SDGs Consultation Workshop for Civil Society, Private Sectors and Youth April 25 –26, 2022 MOGADISHU, SOMALIA

Ahead of the global United Nations’ 2022 High-Level Meeting (UN HLM) convened in July by United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the Somalia National Bureau of Statistics conducted a stakeholders’ consultation workshop to assess and learn about Somali SDG performance as the country plans to present its first ever National Voluntary Review (VNR) to the United Nations.

This Consultations were held with civil society, private sector and youth in preparation for its Voluntary National Review (VNR) on progress towards the SDGs. Somalia is one of 45 countries that will present a VNR report at the 2022 session of the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF).

Over 60 stakeholders representing the youth, civil society, the private sector, academia and non-governmental organizations gathered on April 25-26 in Mogadishu. The event provided perfect avenue to share experiences on the engagement of SDGs progress and identify good practices, common trends, challenges and opportunities at the national, regional and international levels to align SDGs Somalia.

During the consultations part, participants were divided into six groups under the goals on: poverty, health, education, gender, economic and climate action. Through a series of presentations and interactive exercises, participants learned about SDGs/VNR and the progress being made by Somalia towards achieving the SDGs as well as ways to mitigate existing data gaps, including the active involvement of the private sector that is key to implementing and pushing through the accomplishment of the 2030 Global Agenda.