Questions/Answers

StrenghtRO–SDGs it’s an initiative of Romanian Government meant to enhance its role in implementing SDGs. Since the approval of Romania’s Sustainable Development Strategy 2030 (ROSDS) in November 2018, the Romanian Government, through the Department of Sustainable Development (DSD), has engaged in a constant effort to advance effective, efficient, transparent, innovative and citizen-centered governance for sustainable development. DSD has been established in 2017, as part of the Prime Minister’s Office, with the main role to coordinate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda in Romania. Sustainable development (SD) has been part of the Romanian national agenda since 1999, when the government developed the first national sustainable development strategy. Since then, the Romanian Strategy has been updated and relaunched twice: November 2008, November 2018. The new Strategy defines Romania’s national framework for implementing 2030 Agenda, providing a roadmap towards achieving the 17 SDGs, focusing on innovation, resilience and the belief that the role of state is to serve the needs of each citizen in a fair, efficient and balanced manner, within a clean environment. Implementing SDGs as an integrated and coherent set represented a major challenge for DSD in COVID-19 crisis context. Enhancing the effectiveness of DSD actions became crucial. As a solution to crisis and for aligning the short-term responses with achievement of long-term economic, social and environmental objectives of the 2030 Agenda, DSD enhanced its role and strengthened the governance of SDGs. The approach comprised several stands: designing and effectively applying the new ROSDS; strengthening the institutional framework for coordination and implementation; strengthening the effectiveness of Romanian institutions involved in implementation of Agenda 2030; mainstreaming SDGs in policy-making through an Action Plan for implementation of ROSDS; monitoring and reporting; ensuring policy coherence for sustainable development; engagement of civil society, private sector and other stakeholders; engagement of DSD in the world.

In less than 3 years, DSD has succeeded in establishing a successful model of governance of SDGs, recognized by the Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD) [1]. A study [2] of the EU Parliament mentioned Romania as a country that signaled visible measures of operationalisation of the SDGs. These references reflect efforts of DSD to enhance its effectiveness in pursuing SDGs. [1] ROMANIA: OECD Scan of Institutional Mechanisms to Deliver on theSDGs, September 2020, http://www.oecd.org/gov/pcsd/romania-institutional-scan.pdf [2] Europe's approach to implementing the SDGs:good practices and the way forward; D.G. FOR EXTERNAL POLICIES, POLICY DEPARTMENT, EU Parliament; September 2019; https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2019/603473/EXPO_STU(2019)603473_EN.pdf

The ROSDS, elaborated under the direct coordination of DSD, transposes all 17 SDGs at the national level. It acts as the “lighthouse” that guides all sectoral policies towards the comprehensive implementation of 2030 Agenda. For the effective implementation of ROSDS, DSD has undertaken concrete actions for setting up and operationalise the Romanian institutional framework that ensures policy coherence to reach all 17 SDGs: - the Interdepartmental Committee for Sustainable Development - comprises ministers headed by the Prime Minister and represents the key institution for policy coherence for sustainable development (PCSD) - the Consultative Council for Sustainable Development (ICSD) – comprises 34 members representing academia, scientific community and civil society, who advise the ICSD regarding the Action plan and tracking the results of policies implementation in the field of SD - Sustainable Development Hubs (SD Hubs) – a national network of experts at the level of each ministry, who pursue SDGs implementation in their field, acting as liaisons between their institutions and the DSD and the National Institute of Statistics (implementing, monitoring, reporting) - Coalition for Sustainable Development - a national network of relevant stakeholders representing civil society, acting as communication channel between governors and citizens (DSD launched the invitation for it’s establishment)

DSD has taken on board the challenges of our times strongly believing that the solution of humankind problems lies in SD principles. PCSD, as structuring principle for policy-making, is at the core of DSD efforts to implement its vision and better align policies across sectors with the SDGs. StrenghtRO–SDGs initiative improves policy operationalization through cross-sectoral actions conducive to SD, enhances the whole of government approaches to PCSD targeting equally priority areas of economic–social-environmental pillars, with the aim of developing medium-term institutional strategic plans and KPs indicators to monitor the progress on PCSD and communicating the results to society.

