Davao City – The RDC XI, through Resolution No. 91, s. 2020, constituted itself as the main mechanism for regional coordination on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at its Third Quarter Meeting on September 16, 2020 via Zoom online platform.

The Council shall intensify support, guidance and oversight on the integration of the SDGs into the Midterm Davao Regional Development Plan (DRDP), 2017-2022, and address gaps of policies and programs, with budget recommendations to drive progress on the SDGs.

In December 2019, the NEDA Board-Development Budget Coordinating Committee (DBCC) had created a Subcommittee on the SDGs at the national level as part of the country’s commitment towards the SDGs. The subcommittee is composed of key government agencies and representatives from legislative bodies. Technical working groups in Economic, Environment, Social, and Peace, Security and Governance assist in coordination, monitoring and reviewing SDG programs and projects, including stakeholder partnerships.  NEDA serves as secretariat to the Subcommittee.

Cascading to the regional level, the DBCC recommended the creation of a special subcommittee under the RDC with the NEDA Regional Office as the Secretariat. This is in view of the RDC’s multi-stakeholder, multi-sectoral nature and its influence in the budget process, making it an ideal platform for regional coordination on the SDGs. The RDCs are given leeway to tailor-fit the proposed SDG mechanism to their existing structure.

The RDC XI decided to constitute itself as the regional coordinating and monitoring mechanism, which shall oversee the implementation of SDG programs and projects. RDC XI sectoral committees, namely the Economic Development Committee, Social Development Committee, Development Administration Committee, Macroeconomy and Finance Committee and Infrastructure Development Committee shall handle SDG sectoral concerns.

The Sustainable Development Goals, also known as the Global Goals, were adopted by all UN member states in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by the year 2030.

####

Fely Rabe, NEDA XI

Photo by NEDA XI