Regional Training on Measuring SDG 16 in Africa

Five years after the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development several countries are facing considerable challenges in monitoring targets in the areas of crime, violence, trafficking, access to justice and the rule of law. These targets are particularly relevant to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 (“Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels”), but also to Goals 3, 5, 11 and 15.

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the value of measuring and monitoring: no strategy can be developed, and no measure can be implemented without a proper monitoring and evaluation system.

Several countries in Africa have included SDG 16 in the national development framework, thus recognising the importance to address peace, justice and inclusion as part of sustainable development. However, reporting on progress on SDG 16 indicators, which has been a challenge globally, also remains limited in the region. Insufficient availability and quality of statistical information on SDG16 remains and directly hampers the capacity to implement the 2030 Agenda, as it prevents countries from generating evidence-based and effective policy responses to justice, security and governance challenges.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) organized a series of interactive and focused online training workshops on measuring progress of SDG16 indicators in the African region.

The training workshops familiarized relevant stakeholders with the concepts, international standards, methodological tools, as well as establish an understanding of the challenges needed to measure SDG indicators related to preventing violence, strengthening criminal justice systems, prisons, access to justice, countering organized crime, illicit trafficking, and corruption.