One of the lessons from the Millennium Development Goals implementation is that early strategic planning is important in laying the groundwork for long-term progress; putting in place priority actions early can have a multiplier effect on development outcomes.

UNDP begun mapping regional demand for support and there were strong interest from Pacific small island developing states (SIDS). Some governments have already started translating the 2030 Agenda into their national development visions, strategies and plans.

UNDP therefore, proposed this regional initiative to support the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) localization and implementation process and share innovations and lessons learned at country and regional level.

Specifically, this initiative supports Pacific SIDS to:

• Mainstream the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development into national development strategies and plans. 
• Initiate the development of integrated financing frameworks. 
• Assess data availability and assist with baseline analysis for monitoring progress towards the SDGs.
• Deepen South-South cooperation across the Pacific SIDS through exchange of experiences and good practices. 

What we do

The UN Development Group created a framework called MAPS (Mainstreaming, Acceleration, and Policy Support) to help countries implement the SDGs. MAPS guides UNDP’s approach in the Pacific SIDS and where necessary, globally developed tools, are adjusted to the specific needs of the SIDS.  

Based on scoping missions to several countries and consultations, several entry points have been identified including:

1. Work with governments, civil societies, academia and private sectors to raise awareness of the 2030 Agenda and establish broad-based multi-stakeholder partnerships. 
2. Supporting the integration of the SDGs into national and local policy-making, planning and budgeting processes. 
3. Supporting the identification of priorities and areas for ‘acceleration’ i.e. areas where progress has been lagging.
4. Piloting the development of an integrated financing framework in a country with sufficient capacity and budget systems.
5. Assessing data availability and support the determination of baselines for localized SDG targets. 
6. A regional process to distil and share experiences.

All activities will seek to leverage support from other UN agencies and closely coordinate with other development partners particularly, the Pacific Island Forum Secretariat.