The meeting, organized by the Secretariat of the Committee for Development Policy (CDP) and the Division for Sustainable Development Goals and held on 16 July, constituted the inaugural session of the VNR labs and featured two country representatives from Cabo Verde and Finland. After opening remarks by Liu Zhenmin, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, the Chair of the CDP, Professor José Antonio Ocampo, presented key findings of the recent analysis of VNR reports conducted by the CDP. The following moderated dialogue between the two country experts built on these conclusions and showcased examples of integrated policies and policy coherence at the national level. The speakers shared good approaches on how to organize institutions and use plans and budgets to promote integrated policy-making, and discussed specific trade-offs and synergies between policy objectives that their countries are addressing. Key messages centered around the two major themes: trade-offs and priority setting; and institutional mechanisms to achieve “interlinked thinking” among all stakeholders involved in the VNRs and in national policy making more broadly.

About the VNR Lab Series

During the ECOSOC High-Level Segment/Ministerial Meetings of the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development DESA convened a series of eight VNR Labs, organized in response to demand from Member States, UN bodies and major stakeholders to take stock of the experiences of VNRs. The VNR Labs aimed to provide an informal platform for exchanges between countries that have conducted a VNR, and those that have not, as well as the UN system and other stakeholders.

More information and related links

CDP Background Paper: Voluntary National Review Reports – What Do They Report?
Infographic: Leaving No One Behind
Infographic: Policy Trade-Offs
Infographic: Global Partnerships

For consolidated information on the CDP work on “Voluntary National Reviews” go to:
https://www.un.org/development/desa/dpad/2018/voluntary-national-reviews/