The Process of Designing the Sustainable Development Goals Framework

The extensive consultations on Agenda 2030 and the SDGs, focused on citizens, were launched in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2016 under the umbrella initiative “Imagine 2030”, which was conceptualized by the UN in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in which more than 5,000 people have participated up to now and which remains to be the main tool of advocacy and raising awareness on the SDGs in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Agenda 2030 and the SDGs were officially presented in April 2017, when a high level conference was held on Agenda 2030 under the auspices of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and subsequently the institutions were appointed to lead the coordination process for implementing Agenda 2030 at the level of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republika Srpska, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina.  Pursuant to the Decision of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina  as of March 2017, the Directorate for Economic Planning of Bosnia and Herzegovina was appointed as a technical coordinator of the process, while the Development Planning Institute of the FBiH was appointed on behalf of the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Ministry for European Integrations and International Cooperation was appointed on behalf of the Government of the Republika Srpska, as well as the representatives of the Government of the Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina were appointed. Subsequently, the inter-governmental Working Group was established to support the preparation of the SDGs roll-out, and the SDG Roadmap in Bosnia and Herzegovina was developed. The overall support in the implementation process for Agenda 2030 in Bosnia and Herzegovina is provided by the United Nations (UN) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), in cooperation with the Government of Sweden and its financial aid.

Most of the time in 2018 was dedicated to the extensive consultations with stakeholders, with support of the UN MAPS Mission. The consultations were held with more than 250 representatives of the public, private and non-governmental sectors in June 2018, as well as a conference gathering more than 400 representatives from the private sector, the analytical and technical plans were prepared for drafting two key documents of Bosnia and Herzegovina: the first Voluntary Review and the SDGs Framework in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In late 2018 within the SDGs Working Group three sub-groups were established:

• The Sub-group for drafting the Voluntary Review of Bosnia and Herzegovina on Implementation of Agenda 2030 and the SDGs;
• The Sub-group for the SDGs Framework in Bosnia and Herzegovina;
• The Sub-group for statistics.

The First Voluntary Review of Bosnia and Herzegovina on Implementation of Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals was developed and presented in the United Nations at the high level Political Forum in July 2019. By presenting the Voluntary Review the representatives of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Government of the Republika Srpska and the Government of the Brčko District expressed the support and readiness of all levels of government in Bosnia and Herzegovina to provide their full contribution for implementation of Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Work on design of the SDGs Framework within the afore-mentioned Sub-group was initiated in late 2018, while the first Draft document, with support from the Government of Sweden, the United Nations and United Nations Development Program was developed in May 2019. The first Draft document was the subject-matter of extensive multi-sectoral consultations held in June, with participation of more than 200 representatives from the institutions of governments at all levels in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as representatives from the non-governmental and private sectors, and academia as well.  The additional round of consultations was subsequently held with representatives from the institutions of the Republika Srpska (July 2019), of Bosnia and Herzegovina (September 2019), then the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina (September- October 2019).

After having held the consultations and received proposals and recommendations with regard to the proposed development pathways for the governments at all levels in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and their accompanying accelerators, drivers and targets, the Sub-group for the SDGs Framework in Bosnia and Herzegovina finalized the document. It was envisaged to hold the second round of consultations in April 2020, but they were not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the newly occurred situation, it was necessary to conduct an additional analysis of the documents, that is, to determine the impact of pandemic on the proposed elements of the documents, including also determination of new priorities.

The second round of consultations, before submitting the documents for adoption to the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Government of the Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as to the governments of the Republika Srpska and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, was held with the institutions at all mentioned levels, as well as with the cantons in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In addition to the consultations with the institutions, in October 2020 the Sub-group for the SDGs Framework conducted the consultations with representatives from the private sector, civil society organizations and academia.