GOAL 17: PARTNERSHIPS FOR THE GOALS
Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development
Goal 17 aims to strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development. Partnerships are the glue for SDG implementation and will be essential to making the Agenda a reality. Goal 17 calls to strengthen the means of implementation and to build and enhance partnerships with diverse stakeholders.
The targets of Goal 17 are among the primary tools for the advancement of child rights and well-being, globally. This goal defines, for example, whether there are enough data available to identify those children most at risk of being left behind.
While in 2018 there has been an increase in the countries who implemented national statistical plans, many countries lacked the necessary funding to do so: in sub-Saharan Africa, for example, only 23 per cent of plans were fully funded. While sufficient data on all SDGs is relevant to the fulfillment of child rights, UNICEF has prioritised work on indicators in the global SDG monitoring framework that most directly concern children. Although there has been a notable increase in data coverage on these indicators between 2018 and 2019, an average of 75 per cent of child-related SDG indicators in every country either have insufficient data or show insufficient progress to meet global SDG targets by 2030.
UNICEF’s contribution towards reaching this goal centres on working with a broad range of partners at the global, regional, country and local levels, across the public and private sectors. Goal 17 calls on Member States to significantly enhance the availability of reliable, high-quality and timely disaggregated data as well as to further develop measurements of progress, and support statistical capacity building in developing countries.
TARGET 17.8
Fully operationalize the technology bank and science, technology and innovation capacity-building mechanism for least developed countries by 2017 and enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular information and communications technology.
17.8.1
Proportion of individuals using the Internet
The Internet has become an increasingly important tool to access public information, which is a relevant means to protect fundamental freedoms. The number of Internet users has increased substantially over the last decade and access to the Internet has changed the way people live, communicate, work and do business. Internet uptake is a key indicator tracked by policy makers and others to measure the development of the information society and the growth of Internet content – including user-generated content.
Despite growth in networks, services and applications, information and communication technology (ICT) access and use is still far from equally distributed, and many people cannot yet benefit from the potential of the Internet. This indicator highlights the importance of Internet use as a development enabler and helps to measure the digital divide, which, if not properly addressed, will aggravate inequalities in all development domains. Classificatory variables for individuals using the Internet – such as age, sex, education level or labour force status – can help identify digital divides in individuals using the Internet. This information can contribute to the design of targeted policies to overcome those divides.
The proportion of individuals using the Internet is an established indicator and was also one of the three ICT- related Millennium Development Goal (MDG) indicators. It is part of the Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development’s Core List of Indicators, which has been endorsed by the UN Statistical Commission. It is also included in the ITU ICT Development Index, and thus considered a key metric for international comparisons of ICT developments.
This indicator is defined as the proportion of individuals who used the internet from any location in the last three months.
The Internet is a worldwide public computer network. It provides access to a number of communication services including the World Wide Web and carries e-mail, news, entertainment and data files, irrespective of the device used (not assumed to be only via a computer – it may also be by mobile telephone, tablet, PDA, games machine, digital TV etc.). Access can be via a fixed or mobile network.
For countries that collect data on this indicator through an official survey, this indicator is calculated by dividing the total number of in-scope individuals using the Internet (from any location) in the last 3 months by the total number of in-scope individuals. For countries that have not carried out a survey, data are estimated (by ITU) based on the number of Internet subscriptions and other socioeconomic indicators (GNI per capita) and on the time series data.
While the data on the percentage of individuals using the Internet are very reliable for countries that have collected the data through official household surveys, they are less reliable in cases where the number of Internet users is estimated by ITU. ITU is encouraging all countries to collect data on this indicator through official surveys and the number of countries with official data for this indicator is increasing.
TARGET 17.19
By 2030, build on existing initiatives to develop measurements of progress on sustainable development that complement gross domestic product, and support statistical capacity-building in developing countries
17.19.2
Proportion of countries that (a) have conducted at least one population and housing census in the last 10 years; and (b) have achieved 100 per cent birth registration and 80 per cent death registration
Population and housing censuses are one of the primary sources of data needed for formulating, implementing and monitoring policies and programmes aimed at inclusive socioeconomic development and environmental sustainability. Population and housing censuses are an important source for supplying disaggregated data needed for the measurement of progress of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, especially in the context of assessing the situation of people by income, sex, age, race, ethnicity, migratory status, disability and geographic location, or other characteristics.
