SAINT LUCIA’S JOURNEY TOWARDS THE ACHIEVEMENT OF THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
Saint Lucia, in 2015, made a commitment to continue to promote sustainable development by signing on to the Agenda 2030. The Agenda 2030 consists of seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and one hundred and sixty-nine targets and is the guide to the blueprint for national development as now articulated through the Medium-Term development Strategy. The implementation of the SDGs requires strong and effective coordination across government and all sectors of society.
Cabinet, through Cabinet conclusion No. 202 of March 14, 2017, established the SDGNCC a multi-sectoral body that has been tasked with the responsibility of guiding the implementation and monitoring of actions towards the achievement of the SDGs in Saint Lucia. The Composition of the SDGNCC as authorized by Cabinet Conclusion 202 of 2017, consists of one representative and one alternate of the various agencies:
- Department of Sustainable Development
- Department of Education, Innovation and Gender Relations
- Department of Economic Development, Transport and Civil Aviation
- Department of Finance
- Central Statistical Office,
- Ministry of Equity, Social Justice, Empowerment, Youth Development, Sports, Culture and Local Government
- Office of the Prime Minister
- Department of External Affairs
- Ministry for Agriculture, Fisheries, Physical Planning, Natural Resources and Co-operatives
- Non-Governmental Organization/Civil Society (to be appointed by Cabinet on a rotational basis at intervals to be indicated in the Terms of Reference)
- Sir Arthur Lewis Community College
The Department of Sustainable Development serves as the Chair and the Department of Economic Development, Transport and Civil Aviation serves as the Co-Chair of the SDGNCC. The Department of Sustainable Development will also serve as the Secretariat of the SDGNCC.
The SDGNCC is mandated to report to the Cabinet of Ministers annually on its progress “To guide the implementation and monitoring of actions towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals in Saint Lucia”.
Agenda 2030 expects countries to conduct Voluntary National Reviews (VNR) for presentation to the High-Level Political Forum. In 2019, the government of Saint Lucia in consultation with its partners decided to report to the High – Level Political Forum (HLPF) showing our progress and journey to SDG implementation and promotion of Sustainable Development. Saint Lucia’s VNR Report was based on Goals; 4, 8, 10, 13, 16 and 17.
To date Saint Lucia has received support from the United Nations Development Programme for the integration of the SDGs into its National Planning Processes through a Mainstreaming Acceleration and Policy Support (MAPS) approach. Under this initiative, the following documents have been produced:
- Rapid Integrated Assessment (RIA),
- Voluntary National Reporting (VNR),
- Audit Report and
- SDG Roadmap.
Roles and Responsibilities of SDGNCC
The SDGNCC will communicate with relevant agencies without prejudice to the legal authority or responsibility of these agencies and shall have a mandate to:
- Spearhead the development of an SDGs Roadmap for St. Lucia
- Mobilize resources for inter alia roadmap development, data collection, public consultations, monitoring and evaluation
- Establish as required, working groups to assist with the mandate of the SDGNCC and;
- Provide recommendations on ways to align the SDG implementation process with other national processes
- Provide to the Cabinet of Ministers periodic updates
- Keep abreast of international, regional and local processes (Agenda/programs/decisions/events) which may influence the SDG implementation
- Inform and sensitize key agencies and the general public on the critical international, regional and local processes (Agenda/Programmes/decisions/events) which will impact on national development;
- Determine the composition of working groups needed to support the work of the SDGNCC;
- Monitor the progress of Saint Lucia in meeting the SDGs