Since 2016, Together 2030 and a team from the Politics Department at Newcastle University have collaborated to produce an annual survey on stakeholder participation in Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. At the end of the first four year “cycle” of review at the High Level Political Forum, this paper brings together and summarises the main trends and findings of the surveys over the years, reflecting on how the survey – and the SDG context – has changed over this period, and where it might go next.
The results of the survey over the four years since 2016 speak to two key tensions at the heart of the SDGs:
- First, the SDGs are universal and global, but nationally owned and implemented.
- Second, national SDG processes are agreed and controlled by states and governments, even though the SDGs demand much broader ownership by stakeholders.
The survey has addressed both of these areas, yielding evidence on how involved stakeholders have been in national reviews, and whether they see the progress in national implementation that VNRs have often testified to.
You can access the full report of Four Years of Perception Survey here
We thank our partner Newcastle University for its commitment with this survey over the years. We also thank all our members who have participated in this survey since 2016