26 During the budget negotiations in the Parliament, Turkish government’s dedication to adjust SDG agenda and its targets to national policies and to advance their implementation has been stated at the ministerial level. This statement indicates the intention of Turkish Government to support SDG-linked projects and programmes of public institutions by allocating adequate resources. Furthermore, in the case of some particular SDGs, public institutions are already working on integrating SDG targets into their strategic plans or action plans. Migration, women’s empowerment, health, agriculture and foodare the pioneer fields that these institutions have started to work for nationalizing SDGs. Additionally, s ome business related organizations have started to prioritize SDGs. Those concrete steps for nationalizing SDGs will be followed by steps for mainstreaming 2030 Agenda into the 11 th NDP. Turkey is currently at the stage of preparing long term vision of 11 th NDP. That long term vision provides the development perspective of the Plan by taking into account the international and national trends in development landscape and serves as the starting point for drafting the Plan itself. Key importance have already been a ttached to SDGs in outlining the long term vision of the Plan. Therefore, taking SDGs as one of the main inputs of the long term vision of the 11 th Plan will pave the way to insert SDGs into the 11th NDP itself. NDPs are adopted in Turkey after deliberate discussions, consultations and a long participatory process. Even though the new global agenda attracts positive interest among policy makers, there is a huge challenge remaining to transfer SDGs into the operational level. For responding this challenge, raising awareness on SDGs during the preparations process of the Plan is highly important. This entails conducting various events for engaging all the stakeholders to the process. The Government of Turkey is ready to work together with the civil society , a cademia, private sector , international organizations and the local authorities in drafting process of the Plan. 27 Additionally, producing innovative policy tools for empowering the preparations of the Plan and facilitating its ownership at national and local levels is a must for integrating SDGs to the 11th Development Plan. Those policy tools will provide evidence-based information for the prioritization of SDGs and identifying the need for action. Turkish Government will also work clos ely with international actors and organizations in this endeavor. This partnership will no doubt lead to a mutual learning environment for all and serve as a capacity building program at the same time. 28 5 Institutional Mechanisms to Implement SDGs Founded in 1960, SPO was reorganized as the MoD in June 2011. MoD of the Republic of Turkey is an expert based organization which plans and guides Turkey’s development process at macro level and focuses on the coordination of policies and strategy develop ment in line with global and regional trends and challenges. Since sustainable development requires a multi -sectoral and multi - stakeholder perspective, it has aspects related to the responsibilities and duties of different public institutions. MoD, which administers the planning and programming process among these institutions, is the national coordination authority of sustainable development in Turkey. In order to provide an integrated perspective to the diversified institutional structure, National Susta inable Development Commission (NSDC) was established under the Ministry of Development in 2004. The coordination, monitoring and assessment of sustainable development became partially possible with the participation and active engagement of Climate Change Coordination Board, National Committee for Combatting Desertification, Energy Saving Coordination Board, Energy Efficiency Coordination Board, High Commission of Environment, National Biological Diversity Committee, High Commission Disasters and Emergency, High Commission of Science and Technology and Economical and Social Council. In spite of high level representation from respective government institutions, private sector , academia and NGOs in these commissions, there is still need for a dedicated commission on sustainable development given the ambitious targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Moreover, NSDC needs to evolve into a more functional commission to become more suitable for the broad and interlinked nature of SDGs, as well as to establish high level political ownership. In the near future, NSDC will be strengthened and widened in line with its coordinating role, particularly because implementation and reporting 29 processes of the SDGs will be taken into account to maintain the comprehensive nature of the 2030 Agenda. The Government of Turkey has been planning to extend the role of the Commission by increasing the number of its members, with the purpose of creating an integrated and holistic approach to the drivers and progresses of SDGs. MoD will undertake the responsibilities of the secretariat within the NSDC, while the Commission will serve as the central political body in the follow-up and review process of SDGs. The Commission will provide periodical reporting to the High Planning Council, Cabinet and Turkish Grand National Assembly. In the implementation phase of the Agenda, Turkey believes that political ownership and commitment are crucial factors when trying to reach 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 essential for translating the global vision of the SDGs into sustainable national actions. As for promoting the SDGs at national and local levels, using the existing