Georgia, along with other UN member countries, is involved in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. The 2030 Agenda represents an integrated plan of action of economic, environmental and social solutions for achieving sustainable development and incorporates 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). SDGs, along with other important issues, strive to tackle poverty and hunger, reduce inequality, build peaceful and just societies, promote gender equality and protect natural resources. Since SDGs are ambitious and interlinked, their successful and timely realization is a complex process and requires multilateral engagement. Thus, Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs), considering their mandate and role, play an essential role - SAIs are at the core of effective, accountable and inclusive institutions for sustainable development and can remarkably support to the every stage of SDGs implementation. Within the scope of this audit, The State Audit Office of Georgia (SAOG) studied to what extent the country is prepared for implementation of SDGs. In particular, it has been assessed whether the government took sufficient steps (a) to be prepared for SDGs implementation and (b) to put a sound monitoring and reporting framework in place. The audit revealed that the government has taken important initial steps in terms of integration the 2030 Agenda into the national context, formation monitoring and reporting framework. In particular, Government’s Administration established a coordinating agency – SDGs council and corresponding thematic working groups that support the council. Additionally, there has been developed a national 2030 Agenda – SDGs Matrix. Also, national targets and significant share of national indicators, baselines and data sources are in place, presented in the SDGs Matrix. Moreover, there have been conducted a series of activities for defining responsible bodies for implementation of SDGs. Commitments to launch the monitoring and reporting web-portal in practice are underway. Despite the actions undertaken by the government towards preparation for implementation of SDGs, the audit has revealed certain deficiencies that call for further activities to achieve the goals in a successful and timely manner.
To the SDGs council:
1.Taking into consideration the universal and inclusive nature of SDGs, it is important to involve central and local governments in their realization. Consequently, SDGs Council should ensure that municipalities are included in the implementation of SDGs;
2. In order to position SDGs matrix as an effective formal framework of nationalized agenda, SDGs council should make timely initiatives for its formal approval by the government;
3. In order to achieve inclusiveness and effective functioning of SDGs council and thematic working groups: a) In cooperation with thematic working groups, all relevant stakeholders should be identified and after increasing their awareness, they should be involved in the SDGs council and thematic working groups, considering their relevance; b) In cooperation with thematic working groups, the roles and responsibilities of working group members should be determined; c) There should be elaborated action plans for SDGs council and thematic working groups, presenting short-term and medium-term activities, milestones and required resources.
4. To guarantee timely and efficient monitoring and reporting about SDGs, SDGs council should develop a monitoring and reporting framework, which implies: a) Timely completion of monitoring web-portal and launch in the practice; b) Development of reporting framework and timeline by ministries towards SDGs council; c) Defining timeline for national progress reporting about the achievement of SDGs.
To the SDGs council and the line ministries:
5. In order to eliminate the gaps in the SDGs matrix, the SDGs council and ministries should: a) Identify specific agencies responsible for each target/indicator; b) Analyze nature and scope of the interconnections between the goals and targets, on the basis of which, the direct responsibility of each agency will be defined in regard with achievement of each target.
6. In order to achieve SDGs and corresponding targets in a timely, efficient and successful manner, SDGs council and ministries, in cooperation with all relevant bodies, involved in the realization of the goals, should analyze and evaluate necessary means of implementation: human and financial resources, ICT, data and statistics.
7. In order to process proper monitoring of the implementation of the targets, SDGs council, in cooperation with line ministries and other relevant bodies, should present information in SDGs matrix about baselines and data sources for each indicator.
To the line ministries:
8. The line ministries should integrate SDGs, targets and corresponding indicators they are responsible for, into their strategies, policies, medium term action plans and program annex of the state budget law.
