REPORT ON TURKEY’S INITIAL STEPS TOWARDS THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE 2030 AGENDA FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT To be presented at the High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development
© All rights reserved. Please do not quote without reference. Reference information: Report on Turkey’s In itial Steps towards the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Ministry of Development, July 2016, Ankara. This Report is prepared within the context of the national preparatory process that has been coordinated by the Ministry of Development of the Republic of Turkey since January 2016, with the participation of institutions and organizations in Turkey. Report on Turkey’s Initial Steps towards the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
1 Contents Executive Summary...................................................................................................... 2 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 6 2 Progress on the MDGs .......................................................................................... 9 3 The Concept of Sustainable Development in Turkey’s Policy Environment.......................................................................................................... 14 4 Integration of SDGs into the National Development Plan............................ 25 5 Institutional Mechanisms to Implement SDGs ................................................. 28 6 Public Awareness and Ownership for SDGs .................................................... 31 7 SDG Indicators and How to Monitor Progress................................................ 34 8 Development Cooperation Setting of Turkey and Possible Partnerships for Future Collaboration ........................................................................................... 39 9 Challenges and Experiences in the Implementation of the Agenda ........ 44 10 Conclusions and Messages for the International Community ..................... 46
2 Executive Summary Progress on the MDGs: Turkey has been successful in implementing almost all MDGs during the last 15 years. Comprehensive efforts to increase the level of achievement in all MDGs created a holistic development perspective among policy practitioners. Turkey is among the top ten performers as measured by average annual rates of relative progress, especially when goals such as eradicating extreme poverty, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, ensuring environmental sustainability (in areas such as the improvement of accessibilty of drinking water and sanitation), are considered. Turkey has also indicated extensive advancement in the global p artnership for improvement. As a direct result of these facts, transition to SDGs will be based on the lessons learnt in the MDG process of Turkey. The Concept of Sustainable Development in Turkey’s Policy Environment: In Turkey, sustainable development policies are incorporated within numerous laws, legislations, regulations, policy documents and action plans in a variety of policy fields and sectors. Being defined as the highest -level national policy document in Turkey, Turkey’s National Development Pla n (NDP) sets out all macro-level national policies and priorities. Turkey has first introduced the concept of sustainable development into 7 th Development Plan in 1996 after 1992 Rio Conference. During the last decade, outcomes of Rio+20 have been harmonized with 10th Development Plan that covers 2014 -2018. One of the main principles of the 10th Development Plan is sustainable development and the Plan is based on a “human-centered development” approach. The content of the 10 th Development Plan is placed in the context of sustainable development. A preliminary analysis indicates that there is a high consistency between the 10th Development Plan and the SDGs. Integration of SDGs into the 11th National Development Plan: Turkey is currently in the stage of preparing long term vision of the 11th NDP. The vision provides the development perspective of the Plan by taking into account the 3 international and national trends in development landscape and serves as the starting point for drafting the Plan itself. Turkey intends to take SDGs as one of the main inputs of the vision that 11th Development Plan will be based on. Institutional Mechanisms to Implement SDGs : Ministry of Development (MoD), the Ministry responsible for the preparation ofNDPs in Turkey, will follow a policy coherence approach at the center of the implementation process of SDGs. Given the coordination role of MoD and macro level place of NDPs at the top of policy -making process in Turkey, implementation of SDGs will be a responsibility shared by all stakeholders. In this respect, the integration of SDGs into all documents of relevant strategies and and policies at both central and local levels will b e enabled in the best possible way. Turkey’s National Sustainable Development Commission ( NSDC) will be strengthened and widened as a high-level technical setting, in line with its coordinating role and the comprehensive nature of the 2030 Agenda. The role and the structure of the Commission will be established according to the comprehensive and interconnected nature of the task lying in front of us. High level participation in the commission will be ensured for effective policy and decision making. The Commission will act as the main responsible body for the follow-up and review in the implementation process of SDGs. Public Awareness and Ownership for SDGs: In the implementation phase of the Agenda, political ownership will be essential in order to achieve successful outcomes. Taking into account the comprehensive and universal nature of SDGs, political ownership at the highest possible level and effective coordination among all stakeholders will be a key factor for translating the global vision of the SDGs into national actions. 