Regional Report on the Attainment of SDGs in Countries Affected by Crisis in the Arab Region

Countries in the Arab region have been heavily impacted by conflicts. These conflicts have resulted in tragic loss of life, forced displacement, physical destruction, strained and failing institutions that together result in complex and interconnected insecurities, often spilling into neighbouring countries within and beyond the region. Responding to the urgent challenges faced by countries affected by conflict in the region, the Arab Committee for Sustainable Development requested the League of Arab States through its Department of Sustainable Development and International Cooperation to prepare a regional report on the importance of SDGs and their implementation in conflict affected countries.

The overall aim of the programme is to establish a regional yet context-specific Report that incorporates tools and approaches necessary for achieving SDGs in the participating countries. The Report helps address the multifaceted challenges faced by countries affected by conflict in the Arab region and their impact for these countries and the region in general.

KEY MATERIALS
Programme Summary
Info Sheet on the Programme
Full Regional Report in [EN][AR]
Summary of Report
Events: Introductory Event, Strenghtening of Regional Framework, Towards Supporting the Attainment

As an evidence-based report and reference guide, it offers an exhaustive repository of pertinent frameworks and existing tools to consider the SDGs in their entirety, tackle interconnected challenges, and create the conditions for achieving the 2030 Agenda.

The report covers eight Member States in conflict, post-conflict, and affected by conflict: Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

It brings together a wide range of stakeholders to build on and strengthen existing frameworks by closing potential gaps to accelerate delivery and improve the use of limited resources. It further adds value by utilizing the human security approach to transition from conflict to early recovery, peace and sustainable development.

National Multi-Stakeholder Partner Networks developed in coordination with Resident Coordinators and key national stakeholders, including civil society actors and those most vulnerable, further strengthen connections between national and local efforts and advance the development of future programmes.

Operating across the humanitarian-development-peace nexus, future programmes will build on the findings of the Report to overcome the obstacles to joint analysis, planning and programming, support country-specific prioritization and harmonize efforts to localize national development plans and tackle the interrelated challenges of poverty, vulnerability, inequality, exclusion and displacement. These efforts will institutionalize a new way of working together for the region.

Human Security for SDG achievement in conflict settings

The 2030 Agenda emphasizes that there can be no sustainable development without peace and no peace without sustainable development. The human security approach provides a valuable link between peacebuilding, humanitarian and development pillars, offering a point of convergence to move beyond siloed approaches that have constrained efforts to date. Human security:

• Calls for integrated and people-centred responses that harnesses the humanitarian-development-peace nexus.
• Promotes greater coordination in planning, improved harmonization of activities, and the attainment of synergies across disciplines and groups.
• Allows for the inclusion of different programming approaches and tools such as LNOB, risk-informed, resilience building, prevention and sustainability.

This results in a response framework in which the root causes along with the needs, vulnerabilities and capacitates of conflict-affected countries are continually assessed. It encompasses all key stakeholders and facilitates collaboration to build back better, whilst ensuring greater prevention through early warning systems and strengthened national and local-level planning and coordination.