The 2030 Agenda emphasizes that all segments of society must be involved in achieving sustainable development, from political actors to civil society, private sector, academia, etc. In 2017, the coordination of Romania's sustainable development and of 2030 Agenda implementation was transferred from the Ministry of Environment to the DSD, at the center of the Romanian government. It was a strategic approach for improvement of the governance of the SDGs. Once the responsibility was taken at this level, in a relatively short time the mechanisms for the operationalization of sustainable development in Romania were created. Unlike the previous governance, the new set-up put in place by the DSD for implementing the 2030 Agenda and the ROSDS ensure that no one is left behind through it’s citizen-centered approach. The ROSDS recognizes the importance of each of us in the joint state-citizen effort to implement the 2030 Agenda and emphasis the engagement of civil society, private sector and other stakeholders. In the drafting process of ROSDS, DSD conducted a wide, participatory consultation process, involving civil society, private sector and political stakeholders (approx. 1200 people) through 8 regional seminars and meetings. This network has been extended to 2500 people, using different communication channels.

At the heart of Romanian development paradigm lies the principles of SD, such as good governance, respect for the rule of law, human rights, gender inequality. In the process of elaboration of ROSDS, DSD involved the main authorities and NGO’s that tackle the issue of gender equality with the aim to include targets for actions meant to prevent and combat violence against women/girls, to ensure fair, effective participation and equal opportunities for women in terms of employment in management positions of political, economic and public life. Concrete measures to achieve the targets will follow in the action plan.

The target groups of the StrenghtRO–SDGs initiative are ministries, other central public authorities, local public authorities, business environment and civil society. DSD established formal governance arrangements and informal working methods to support effective communication between ministries and departments, and between ministries and DSD. It also worked to build contacts between civil society organizations and the DSD over the SDGs, to raise public awareness and mobilise support on SDGs and government commitments supporting PCSD, through campaigns, policy dialogue, capacity building and information sharing. In November this year, DSD has organized a four days peer-learning workshop, with OECD support, for SD Hubs (see Section 3). This “learning by doing” experience was meant to advance public servant capacity on a set of policy coherence issues, such as strengthening the evidence-based policy cycle, fostering the coordination between levels of government and improving cross-sectoral work through an improved work flow during the policy formulation. DSD communicates to a large public about the stage and the evolution of ROSDS through different channels and organizes events dedicated to the implementation of ROSDS in partnership with several stakeholders (Academia, RDI institutes, mass-media, representatives of civil society & youth, representatives of economic environment, trade union leaders, etc)

StrenghtRo-SDGs initiative required a tremendous work across several areas and a large consultation and communication process to advance effective, efficient, transparent, innovative and citizen-centred governance for SDGs. The approach comprised several stands: - Designing and effectively applying ROSDS that includes 104 targets for 2030 which adapt the 17 SDGs to national context and priorities. - Strengthening the institutional framework for coordination and implementation of ROSDS (described in Section 3 a) - Strengthening the effectiveness of institutions involved in Agenda 2030 implementation – DSD established the network of SD Hubs in each line ministry with the task to gather information on SDGs. - Mainstreaming SDGs in policy-making through an Action Plan for implementation of ROSDS – currently the DSD is working on the document. - Strengthening monitoring and reporting system on SDGs - DSD and National Institute of Statistics worked together to develop a new set of National Sustainable Development Indicators to track the ROSDS. - Ensuring policy coherence for sustainable development – DSD’s effort focused on linking policy planning and budgeting that support the implementation of SDGs. Between November 2019 - September 2020, DSD received expertise from OECD to strengthen the institutional mechanisms to deliver on the SDGs. - Engagement of civil society, private sector and other stakeholders - forming a critical mass to support the implementation of ROSDS was one of DSD’ objectives. In a constant effort to inform Romanian citizens and institutions about the SDGs, DSD participated and organized several meetings, debates and workshops. - Engagement of DSD in the world - DSD has made continuous efforts to increase the external visibility participating actively in global and regional processes, strengthening Romania's role as a regional hub for promoting of SDGs implementation (side-vents organized in the frame of HLPF 2019, HLPF 2020, UNECE Regional Forum on SD in 2020.

