable Development Goals Platform

In 2015, Nepal, as a member of the UN, signed the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda agreed by the Members of the United Nations in September 2015. The Agenda sets out 17 ambitious goals that define global sustainable development priorities and aspirations for 2030 and seek to mobilize global efforts around a common set of goals and targets. 

The National Planning Commission’s National SDG platform is intended to enable tracking of Nepal’s progress towards achieving the SDGs by 20130 and other national development plans. The platform provides information about the Government of Nepal’s efforts in terms of planning, implementation and monitoring in relation to the SDGs. Furthermore, the platform serves as an online data and repository to support timely data collection and to monitor the implementation of SDGs.

The Sustainable Development Agenda 2030

On September 25th 2015, 193 countries adopted a set of 17 goals to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all as part of a new sustainable development agenda. Each goal has specific targets to be achieved over the next 15 years. On 1 January 2016, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development — adopted by world leaders in September 2015 at an historic UN Summit — officially came into force.  Over the next fifteen years, with these new Goals that universally apply to all, countries will mobilize efforts to end all forms of poverty, fight inequalities and tackle climate change, while ensuring that no one is left behind.

The SDGs, also known as Global Goals, build on the success of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and aim to go further to end all forms of poverty. The new Goals are unique in that they call for action by all countries, poor, rich and middle-income to promote prosperity while protecting the planet. They recognize that ending poverty must go hand-in-hand with strategies that build economic growth and addresses a range of social needs including education, health, social protection, and job opportunities, while tackling climate change and environmental protection.

Nepal, as a member of the UN, is committed to the SDGs and was one of the signatories of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda agreed by the Members of the United Nations in September 2015.

Nepal’s National Sustainable Development Goals Framework

While the SDGs are not legally binding, governments are expected to take ownership and establish national frameworks for the achievement of the 17 Goals. The Government of Nepal’s National Planning Commission (NPC) prepared the first SDG country report in 2015, detailing and taking stock of its current development context and establishing the base line for the SDGs. This made Nepal the first country in the world to publish its SDG country report and symbolizes Nepal’s commitment and readiness to execute the SDGs. Based on the report, the NPC has been working to align its national monitoring and evaluation framework including its periodic plans with the SDG and its targets. The current (14th) periodic plan (2016/17-2018/19), and other sectoral plans, policies and their targets are being aligned with SDGs. specific SDGs codes are assigned for all national programs in the national budget.

Three high-level committees have been formed to help implement SDGs i.e. a steering committee chaired by the Prime Minister; a coordination committee chaired by the Vice Chairman of the NPC and nine thematic committees are headed by NPC Members. These nine committees focus on Economic Development; Industrial Development; Urban Development; Social Development; Employment Management; Agriculture Climate and Environment; Physical Infrastructure; Energy Development; Peace, Justice and Inclusive Institutions. The membership of the coordination and working committees is broadly representative of the public and private sectors, as well as civil society and development partners.

Furthermore, Nepal has been among a select group of countries that has agreed to voluntary submit its review of its progress towards the SDG ad on July 28, 2017  presented its Voluntary National Review (VNR) regarding the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development, under the auspices of the United National Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in New York.

Countries have the primary responsibility for follow-up and review of the progress made in implementing the Goals, which will require quality, accessible and timely data collection. The National Planning Commission’s National SDG platform is intended to enable tracking of Nepal’s progress towards achieving the SDGs by 20130 and other national development plans. The platform provides information about the Government of Nepal’s efforts in terms of planning, implementation and monitoring in relation to the SDGs. Furthermore, the platform serves as an online data and repository to support timely data collection and to monitor the implementation of SDGs.

Download National SDG Framework

Nepal’s Progress Towards the SDGs

The overarching goal of the SDGs of leaving no one behind fits well with the inclusive political order that Nepal has been building with the new Constitution (2015), which aspires to create a prosperous, egalitarian and pluralistic society, and serves as the overarching guide to all development policies, plans and programs.

Nepal's social and political progress has been highly progressive:

• Nepal has halved extreme poverty (SDG 1) in the past 15 years, and is on track to bring it down to less than 5 percent by 2030.

• SDG 2 targets include the reduction in the prevalence of undernourishment to 3 percent and prevalence of underweight children under five years of age to 5 percent by 2030.

• Similarly, SDG 3 targets include reducing the maternal mortality rate to less than 70 per 100,000 live births by 2030. Other targets include the virtual elimination of the prevalence of HIV, TB, Malaria, other tropical diseases, and water borne diseases. In Nepal today, there is gender parity at all levels of education.

• The targets for SDG 5 includes the elimination of wage discrimination, physical/sexual violence, and all harmful social practices, such as child marriages. Nepal expects women to fill 40 percent of all elected seats in local governments, and at least one-third of the seats in the national parliament. In the civil service, women in public decision-making positions will have increased four-fold of total employees by 2030.

• The targets for SDG 9 are to increase road density to 1.5 km per square km and paved road density to 0.25 km per square km, and to connect all districts, municipalities and village councils to the national road network. In industries, the target by 2030 is to increase the share of employment to 25 percent; within the subset of manufacturing, employment is to reach 13 percent.

• SDG 17, on the means of implementation, expects adherence by all stakeholders, from resource mobilization and capacity development to shared responsibility and accountability. Nepal’s progress in revenue mobilization is impressive, but also vulnerable to likely swings in the large volumes of inward remittances which bolster import-based taxation. The aim is to increase the share of revenue from about 22 percent today to 30 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2030.Domestic expenditures financed by revenue is estimated to reach 80 percent. For meeting the private sector investment financing gap, foreign direct investment (inward stock) is expected to increase to 20 percent of GDP in 2030 from less than 3 percent in 2015.

Building on the gains so far, the challenge for Nepal is to swiftly complete the unfinished agenda of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and embrace a much more ambitious aspiration of fulfilling the SDGs. Furthermore, Nepal expects to become a vibrant middle income country by 2030. However, the country is resource constrained, and it needs to forge a diverse alliance for SDGs among government, business and civil society to end poverty and create a life of dignity and opportunity for all in Nepal.

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