structures and current high level councils are considered as a practical approach. For instance, High Planning Council chaired by the Prime Minister, (the secretariat of which is under the MoD) is the first national council that comes to mind for acting effectively on national policies. High Planning Council functions as a political mechanism for integrated decision making in terms of policy formulation and for integrating sustainable development principles into implementation and will also perform the role as political platforms for national implementation of SDGs. At this stage, the Government of Turkey is discussing the options for transferring the SDGs to the highest possible level. A draft ministerial circular has been recently prepared. However, many processes and decisions still need to be finalized through political endeavors in the near future. Therefore, especially institutional arrangements of Turkey’s roadmap for implementing SDGs are still at preliminary stage to be completed only by the end of 2016.
30 But above all, the Ministry of Development, the Ministry that is in charge of the National Development Plans of Turkey, will follow a policy coherence approach at the center of the implementation process of SDGs. Given the coordination role of Ministry of Development and macro level place of national development plans at the top of policy maki ng process in Turkey, the task of implementing SDGs will be fulfilled by all ministries. The d istribution of responsibilities to implement SDGs will support the integration of SDGs into all relevant strategy and policy documents at central and local levels. Thanks to this mechanism, it is envisaged that SDGs and its relevant targets will be reflected in current strateg ies and work plans of institutions. Respective budget allocations will be ensured through this mechanism. Ministry of Development, as the coordinative body for developing national plans, programs and investment budget s will closely follow the whole process and ensure vertical and horizontal policy coordination. 31 6 Public Awareness and Ownership for SDGs An important lesson learnt from the MDGs in Turkey has been about the involvement of media and the civil society organizations throughout the process. Public discussion around the MDGs– in media and byNGOs – was not active enough in the first ten years of the MDGs. When it first started, public consultations that involve civil society organizations played a minimal role in discussions on the adoption of goals. However, they did play a role in campaigning and supporting ground lev el implementation of sector specific programs, particularly in health and education. Media discussion around the MDG goals has similarly been passive. Having learnt from the MDGs implementation process, Turkey aims to guarantee a national setting thatcomplies with the effective contribution of all relevant stakeholders for the planning, implementation and review of SDGs. For the new global development agenda, new mechanisms have to be created in order to establish strong communicative ties among different segments of the society. The p articipation of different stakeholders such as local administrations, academia, NGOs, and private sector in the policy formulation and implementation regarding sustainable development will be accelerated with regard to principles concerning the inclusiveness, accountability and transparency. Improving dialogues especially among women, children , and youth is important for providing participation at the widest level, with the ultimate purpose of achieving SDGs. Additionally, the principle of “leaving no one behind” means reaching to everyone for ensuring that every individual achieves the full package of opportunities expressed by the SDGs. Turkey is aware of the fact that NGOs have a great potential for extending sustainable development perspective and spreading them to all levels of the society . It is obvious that what is urgently necessary is to ensure mechanisms that will trigger this potential. Within the scope of Rio+20 national 32 preparation processes, different stakeholders are invited to share their projects that aim at sustainable development. 181 applications from public institutions, actors from the private sector, NGOs and academia have submitted. With the help of independent assessmentprocedures, the contribution of these projects to sustainable development has been rated in a two-staged evaluation so that 24 “best practice examples” are defined. This study indicates successful implementations and fields having high potential and areas that Turkey has to give more priority. Turkey intents to carry this experience into the implementation process of SDGs and create similar opportunitiesthat will serve mutual learning. In 2012, 181 applications were awarded as the Applicants of the Best Practice Examples of Sustainable Development in Turkey, the 25 of which were selected as the best practices. Most of the applications have come from public and private sector, followed by NGOs and Academia. The figure below shows the distribution of the 181 applications and the selected 25 best practices among them. 13 71 69 28 181 Best Practice Applications (2012) Academia Public Sector Private Sector NGOs 33 The vision and responsibilitiesof the private sector (as the chief producers of goods and services) to enhance sustainable development bear vital importance at every levels. The main principle is to increase productivity and competitiveness by minimizing input costs. This will contribute to the protection of natural resources. In Turkey , extreme effort has been made to utilize legal and financial instruments to help increase productivity and competitiveness of the private sector. Turkey believes that national SDG process es will also contribute to the empowerment of business environment from a point of view that favors sustainable development. 