Through the collaborative efforts of the United Nations, multilateral organizations, and sustainable development partners from universities, civil society, academia and the private sector, UN SDG:Learn provides a unique gateway that empowers individuals and organizations through an informed decision when selecting among a wealth of SDG-related learning products and services that are currently available. The Platform represents a gateway to the wealth of learning solutions of all partners, allowing finding the most suitable SDG learning solution – in one go and place.

The platform has special community sites on Statistics, Women2Lead, and Evaluation (forthcoming). 

Access the UN SDG:Learn platform here.

Citizen science data (CSD) presents untapped opportunities to track progress towards the SDGs offering multiple advantages for Governments and National Statistical Offices (NSOs): help fill in data gaps for indicators where traditional data collection instruments, such as, household surveys or administrative registers may not be well suited or may not have the sufficient coverage, improve the granularity of data and sometimes timeliness, and offer an effective and cost-efficient means for NSOs to address data needs of policy-makers in the context of limited or falling resources. Many citizen science data initiatives and datasets exist already. Why then have NSOs not been using citizen science data to any large extent to date? To begin with, NSOs require a better understanding of how such data can be useful in their specific context and requirements, as well as understanding what exactly needs to be done to leverage it. Citizen science practitionners, for their part, need to better understand policy applications and know how to ensure that the generated data meets necessary quality standards. This Policy Brief aims to bring greater understanding to these issues by drawing on a research conducted as part of the EU-funded Crowd4SDG project with contributions from several international organizations and research centers. It shows how NSOs can give value to CSD benefitting official statistics, policy-making and citizen science communities and helping ensure that no one is left behind.

Read the Policy brief here. 

UNITAR in partnership with UN Statistics Division (UNSD) developed a problem-solving toolkit “StaTact” in support of monitoring the Sustainable Development Goals with donor support received by UNITAR. StaTact is a web-based tool developed to support short-term statistical planning in the context of monitoring the SDGs. As the name suggests, it provides a tactical approach to addressing selected SDG-related data gaps that require urgent action. Its main strengths are a collaborative environment for multi-stakeholder discussion and a problem-solving methodology that helps you set up a Working Group and take it through three key stages such as a problem statement, problem analysis, action plan, and an implementation interface. The analysis stage uses the Generic Statistical Business Process Model (GSBPM) to analyse the processes of data production and the Generic Activity Model for Statistical Organizations (GAMSO) to map the institutional arrangements that govern these processes. The end product is a realistic low-cost tactic action plan with assigned responsibilities, a timeline, and a budget. The implementation interface enables the Working Group to track in real-time progress on this plan.

StaTact is typically coordinated by appointed focal points or national administrators from National Statistical Offices who can create Working Groups upon the request of members of National Statistical Systems or Government in general. Working Group members are invited by Group Leaders and can be from Government or outside as relevant for a specific data problem at hand.

You can access the tool here.

UNITAR and Millennium Institute have jointly developed a simulation game called Learning Environment for Integrated Planning (LEiP) based on the Millennium Institute’s iSDG Integrated Simulation Tool. The learning environment uses a multi-player, asymmetric, multi-laptop blended approach. This game simulates an investment planning process of a country to achieve selected SDGs. This exercise instantly demonstrates progress towards a selected SDG, and shows cross-sectoral effects, as well as synergies and trade-offs with other selected goals. The LEiP uses a model developed on trends characterizing the development of an average LDC, SIDS, middle-income and high-income countries.

You can register here to access the game.

This integrated toolkit has been created by UNITAR together with UNDG and is being used at country level since May 2015. It contains a briefing package designed for use by national governments and can be easily adapted to each national context. The toolkit includes guidance materials for facilitators, which enables national stakeholders to deliver the workshops themselves. UNITAR experts are available for coaching and support if required. This training package is available to all and is free of charge thanks to donor support received by UNITAR. It is available in English, French, Spanish, and Russian. The toolkit is to be used for organising national briefings with two main objectives: (a) to raise awareness among key governments and national stakeholders about the content of the 2030 Agenda and implications for the country-level; (b) to enable countries to begin preliminary discussions on mainstreaming the agenda into each national context, including the initial mapping of the SDGs in the context of existing national plans and strategies, and to reflect on priority-setting, as well as data, monitoring and review requirements.

Register here: English, French, Spanish, and Russian.