A plan is a baseline giving orientation and the vision and strategy are among the most consequential elements of planning. Of course, in life nothing goes according to plan. However, without such a baseline where do we start and how do we improve? Therefore, Benjamin Franklin coined the phrase “Failure to plan is planning to fail”. This blog post in two parts does not repeat the broad literature on urban and territorial planning respectively on national development planning. Written during the Corona pandemic and in anticipation of other crises to follow the earlier two parts feature two of common but most consequential deficits (lack of vision and lack of strategy) and how to overcome them. This third part now features the necessary accountability and integrity of sustainable development.

As most things in life sustainable development has its more and its less attractive parts. In the first sustainability program for that I worked in the late 1990s I remember well a subdivision manager from the German Federal Ministry of Construction. After the Steering Committee meeting at which projects had been approved, he approached me saying “Now the interesting part is over”. What he was referring to was that he considered the programme development with visioning, strategy development, appointing managers and allocating funds for projects as the creative part. He added: “Well, the implementation is also important but it is no more that interesting and creative. Everything essential is already laid down in the project document. Thus, it only has to be implemented.” I was just a bit puzzled about the encounter but it should have been an omen to me.

When the 2030 Agenda was launched in 2015 something similar happened. Politicians were very proud on their creative power and ambitious 2030 Agenda with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) as it was adopted by the UN General Assembly … and then they too – like the subdivision manager earlier – turned towards other tasks. Of course, others may intervene now and underscore the creativity which unfolds during agenda implementation and goal achievement but we have to note that the attention of political leadership has decreased considerably since 2015. I do assume that developing a coherent implementation structure, defining indicators, raising funds and assuring transparency and accountability of agenda implementation seems to be a lot less sexy than designing new policies.

Purpose of this post is to describe briefly what politicians are missing if they pay not enough attention to #accountability, #transparency and #integrity. A special focus will be put on auditors who could potentially play a key role in building accountability for the SDGs. Overall, by paying more attention to implementation, monitoring and evaluation decision-makers in policy and management could again demonstrate creative power, while, in the opposite case, they would contribute to the failure of the 2030 Agenda.

Financial Integrity for Sustainable Development
 

The High-Level Panel on International Financial Accountability, Transparency and Integrity for Achieving the 2030 Agenda (FACTI Panel; https://www.factipanel.org/ ) was convened by the 74th President of United Nations General Assembly and the 75th President of the Economic and Social Council on 2 March 2020.

It’s no joke! After launching the 2030 Agenda it took member states of the UN almost five more years to convene the panel.

The Panel is a diverse group of individuals from different backgrounds, experiences and national and regional contexts. It is co-chaired by H.E. Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, former prime minister of Niger, and H.E. Dalia Grybauskaitė, former president of Lithuania. The objective of the FACTI Panel is to contribute to the overall efforts undertaken by member states to implement the ambitious and transformational vision of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It is mandated to review current challenges and trends related to financial accountability, transparency and integrity, and to make evidence-based recommendations to close remaining gaps in the international system.

In February 2021, the High-Level Panel has launched its report. While at the UN there is much talk about localizing the SDGs, the report puts its focus on national and global governance. In addition, it addresses the situation of citizens. Unfortunately, it doesn't describe responsibilities of local authorities and local stakeholders, or the possible application of instruments like citizen audits in context of #accountability, #transparency and #integrity.

The report does describe the lack of resources which is hampering global progress and that the COVID-19 pandemic has introduced a series of formidable stumbling blocks on top of pre-existing systemic challenges. Governments of developed and developing countries around the world have galvanized into action, undertaking exceptional measures to bring the crisis under control. As a matter of fact, the crisis has sharpened pre-existing divides within and between countries. As tax revenues plummeted alongside the slowdown in economic activity, governments needed to undertake colossal public spending on health and social welfare, which left them reeling from already mounting debt burdens amid insufficient levels of revenue mobilization. A year into the pandemic, the grim trend has only intensified and threatens to reverse hard-won progress in developmental gains. Based on this analysis the report identifies a system problem around financial integrity of the Agenda implementation and calls for a systemic solution:

» The world needs to envision a system of financial integrity for sustainable development.

» Achieving this vision would require concrete actions to ensure that all economic and financial activities conform to rules and standards that are compatible with and contribute to sustainable development.

(FACTI Panel report, page vii; https://www.factipanel.org/ )

The FACTI Panel

“calls for concerted, coordinated international action, and for global measures targeted towards politicians, policy-makers, civil society, as well as the private sector. Reorienting financial flows to promote sustainable development requires a fundamental change in how we operate together. It calls for reinvigorated collective effort to promote transparency by all parties; to catalyse crucial and necessary changes that will help countries finance the ambitious SDGs.” (page 5)

The report proposes a global pact for financial integrity for sustainable development and makes 14 recommendations to free the economy from illicit financial practices and ultimately enable sustainable development for all, everywhere.

Supreme audit institutions as potential key players assuring accountability

In addition to the global pact each member state has to prepare for implementing the SDG. One of the steps the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs undertook in support of this is the production of the DESA Working Paper No. 157 ‘The role of external audits in enhancing transparency and accountability for the Sustainable Development Goals’. The paper written by Aránzazu Guillán Montero and David Le Blanc (ST/ESA/2019/DWP/157) examines the involvement of supreme audit institutions (SAIs) in auditing the preparedness of governments for SDG implementation.

Source: DESA Working Paper No. 157, page 20.

The subject of auditing SDGs is complex because the 2030 Agenda is not legally binding and since national monitoring efforts are largely left to the discretion of individual countries. However, SAIs are potentially a key player in building accountability. As national accountability institutions, SAIs have a formal mandate to oversee and assess government efforts and to implement the SDGs. In the past, SAIs focused on compliance and financial auditing. Recent efforts in developing standards for SDG auditing further underscore the already ongoing expansion of SAI’s mandates to assess the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of public spending and government performance. While this process is on-going there is no agreed standard for SDG auditing. This is the point where capacity building comes into the play as a pertinent task to support the development and promotion of government preparedness and standards for SDG auditing.

It was one of the most contentious issues during negotiations on the 2030 Agenda how member states should be held accountable for the delivery or progress on the goals. However, in the interest of goal achievement it deems necessary to pick up the old discussion again and to define transparency, accountability and integrity. I am sure that this part is as interesting for governance experts as the agenda development has been. In anyway, the 2030 Agenda is not raisin picking and governance of the agenda must cover the fun parts and the not so funny parts of sustainable development.

Ulrich’s Blog: www.ugraute.de/blog-1

There you find all blog posts from the same series 'Failing to plan is planning to fail':