2030 Agenda assigns responsibility not only to governments but also to business es, NGOs and academia. Turkey aims to guarantee a national setting that relies on the principles of participation, inclusiveness, accountability and trans parency for the effective contribution of all relevant stakeholders. The Government of Turkey aims to prepare an agenda that will be embraced by all citizens. 4 SDG Indicators and How to Monitor Progress: In terms of how to proceed once the goals have been set, The Government of Turkey intends to develop a review framework that conforms with the UN framework on follow-up and review. National SDG Review Reports are expected to be prepared on a periodical basis in line with the HLPF agenda . Turkish Statistica l Institute (TurkStat) will take the central role for the monitoring process of the Agenda , based on global SDG indicators. In addition , voluntary monitoring and reporting processes pioneered by the private sector will be encouraged. Since 2000, Turkey has already developed a national sustainable development indicator set, composed of 132 indicators under 10 categories . Turkey is going to further develop its current set by taking into account the results of UN Statistics work for global framework for common monitoring and the national priority lists of SDGs. TurkStat plans to initiate a study for analyzing the data gaps and further studies on building the capacity to monitor and fill those gaps. Development Cooperation Setting of Turkey and Possible Partnerships for Future Collaboration: Turkey is an emerging donor in the field of development cooperation, and there has been a drammatical increase in the official development assistance (ODA) provided by the country in recent years. In 2014, Turkey’s net ODA amounted to USD 3.6 billion, representing an increase of 15% in real terms over the year 2013. The ratio of ODA as a share of GNI rose from 0.40% in 20 13 to 0.45% in 2014. Preliminary data show that ODA reached USD 3.9 billion in 2015 (0.54% of GNI). Turkish Co -operation and Co -ordination Agency (TIKA) designs and co -ordinates Turkey’s bilateral co -operative activities of development and implements numerous projects in collaboration with other ministries, NGOs and various institutions in the private sector. Challenges and Experiences in the Implementation of the Agenda: Breaking silos and working together on particular goals in an integrated manner will be a critical challenge for SDGs, due to the fact that this requires to change the current approaches in the particular policy making process es. Improving the usage and qu ality of administrative data, providing disaggregation and 5 ensuring all stakeholders’ ownership of the Agenda are among the initial challenges that require immediate action. Conclusions and Messages for the International Community: It is important to enable a mutual learning environment for all countries through the sharing of national reviews and processes. Turkey is willing to learn more about the other countries’ experiences on how they actually managed to integrate the SDGs and the Addis Ababa Action Plan into their own national agendas.
6 1 Introduction 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development offers an ambitious framework that urges countries to take action at all levels. The global agenda that such a framework presents has successfully provided a unique opportunity for countries not only to to integrate sustainable development policies into their national policy frameworks , but also to dealwith global challenges . In this process, s trong ownership and leadership offered by governments is a key feature for effective and timely implementation. Success of the implementation of the SDGs depends on the right steps to be taken by governments at the very beginning of the process with active contribution of all stakeholders. They are the ones to be demonstrating the right strategies to integrate SDGs into their national development plans and perspectives in the long run. Government of Turkey is firmly dedicated to take action for the effective implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the objectives of which are reflected in Turkey’s national and international endeavors. Turkey welcomes the universal and integrated nature of the Sustainable Development Goals and embraces the “no one left behind” principle of this highly ambitious Agenda. To successfully implement the 2030 Agenda, and its complementary Addis Ababa Action Agenda, Turkey will accelerate its efforts to cooperate and engage a wide range of stakeholders including academia, civil society organizations , and private sector at local, national and international levels. The concept of s ustainable development has a long history in Turkish policy environment. In Turkey, the legislative framework which supports sustainable development has been firmly established and the existing structure provides a conducive environment to achieve SDGs. Turkey has been consistently including and referring to