34 7 SDG Indicators and How to Monitor Progress Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) will have the central role for the monitoring part of the Agenda based on global SDG indicators. TurkStat has contributed to the whole global process that was started in 2014 for adopting global sustainable development indicator list. Apart from the international consultation process on SDGs, TurkStat has also been involved also in regional initiatives and consultation process es mainly conducted by the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). In addition, TurkStat signed the “Declaration on the role of national statistical offices in measuring and monitoring the Sustainable Development Goals” that was adopted at the 63rd plenary session of the Conference of European Statisticians. Through this declaration, signatory countries declared the national statistical offices ’ commitment to contribute their expertise to measure SDGs in a professional, independ ent and impartial way. In Turkey, official statistics are produced and issued by TurkStat and the related institutions specified in the Official Statistics Programme. Data compilation, evaluation and dissemination responsibilities of the institutions are also defined in that programme. TurkStat; the official body for the coordination of production and publication of official statistics, is authorized to publish and disseminate the official statistics compiled by related institutions. The Official Statistical Programme is prepared in a period of every five years in order to define the principles and standards regarding official statistics production and dissemination; and to ensure the production of up-to-date, reliable, timely and unbiased statistical data at national or international levels. The coordination of Turkish Statistical System was assigned to TurkStat . Turkey is one of the signatory countries of CES declaration mentioned above. Therefore, both the data that will be compiled by UN umbrella organizations and the indicators that will be produced in Turkish Statistical System have to 35 operate after passing through the filter of official data producers and supervision of TurkStat. TurkStat is planning to coordinatethe monitoring process by cooperating with other institutions through the Official Statistics Programme , which will be shaped by Statistical Council. Thematic working groups composed of TurkStat and other data producer institutions are responsible for conducting the Official Statistics Programme. In 2016, existing working groups of the forthcoming “Official Statistical Program 2017-2021” will address the needs for SDG indicator gaps. Moreover , a new Official Statistical Program working group which is dedicated to the monitoring of SDGs will be established , in order to operate between 2017-2021 for a five-year period. After the adoption of SDGs in September 2015, United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC) has accomplished its mandate and adopted the global indicator list at its 47th session in March 2016. After the agreement on 241 global indicators, TurkStat has started the first internal inventory study in April 2016. In this inventory study, for each indicator, the production status is mainly inquired. Additionally, the data producer institution (TurkStat or other institutions) are inquired for available indicators and potential data producer institutions are attained for non-produced indicators. However it should be kept in mind that the results of this inventory study are only provisional. That is because the inventory study needs to be completed through an in-depth research that contains face to face evaluations with data producers of each indicator and requires more complete metadata. Provisional results of the inventory study carried out by TurkStat, is reported based on 241 indicator rows. The study reveals that 108 of total 241 indicators (45%) are currently produced in Turkish Statistical System andthe rest (55%) are not produced . Of these 108 available indicators, 5 3 of them (49%) are produced by TurkStat and 55 of that (51%) are produced by other 36 institutions. It should be noted that the status of each indicator is described as “produced” independent of having data disaggregations or not. Table 1. Provisional Distribution of SDG Indicators Status, March 2016 Number % in Total % in Group Produced 108 44,8 100,0 TurkStat 53 22,0 49,1 Other Institutions 55 22,8 50,9 Non-Produced 133 55,2 100,0 TurkStat 28 11,6 21,1 Other Institutions 90 37,3 67,7 Undefined 15 6,2 11,3 Total 241 100,0 Another result is that, TurkStat will be responsible for producing 28 indicators out of 133 non-produced indicators (21%). 