The Office for West Africa of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), in partnership with the Liberian Government, on Monday, May 6, 2019   opened the start of an ad-hoc experts group meeting of West Africa on the theme: "National capacities and mechanisms in evaluating progress in the implementation of the 2030 and 2063 Agendas: assessment, challenges and prospects in West Africa".

The program took place in Robertsfield, Harbel, Margibi County.

The ad-hoc meeting is being held in the context of the capacities of the West African States to produce timely and quality data covering all the indicators of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Agenda 2061 of the African Union (AU). It has been established that most West African states have limitations in these capacities. The objective of the meeting is to review and identify major challenges to national capacities for monitoring and evaluating the 2030 and 2063 Agendas in West Africa. The meeting will also serve as a framework for reviewing the draft report produced by the ECA, which will ultimately be used as a decision support tool for strengthening national capacities for the better monitoring and evaluation of the Agendas.

The forum offers an opportunity for participants, particularly those representing member states and all development actors, to share experiences and good practices in developing the technical, statistical, financial and organizational capacities needed for the monitoring and evaluation of the SDGs and Agenda 2063. The gathering also seeks to achieve better monitoring and an appropriate assessment of progress towards the achievement of the SDGs and the Agenda 2063 in West Africa.
 The Acting Director of the ECA in West Africa, Mr. Bakary Dosso, said: “In West Africa, a rough estimate shows that, out of an estimated population of 377 million zin 2018, over 200 million or 53.5% of people live below the national poverty line. This clearly demonstrates the magnitude of the challenges we all face.” “Countries in the sub region need to make major reforms to their macroeconomic and financial frameworks, invest in human capital, tackle infrastructure deficits, improve the business climate to meet the above challenges, and positively and sustainably reverse trends.  The success lies in the ability of the national leadership to execute on time, to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the different agendas to which it has committed for the transformation of their respective countries and the continent,” Mr. Dosso said.

Liberia’s  Deputy Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Mrs Tanneh Brunson, said, “Liberia as a member State remains deeply committed to continuing her partnership with sub regional bodies as well as with the ECA for its continuous supports to Liberia in making sure that we jointly achieve the United Natiions 2030 Agenda and the African Union”s Agenda 2063.”

This two-day meeting takes the form of plenary sessions, where  participants are discussing major national challenges and others relating   to capacity-building, in West African States, for monitoring and evaluating public policies in general and the SDGs and the Agenda 2063 in particular, including the Voluntary National Review (VNR) process. In addition to the presentation by the ECA of the preliminary results of the study it conducted, other presentations and papers to be delivered by States, inter-governmental organizations of the sub-region, non-State entities and development institutions operating in West Africa are also expected. The representatives of regional economic communities and intergovernmental organizations of West Africa, the representatives of the private sector and civil society, as well as parliamentary groups active in the field of sustainable development in the sub-region, and more particularly on issues related to capacity-building for public policy monitoring and evaluation, and experts from ministries in charge of statistical production and monitoring and evaluation of public policies, with a focus on the SDGs and the

Agenda 2063 are participating in this meeting.

A release from the ECA Sub-regional Office for - West Africa says  Special attention will be paid to West African countries engaged in the Voluntary National Review (VNR) process in 2018 and 2019 for the purposes of sharing experiences and best practices,

Jacob N.B. Parley

Director Public Affairs