17 days of consultations on nationalizing SDGs kicks off in Turkmenistan

The Government of Turkmenistan and the UN Country Team launched consultations to discuss the Sustainable Development Goals.The purpose of the structured process is to discuss each of the global sustainable development goal its targets and corresponding indicators by representatives of the relevant ministries, agencies and departments, in order to agree the targets and indicators to be adopted by Turkmenistan over the next 15 years. The discussion are co - lead by a line ministry together with a UN agency.

The consultations will last for 17 days in March. Allocating one day to discuss each goal and its corresponding targets and indicators demonstrates the commitment of the government of Turkmenistan to implementing SDGs said Jacinta Barrins, the UN Resident Coordinator. We are calling this “Super March” and having the launch of this process on the 2nd of March the day that Turkmenistan became a member of UN in 1992 is highly symbolic she said. Day one of the consultations started with discussing Goal 15 on the environment which is an important goal for Turkmenistan.

This is the first stage of a three stage process to roll out SDGs in Turkmenistan. The first stage started in October 2015 with the government approving the 3 stage rollout process, establishing a working SDG group and assigning a led ministry for each goal. Several preparatory meetings have been held in preparations for the 17 days consultation. A number of line ministries have also established internal SDG technical groups. The Super March consultation will end with a list of SD goals, target and indicators that will be sent to the Cabinet of Ministers for approval.

Stage two of the process will focus on incorporating the agreed SDG, targets and indicators into Presidential plan 2017- 2021 and sectors plans and programs. The third stage will be designing the system to measure the progress on the implementation of the SDGs. The UNCT will support the government in all 3 stages.

The highlights from each of the 17 days discussions will be shared during the Super March consultations.