Trade unions and civil society join forces to ensure effective and independent monitoring of the SDGs in Senegal

The commitment to strengthen the state’s consultation with the UN and to establish a national platform for monitoring the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) was underlined during a meeting dedicated to the participation of Senegalese trade unions and civil society in the 2022 edition of the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF).

On 27 December 2022, CONGAD (Senegal’s Council of Non Governmental Organisations Supporting Development) and the NGO Sightsavers co-organised a meeting in Dakar to assess the participation of trade unions and civil society organisations (CSOs) in the 2022 HLPF and to agree on a common approach to monitoring the implementation of the recommendations arising from the assessment.

The event was attended by Senegal’s National Trade Union Network on the SDGs, represented by its coordinator from UNSAS (Union Nationale des Syndicats Autonomes du Sénégal), as well as a representative of the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) and representatives of the General Directorate of Public Policy Planning (DGPPE), the Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development and civil society organisations.

During the meeting, the participants identified the need to pool the efforts of trade unions and CSOs and suggested that all organisations working on the SDGs should come together within a national platform. This proposal will be worked on in greater depth during future meetings.

The unions also suggested working on how to better organise the preparation of trade unions and CSOs for the HLPF, in consultation with state authorities and strategic partners such as the UN Resident Coordinator’s office and its agencies, to prepare for the next steps at the national level, with the Priority Action Plan (PAP3), and at the international level, for events such as the Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Development, the HLPF 2023 and the global summit of heads of state for the mid-term review of the SDGs in September 2023.

UNSAS AT THE HLPF

The participation of UNSAS in the HLPF, as a member of the ITUC delegation, meant that, for the first time, trade unions were invited to the preparatory meeting for the presentation of Senegal’s Voluntary National Review (VNR) held by the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Senegal to the United Nations, which provided an opportunity for trade unions to present their contribution to the VNR 2022 and opened a space for exchanges with members of the government delegation, which laid the foundations for future collaboration with trade unions after the HLPF.

The unions were also invited, along with the government, by the office of the UN Resident Coordinator in Senegal to a meeting with other CSOs and NGOs to prepare the next framework for cooperation between the United Nations and Senegal.

This year, trade unions, through the SDG network, are preparing a contribution to the global summit of heads of state for the mid-term review of the SDGs in September 2023.