IAEG-SDGs

2020 Comprehensive Review Process

In accordance with GA Resolution 71/313, the Inter-Agency and Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goal Indicators (IAEG-SDGs) conducted a Comprehensive Review of the global indicator framework throughout 2019 with the aim to submit its proposed refinements, revisions, replacements, additions and deletions to the 51st session of the United Nations Statistical Commission in March 2020 for its consideration.

This webpage provides information on the 2020 Comprehensive Review process, its timeline, the criteria used for determining what can be included in the Review, as well as information on the open consultation.

2020 Comprehensive Review Proposals Webpage

Guiding Principles of 2020 Comprehensive Review

The 2020 comprehensive review provides a good opportunity to improve the indicator framework to help the global monitoring of the 2030 agenda and to provide the necessary guidance to countries, many of which are already well advanced in implementing their national framework and reporting platforms. The Expert Group agreed on several guiding principles for the review in order to set the parameters within which the review would take place. The principles include the following:

The review needs to take into account investments already made at the national and international levels and should not undermine ongoing efforts;
The revised framework should not significantly impose an additional burden on national statistical work;
There should be space for improvements, while at the same time ensuring that the changes are limited in scope and the size of the framework remains the same;
The focus of the Group's common work should remain on the implementation of the framework in countries for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Specific Criteria for Implementation of 2020 Comprehensive Review

An additional indicator may be considered only in exceptional cases when a crucial aspect of a target is not being monitored by the current indicator(s) or to address a critical or emerging new issue that is not monitored by the existing indicators, or when a whole Goal has very few tier I or tier II indicators for the follow up;
A deletion will be considered when the methodological work of a tier III indicator has stalled or has not produced the expected results, and a replacement will be proposed if the deleted indicator is the only indicator monitoring the corresponding target;
Adjustments or replacements will be considered when the indicator does not map well to the target or does not track the target well;
The proposed indicator must have an agreed methodology and available data (tier III indicator proposals will not be considered) and be suitable for global monitoring;
The aim of the review will be to maintain the same number of indicators currently in the framework in order not to alter significantly the original framework, which is already being implemented in most countries and not to increase the reporting burden on national statistical systems.

Open Consultation on Proposals for 2020 Comprehensive Review

The Inter-Agency and Expert Group on Sustainable Development goal Indicators (IAEG-SDGs) conducted an open consultation on proposals to include in the 2020 Comprehensive Review from 6 August to 8 September 2019.

The proposals included in this consultation were: replacements of existing indicators, revisions of existing indicators, additional indicators, deletions of existing indicators and, in a few cases, requests for proposals replacing existing indicators where methodological progress or data collection efforts have stalled.

A revised set of proposals were presented and discussed at the 10th meeting of the IAEG-SDGs in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in October 2019. Following this meeting, a final list of proposals were agreed upon and submitted to the United Nations Statistical Commission for consideration at its 51st session in March 2020.

Compilations of inputs received during the Open Consultation: (XLSM)

Targets and Indicators in Open Consultation: (XLSX, PDF)

Compilation of 2020 Comprehensive Review Proposals Received: (PDF)

A pdf version of the online Open Consultation Form is included here for use in compiling responses and reviewing all the proposals included in the Open Consultation: (PDF)

Timeline for 2020 Comprehensive Review

The timeline for the 2020 Comprehensive Review is as follows:

June 3, 2019 – All custodian agencies must provide to the Secretariat an update of their Tier III workplans with the expected date methodological work will be completed and when the indicator will be proposed for reclassification. Any indicators for which no response is received will be included in the 2020 Comprehensive Review.

June 14, 2019 – All proposals for replacements, refinements, adjustments and additional indicators must be submitted to the Secretariat by this date. The IAEG-SDG will not consider any submissions received after this date. More information on what to include in these submissions can be found in the box below.

June – July 2019 – The IAEG-SDGs will review the proposals received and prepare an initial proposal of possible deletions, adjustments, replacements and additions based on the submissions received as well as work already carried out by the IAEG-SDG (inter alia E/CN.3/2017/2, Annex V).

29 July – 31 August 2019 – The IAEG-SDGs will hold an open consultation on this preliminary list of possible deletions, adjustments, replacements and additions during which all interested parties are invited to provide inputs.

September 2019 – The IAEG-SDGs will review the results of the open consultation and develop a second proposed list of deletions, adjustments, replacements and additions.

October 2019 – 10th IAEG-SDG meeting. This revised list of proposals will be discussed during the 10th IAEG-SDG meeting.

30 November 2019 – The IAEG-SDGs will finalize its proposal for the 2020 Comprehensive Review and submit it to the Commission for its consideration at the 51st session in March 2020.

Throughout this entire process, the IAEG-SDGs will continue to operate in an open and transparent manner and will consult with custodian agencies, member States, stakeholders and other experts as needed to clarify indicator proposals and respond to any questions the group has.