September this year will mark ten years since the adoption of the UN global development agenda - Agenda 2030, to which Serbia has committed by signing the UN resolution "Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development". Five years before the expiration of this ambitious global plan, the country faces numerous challenges despite slight progress, it was concluded today at the fourth annual conference of the “SDGs for All” Platform, entitled "A Decade of the 2030 Agenda in Serbia: Progress, Achievements and Perspectives".
In addition to the tenth anniversary of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda in Serbia, the conference also marked the fifth anniversary of the "SDGs for All" Platform, which brings together seven civil society organizations from Serbia - the Ana and Vlade Divac Foundation, the Center for Advanced Economic Studies, the Belgrade Open School, the Center for Democracy Foundation, TOC - Association for the Development of Sustainable Communities, the BFPE Foundation for a Responsible Society and Smart Kolektiv. The Platform is implemented with the support of the governments of Switzerland and Germany, as part of the wider project Public Finance Reform - 2030 Agenda implemented by GIZ
"Five years ago, when the Platform was launched, our vision was simple and clear - to gather key actors from all sectors of society in order to start a dialogue with decision-makers about development priorities. At the heart of that vision was the belief that no one should be left behind and a goal of creating a more inclusive and sustainable future for Serbia. In five years, we have made significant progress, but we recognize that achieving the sustainable development goals is a long-term process," said Richard Kohli, Head of Development Cooperation at the Embassy of Switzerland.
The Platform is dedicated to the affirmation of the sustainable development goals through societal dialogue and advocacy towards a stronger alignment of these goals with Serbia’s development priorities. The special value of the Platform is that it includes all significant actors in the Republic of Serbia, such as the public, private, business sector, academic and research community, professional associations, media and others, in the dialogue about defining development priorities and public policies for their achievement. The Platform operates through three pillars - social, economic and environmental, in accordance with the three dimensions of sustainable development, and contains an important component that promotes more intensive cooperation with the business community.
"The 2030 Agenda offers a global vision for a fairer and more sustainable future, and the “SDGs for All” Platform has helped align Serbia’s development with this vision, showing what can be achieved through partnership. What makes the Platform unique is its inclusive multi-stakeholder approach. This diversity of perspectives strengthens both understanding and action. The Platform has also supported the re-establishment of the Inter-Ministerial Working Group for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and promoted the involvement of civil society in oversight mechanisms, fostering transparency, accountability and inclusiveness," stated Judith Hoffmann, Head of Development Cooperation at the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Serbia.
“As an organization that works intensively on the ground throughout Serbia, we strongly believe that the sustainable development goals must not remain only part of international documents but must be present and applied at the local level. That is why we paid special attention to the localization of the 2030 Agenda. In the previous period, the Platform actively supported local governments in the preparation of development plans but also participated in providing comments and proposals for national strategic documents, with the aim of their greater compliance with the principles of sustainable development,” said Ana Koeshall, director of the Ana and Vlade Divac Foundation.
In previous years, the Platform has launched several significant advocacy initiatives at the national level, involved 30 municipalities in the work through the process of inter-municipal exchange and cooperation, supported the activities of civil society organizations through the Fund for Sustainable Local Development, implemented the process of social mapping in 5 municipalities/cities, and published its fourth Monitoring Report, which, in a unique and comprehensive way, monitors the realization of sustainable development goals.
The participants of the conference including representatives of public institutions, civil society organizations, the private sector, academia, UN agencies, embassies and other key actors, agreed that the alignment of planning documents and the legal framework with the 2030 Agenda, as well as the establishment of institutional and coordination mechanisms and mechanisms for monitoring progress and reporting, is a complex process but at the same time necessary, in order for Serbia to align its progress with the goals of the 2030 Agenda, to which it has committed itself.