National Workshop on Institutional Arrangements for the 2030 Agenda: Advancing Coordination and SDGs Integration in the Lao PDR

The workshop was honored by the opening remark of His Excellency Mr. Thongparn Savanphet, Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Mrs. Ricarda Rieger, Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to Lao PDR. The workshop was co-chaired by Mr. Kanya Khammoungkoune, Deputy Director-General of the Department of International Organizations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Mr. Jonas Rabinovitch, Senior Advisor, representative from the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations. The training was supported by UN DESA and more than 50 representatives of the national SDG focal points from line Ministries and equivalent attended the workshop over the course of two days.

Current workshop is one of the UN DESA-SDGs technical training series, which set the scene earlier in May 2019 on Stakeholder Engagement for the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This second workshop is part of the continued efforts to train and support the National SDG focal points on the localization and integration of SDGs into the respective sectoral planning and at the national level, especially since the adoption of the SDGs indicators of each line Ministries and equivalent at the Annual National Steering Committee for the SDGs implementation organized in June this year. The Workshop mainly focused on improving both vertical and horizontal coordination between the National SDGs focal points, specifically to provide capacity building on the implementation of SDGs in order to support the smooth integration and coordination of the sectoral planning and activities, and its linkages to the National Socio-Economic Development Plan.

On this occasion, H.E Mr. Thongparn Savanphet, Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, stressed the importance of the coordination between and among the National SDG focal points, at both vertical and horizontal level, understanding the role of stakeholder engagement and the institutional coordination, and working together in addressing the challenges and finding solutions towards achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Capacity building of both National SDG Secretariat and SDG focal points is key to harness implementation and achieving the set goals by 2030.

On the same note, Mrs. Ricarda Rieger, Resident Representative of UNDP to Lao PDR, on behalf of the UN Country Team, addressed that “the implementation of the SDGs through integrated policy-making implies new coordinating mechanisms for agenda setting, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation – including a well-defined set of institutional focal points, work flows and decision-making structures, at national and sub-national levels”.

The training was well-received and generated much interest from participants, specifically through their active contribution and sharing of experience, which will equip them with the practical knowledge that could be utilized to improve the coordination within their sector in future.