Open Government for Sustainable Development in Asia Pacific The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, agreed by the UN General Assembly in September 2015, includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets to cover a broad range of development issues, including ending poverty and hunger, improving health and education, strengthening institutions, and combating climate change.
What’s new about the SDGs? The SDGs build on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that the world committed to achieving by 2015. The SDGs emphasize: Reaching marginalized groups and addressing the remaining pockets of poverty to ensure that no one is left behind
Setting up strong monitoring mechanisms that effectively evaluate progress against the targets in the SDGS
Participation of all countries—poor, rich, and middle income—to promote environmentally conscious prosperity
The United Nations Development Programme and Open Government Partnership launched a joint call to start mapping how open government initiatives can support the achievement of the SDGs in the Asia-Pacific region. More than 40 initiatives were submitted from 15 countries throughout the region.
Key Findings Open government initiatives are most successful in contributing to SDGs when they: Institutionalize partnerships between governments and Provide platforms to civil society hear the people’s voice, especially marginalized communities
Utilize user-friendly, simple, and accessible technologies
Go beyond traditional government statistics to Are replicable produce across sectors and demand-side across countries data and promote its use
The following three initiatives are highlighted for their innovative approach to enhance transparency, accountability and citizen engagement for “reaching the last mile.”
UNDP Bangkok Regional Hub elodie.beth@undp.org liviana.zorzi@undp.org
Open Government Partnership Support Unit info@opengovernmentpartnership.org
Prepared by: Priyal Bhatt (UNDP BRH)