The administrative capacity of DSD was rather short as well as the budget allocated for the task of implementing Agenda 2030 at national level. In response to this problem DSD applied and received ESF funds to develop a 5 million Euro project “Sustainable Romania – Development of the strategic and institutional framework for the implementation of the national strategy for sustainable development of Romania 2030”. The project helped DSD to increase its administrative capacity (3 more experts were hired), to develop the institutional, strategical and monitoring framework for implementing SDGs and to communicate all the actions to the large public.

Establishing a network of Sustainable Development Hubs in line ministries and agencies it’s an innovative approach of DSD for ensuring coherence in governmental action and for professionalizing the competences in strategic planning and sustainable development of the central public administration. These hubs consist of staff who are tasked with implementing the SDGs while also acting as liaisons between their own institutions, different departments, National Institute of Statistics and DSD. Currently, with support of ESF funding, DSD is training SD Hubs and preparing existing public servants to become Experts in Sustainable Development, a new professional figure in Romania.

Not relevant

DSD recognizes the importance of digital era. That is why DSD is developing with ESF funds an IT tool for data aggregation, called “Sustainable Romania”. This aggregator is developed on the project website and will offer open source data for national SDGs indicators and EU SDGs indicators

StrenghtRO-SDGs initiative is an SDGs governance model which has been presented by DSD in different contexts and can be adapted by other countries: - April 2019 - High-level International Conference: The 2030 Agenda: Partnerships for sustainable development (during Romanian presidency at European Council) - July 2019, HLPF, New York, DSD, OECD and Government of Iceland organized the side-event "Governance of the SDGs: Learning from country experiences and defining an agenda for the future”. The event objective was to facilitate exchange of good practices and discussions on challenges and opportunities in implementation of SDGs - September 2019, 74th UNGA, New York - DSD, OECD, UNDP and Government of Colombia organized high-level event for launching “Global Hub on Governance for the SDGs” - March 2020, Geneva Regional Forum for SD, DSD and OECD hosted the event "Accelerating progress on the SDGs through PCSD" - June 2020, DSD and the European Network for Sustainable Development organized the Workshop: Achieving the SDGs through a Sustainable and Just Transition: Challenges and responses to Covid-19 - July 2020, HLPF, DSD and OECD, Government of Mongolia, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, organized video-conference “Inter-regional dialogue on how public policies governance and coherence regarding SDGs can accelerate action”

The model of Romania for “Governance of the SDGs” can be transferred/adapted in another national context. In some countries the national coordination of SDGs is under the responsibility of one or more ministries. From our experience, coordination from the central of government accelerated the actions towards achieving the SDGs, having a powerful political support. The institutional framework put in place by DSD ensure the involvement of all relevant actors in the implementation of SDGs, from public authorities to private sector, academia, scientific environment and civil society. The new working relationships established with the SD Hubs and the National Institute of Statistics is increasing the collection, accuracy and accountability of statistics data for SDGs indicators and the policy coherence for sustainable development.

Human resources: - own DSDs, used in the process of updating ROSDS and all legislative acts for building the institutional framework for implementing ROSDS to ensure PCSD - over 2500 participants in the extensive debates in the process of elaborating ROSDS, representatives of central and local authorities, non-governmental organizations, the private sector, unions, employers' associations, research and academic community, young people, mass media and al. - international experts Financial resources: - own DSD - European non-reimbursable funds

The institutional framework developed for the governance of the SDGs have been approved through Governmental Decisions. This framework is provided by the ROSDS approved by a Governmental Decision. The DSD is financed from public budget to fulfill its tasks and new projects to supplement the budget were developed by DSD and are under evaluation by funding institutions.