In recognition of the above, the ECOSOC resolution E/RES/2015/10 establishing the 2020 World Population and Housing Census Programme urges Member States to conduct at least one population and housing census during the period from 2015 to 2024, taking into account international and regional recommendations relating to population and housing censuses and giving particular attention to advance planning, cost efficiency, coverage and the timely dissemination of, and easy access to, census results for national stakeholders, the United Nations and other appropriate intergovernmental organizations in order to inform decisions and facilitate the effective implementation of development plans and programmes.
The indicator tracks the proportion of countries that have conducted at least one population and housing census in the last 10 years and hence provides information on the availability of disaggregated population and housing data needed for the measurement of progress of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The introduction of indicator 17.19.2 (b) as part of the SDG global framework reflects the recognition of the fundamental role of the civil registration system to the functioning of societies, and the legal and protective advantages that it offers to individuals. The essential purpose of civil registration system is to furnish legal documents of direct interest to individuals. Aside from the direct and overarching importance of civil registration to the public authorities, in that the information compiled using the registration method provides essential data for national and regional preparation and planning for medical and health-care programmes, the role played by civil registration in proving, establishing, implementing and realizing many of the human rights embodied in international declarations and conventions reflects one of its most important contributions to the normal functioning of societies.
(a) The indicator tracks the proportion of countries that have conducted at least one population and housing census in the last 10 years. This also includes countries which compile their detailed population and housing statistics from population registers, administrative records, sample surveys or other sources or a combination of those sources.
(b) According to the Principles and Recommendations for a Vital Statistics System, Revision 3 (https://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/standmeth/principles/M19Rev3en.pdf), a complete civil registration is defined as: “The registration in the civil registration system of every vital event that has occurred to the members of the population of a particular country (or area), within a specified period as a result of which every such event has a vital registration record and the system has attained 100 per cent coverage.”
In a given country or area, the level of completeness of birth registration can be different from the level of completeness of death registration.
Several methods for evaluating the completeness of birth or death registration systems exist. An elaboration of these methods is available at Principles and Recommendations for a Vital Statistics System, Revision 3. The evaluation and monitoring of quality and completeness of birth and death registration systems are addressed in Part three, sub-Chapters: D. Quality assessment methods; E. Direct versus indirect assessment, and F. Choosing appropriate methods for assessing completeness and qualitative accuracy of registration and register-based vital statistics (para 579 to 622).
Indicator 17.19.2(b) has two parts; the first concerning the birth registration and the second concerning the death registration of each individual country or area.
(b) The two sub-indicators of the indicator 17.19.2(b) are expressed as proportions: at the global level, the proportion of countries that have achieved 100 per cent birth registration is measured as the number of countries that have achieved 100 per cent birth registration to the total number of countries. The computation is done in an analogous manner for the death registration part as well as for the regional measurements of both birth and death registration sub-indicators.
The latest compiled data for this indicator are part of the Statistical Annex to the 2017 SG’s progress report, available at https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/files/report/2017/secretary-general-sdg-report-2017–Statistical-Annex.pdf (please refer to the last two pages). These data are compiled using the country-reported information on availability and completeness of birth and death registration data at the country level, to the United Nations Demographic Yearbook, via the Demographic Yearbook Vital Statistics questionnaire and accompanying metadata. United Nations Demographic Yearbook collection and associated online compilations are published by the United Nations Statistics Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Please refer to: https://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/products/dyb/default.htm
At the present time, the thresholds used for compiling the data for the indicator 17.19.2(b) are 90 per cent for birth registration and 75 per cent for death registration, due to the classification that has been used in the Demographic Yearbook metadata questionnaire on vital statistics. This classification has currently been modified to enable reporting according to the exact formulation of the indicator 17.19.2(b).
Key asks
The SDGs can only be realized with strong and inclusive partnerships, as well as significant investment in implementation, with children at the centre. UNICEF has five key asks for Goal 17. UNICEF offers support to governments and encourages them to:
- Build, strengthen and expand partnerships.
- Broker meaningful multi-stakeholder coalitions and alliances.
- Engage with the UN System as a key partner.
- Enhance North-South, South-South, horizontal and triangular cooperation.
- Leverage and pool resources, capacities, technology and data.
See more Sustainable Development Goals
SDG 3
GOOD HEALTH AND WELL-BEING
SDG 6
CLEAN WATER AND SANITATION
SDG 7
AFFORDABLE AND CLEAN ENERGY
SDG 8
DECENT WORK AND ECONOMIC GROWTH
SDG 16
PEACE, JUSTICE AND STRONG INSTITUTIONS
SDG 17
PARTERNSHIPS FOR THE GOALS
