Objective

In anticipation of the Arab High Level Forum on Sustainable Development (AFSD) that was held in April 2015, UNESCWA coordinated the development of an Arab Sustainable Development Report (ASDR). Our report, as one of several reports written on this topic, was of major input to the AFSD meeting and linked to the Global Sustainable Development Report that was developed by the UN Department for Economic and Social Affairs to inform meetings of the UN's High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development in New York. The objective of our report was to provide a concise assessment of sustainable development monitoring and evaluation in the Arab region. We also made recommendations intended to identify actions required in the Arab region to prepare it to effectively undertake development monitoring and evaluation in the post-2015 era.

Our Role

This report was the major input for the AFSD meeting in preparation for the Arab Sustainable Development Report (ASDR). The research we conducted for this report included personal interviews with key Arab sustainability experts and web-based research. This research addressed the following questions:

• What are the key elements of the emerging global framework for monitoring and evaluating progress on the proposed SDGs? What are the main sets of indicators, indices or approaches being considered at the global level for measuring progress on sustainable development?
• What is the experience in the Arab region with monitoring the MDGs and sustainable development? What are the key gaps/barriers/constraints experienced by stakeholders in the Arab region?
• What are the likely implications for the Arab region of the proposed SDGs, including key challenges, likely gaps/needs and potential opportunities at the national and regional levels?
• Can best practices and experience in other regions (e.g., Europe) as well as emerging initiatives and approaches (e.g., the "data revolution") provide lessons for the Arab region?
• What are the recommended options for addressing key challenges/gaps and enhancing sustainable development monitoring and evaluation in the Arab region at both the regional and national levels?

Using the findings of our research, we provided recommendations intended to identify actions required in the region to prepare it to effectively undertake development monitoring and evaluation in the post-2015 era.