Yes

Romania has adhered to the OECD Recommendation for Policy Coherence for Sustainable Development. In 2020 the OECD conducted an Institutional Scan to take stock of the advantages of the current governance framework in terms of applying coherence for sustainable development into the policy making and issues that remain to be addressed. The review looked at how SDG-related responsibilities and tasks are allocated among the center of government and other ministries and agencies. In particular, it focused on how the policy formulation and evaluation processes support the implementation of the 2030 Agenda

The analysis was based on desk research and information from questionnaires filled by the Romanian Government, as well as a fact-finding mission conducted by the OECD in October 2019. In particular, the assessment took into account the eight guiding principles for promoting good institutional practices for policy coherence according to the 2019 OECD Recommendation on Policy Coherence for Sustainable Development

According to the OECD evaluation “Romania has a strong strategic framework in place to guide the implementation of the SDGs. Building on these efforts, there are opportunities to promote greater Policy Coherence for Sustainable Development (PCSD) as well as to further develop the government’s capacity to link policy planning and budgeting to support the implementation of the SDGs” To support the PCSD, OECD recommended that: 1. A strengthened institutional framework accompanies the SNDD, bolstering the coordination roles of the Department for Sustainable Development and the Direction of Policy and Priorities during the policy cycle. 2. A sustainable development lens is incorporated into key government documents and processes, underpinned by supporting guidance and coordination mechanisms. 3. The capacity of the public administration is further developed to improve awareness of, and analytical skills in relation to, sustainable development. 4. The role of oversight bodies, such as Parliamentary Sub-Committee for Sustainable Development, is bolstered to provide greater scrutiny of government actions to implement the SDGs. 5. Existing sectoral indicators and multi-level dimensions are embedded in the development of National Sustainable Development indicators.

The coordination of the SDGs was assumed at the highest possible political level by the Interdepartmental Committee for Sustainable Development (ICSD) and the DSD, situated in the Prime Minister Office, officially under the leadership of a State counselor. The Department of Sustainable Development’s leading role in promoting, overseeing and implementing PCSD is clearly stated in ROSDS: “it will ensure policy coherence in the field of sustainable development and will be consulted in the case of draft laws to be adopted by the Romanian Government with direct application to the goals defined in the Strategy”. ICDS, chaired by the prime minister, has been established in 2019, following the process of implementation, monitoring, evaluation and revision of ROSDS. The Sustainable Development Hubs are foreseen to enhance communication and cooperation among their respective ministries and the DSD and National Institute of Statistics

Participatory process is an effective tool in implementing SDGs. In a yearlong development of ROSDS, Romania pursued extensive consultation of stakeholders through national debates with NGOs, private sector, trade unions, research institutes, academia, meetings with Parliament’s Sub-Committee for Sustainable Development, ministries, ROSDS drafting committee, involving more than 1,000 participants. Eight regional seminars were held in each development area, building up on the idea that ROSDS should be understood by all, principle reflected in length and simplicity of ROSDS. To raise awareness, provide a space for multi-stakeholder interaction, promote good practices on SDG implementation while fostering dialogue and partnerships on SDGs, DSD organised high-level events, consultations. In order to showcase the outstanding efforts towards the 2030 Agenda implementation by different partners, from 2020, on annual basis, a Sustainable Development gala is organized by DSD. Through DSD’s website, social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram), press, a monthly electronic newsletter sent to more than 2000 recipients, DSD communicates with public. DSD is interconnected with global initiatives, focusing on geographic endowments, as Black Sea Region, Central and Eastern Europe. In order to promote and disseminate principles of sustainable development, in partnership with educational institutions, NGOs, DSD organized events and edited educational materials.

- governance of the SDGs is an important steering tool that aim at achieving a more sustainable future - the complexity and interrelation of the of the 17 SDGs requires integrated, holistic and coherent policy-making where decision-making, implementation and monitoring involves actors from the public and private sector as well as civil society. Diversity of participating actors is essential. - the inclusion of different actors in the drafting of policy proposals is important for more effective results on the basis of mutual learning, increased ownership - with regard to complex and interrelated sustainability goals, policy coherence can contribute to the reduction of trade-offs between different sectoral policies and thereby lead to more effective implementation - an effective governance needs participation, policy coherence, reflexivity and adaptation. Plans to improve - Provide a sound environment for multi-stakeholder interaction in order to exchange information, best practices and feel free to talk about challenges, without criticizing. - Processing data in a holistic and timely manner would be an useful and appropriate management tool for the SDGs implementation - Implementation of an Integrated Information System through digitization, new technologies, new data sources and interoperability in order to ensure the trans-sectoral implementation of the SDGs based on the whole government approach.