sustainable development policies in its NDPs since 1992, following the Rio Summit. And the current 10th NDP of Turkey has placed sustainable development at its core with a green growth 7 perspective. Turkey will definitely take the SDGs as a critical inputin the process of drafting the vision of the next Plan in 201 6 and integrate SDGs into the Plan itself. In Turkey, similar to MDG process es, the MoD plays the key role in the coordination of the implementation of the SDGs. The MoD has closely followed the international processes, including the Open Working Group and intergovernmental negotiations on SDGs . Fro m the very outset of the implementation phase of the SDGs, the Ministry worked in close cooperation with all stakeholders for the preparation of the position of the country. Within the Ministry, a Task Force composed of relevant experts, has been assigned to integrate SDGs into public policy documents at all levels , including NDPs, regional plans, annual programs, and sectoral strateg ies. In terms of external coordination among line ministries and related organizations, the high level councils playing an important role in the decision making process will provide influential platforms to advance the SDGs. In this context, National Sustainable Development Commission (NSDC), with its renewed structure, will constitute a background for the high level technical setting for the SDGs’ reviewing, implementation, monitoring, evaluation andinternational reporting processess. Specifically during the first year of SDGs, this National Report has been prepared under the coordination of MoD in close cooperation with all departments within the Ministry and with the contribution of all line ministries. Furthermore, a wide range of actors and representa tives from NGOs, business institutions, academic community and the UN bodies were included to the process through online consultations. Based on these stakeholders’ feedback, the Report w as finalized for the 2016 HLPF M eeting. For drafting the Report , several preparatory activities have been conducted . Several informative sessions had already been organized on SDGs and the 2030 Agenda within and outside the MoD. Monthly informative meetings within MoD, in addition to a couple of meetings among public i nstitutions, and several other meetings among academia, private sector and NGOs have been held . Meetings with UN agencies and country offices have also been conducted. Thus , all 8 stakeholders have had the chance to share their ideas during the preparatory process of the Report. Bearing in mind that each country will decide on the scope of their review and the format in which they want to present their voluntary national reviews, the National Report of Turkey focus es on the initial steps taken by the Government for implementing the SDGs. The components of the Report are in line with the Secretary General’s Report and the proposal for common voluntary reporting guidelines. Since the main objective of the First National Report was primarily based on enabling mutual learning, the Report has covered the sustainable development background of Turkey with a particular focus on the policymaking process and institutional structure of the country. Specifically, MDG progress of Turkey, the coordination mechani sm for implementing the goals and the corresponding targets , main features of the development cooperation program of the country and the concrete steps that will be taken to integrate SDGs into the 11th NDP are covered in the Report. 9 2 Progress on the MDGs Turkey’s MoD, formerly referred as State Planning Organization (SPO), is an advisory governmental body focusing on policy formulation, implementation, evaluation and monitoring of national development processes. It has been the primary institution that coordinates responsibilities for overseeing and monitoring the progress of the MDGs. Turkey’s first MDGs Report was produced in 2005 by SPO with the technical support of the UN Country Office. During the process of fulfilling its duty on MDGs, SPO worked together with the TurkStat and the UNDP Country Office. The Government of Turkey demonstrated its full commitment to the global pledge made by the world leaders in the Millennium Summit by aligning the MDGs with that of its national development priorities. The first MDGs Report of Turkey contributed significantly to the shaping of the country’s development policies and provided valuable input in preparation of the 9th Development Plan. Despite not being able to reach the same level for all, Turkey has advanced in all MDGs indicators, especially in the area of social development by implementing effective policies. In 2010, Turkey’s second MDG Report was prepared with the cooperative efforts of the SPO, and the technical support granted by the Office of the United Nations Resident Coordinator. Compared to the baseline study carried out in 2005, Turkey’s MDG Report for 2010 made it crystal clear that Turkey has made significant improvements with regard to the achievement of these development goals. According to the Report, although there were still challenges related to substantial rural/urban, regional and gender related inequalities, Turkey has managed to make considerable achievements in reducing poverty, achieving universal primary education, reducing maternal and infant mortality rates as well as ensuring environmental sustainability. In addition, Turkey has also successfully demonstrated its progressively increasing