14 indicators out of 28 are evaluated as likely to be produced within three years. Moreover, the work started already to produce 8 indicators out of these 14 indicators. Other institutions which are responsible for producing official statistics are attained as the potential producers for 90 indicators out of a total of 133 non- produced indicators (68%). It should be repeated that indicators that are appointed to partner institutions by TurkStat, have not been examined in detail with these institutions in this pre-assessment stage of inventory study. On the other hand, 1 5 indicators out of 133 non -produced indicators (11%) could not be assigned to any potential producer institutions (Table 1). These 15 indicators cover indicators that are not related to Turkish Statistical System (landlocked countries, relating to the least developed countries’ indicators etc.) , or country tracking indicators of certain qualifications and unattained indicators due to lack of metadata. The most striking result of the inventory study is that 45% of SDG indicators are currently produced in Turkish Statistical System independent of having dis - aggregations. After completing the first assessment study on sustainable development indicators; this step will be finalized throug in depth review with 37 other institutions, allowing to describe a portrait of Turkish Statistical System with its capacity andto identify gaps on methodology and on data production.The next step should be scheduling a calendar for non-produced indicators which necessitate a prioritization of targets on the national level. It is obvious that the best monitoring and follow up of sustainable development goals can be attained by improving administrative record basis of the statistical system of Turkey. According to the provisional results of the first inventory study, 68% of non -produced indicators are likely to be produced by partner institutions based on their administrative records. Thus , statistical capacity of Turkey needs to be improved especially through the modernization of the registry systems of data producing institutions and developing high quality official statistics, based onhigh quality registry data generated by data producers. In the light of the evaluations stated above, the national roadmap on monitoring will include following steps; Completion of the inventory study by working in close cooperation with other institutions. What is more, once the indicators and metadata are clarified in a global level, the inventory study will be reassessed. Integrating other institutions to the SDG monitoring system and making them embody the essential values of SDGs framework. Following the national action plan and prioritization of targets; classifying the non -produced indicators in categories of being produced in the short term, mid -term and long term . Scheduling the calendar for each category. Identifying the needs for non-produced indicators to contribute capacity building efforts. Exploring the possibilities of developing nat ional indicators which will be considered through national priorities and which will be complementary to the global and regional indicators. 38 Improving statistical infrastructure and establishing data sharing mechanisms to fill data gaps and exploiting new technological opportunities to achieve an effective data dissemination system for SDG indicators. Following other countries best practices on SDGs monitoring, reporting and dissemination. Contributing to the global efforts for enhancing evaluation and monitoring framework for SDG s and sharing Turkish experience through conferences and forums. In addition to indicators, indices could also prove useful in monitoring progress and communicating this progress to the public or decision makers effectively. For this purpose, a SDG index is planned to be developed for Turkey. This index will be more practical to measure the progress compared to the use of hundreds of indicators for the interdisciplinary fields. Although monitoring the progress on the 2030 Agenda will be mainly carried out by TurkStat, the voluntary monitoring and reporting by private sector will also be encouraged. For instance, sustainability reporting that could be done under various reporting standards will be a contribution of the private sector. In Turkey, a successful example to the involvement of private sector to the sustainability monitoring is the BIST Sustainability Index. That index,launched in 2014, aims to provide a benchmark for B orsa Istanbul companies with high performance on corporate sustainability and to increase the awareness, knowledge and practice on sustainability in Turkey. 39 8 Development Cooperation Setting of Turkey and Possible Partnerships for Future Collaboration International development cooperation plays an important role in complementing the domestic efforts of countries to achieve sustainable development, especially in the poorest and most vulnerable countries with limited resources. The 2030 Agenda puts emphasis on that aspect and aims to enhance development cooperation, in order to provide adequate and predictable means for developing countries, in particular least developed countries, to implement programmes and policies to end poverty in all its dimensions. Turkey has advanced its cooperation efforts in the international arena in recent years comparable to her economic growth, and has taken actions of economic, commercial, technical, social, cultural and educational cooperation in all parts of the world, regardless of development levels of partnering countries. To that end, Turkey has further reinforced, through new actions, the already strong, long-standing relations and cooperation with countries in the Balkans, Caucasus and Central Asia. Turkey has also extended its friendly hand to all those in need in the Middle East and Africa. Projects have been developed to respond to emergency needs of peoples in those regions; and the necessity to solve chronic problems of the region have given Turkey valuable experience in furthering development cooperation. Turkey’s development cooperation is provided in line with legal framework adopted in 2011. The Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) designs and coordinates Turkey’s bilateral development cooperation activities and implements projects in collaboration with other ministries, NGOs and the private sector. Other public institutions, NGOs and those from the private sector also implement projects and programmes funded through Turkey’s ODA.