Steering Process: Quality and Standards

Rationale

There are many systems and processes that are linked to the monitoring of the SDGs, covering those related to policy design and implementation, coordination, the production and the dissemination of data corresponding to the SDG indicators, the analysis and research on the SDG data. These processes and systems involve numerous stakeholder from government and from non-governmental institutions/organisations. The quality of the structures and processes implemented is key for the relevance and the reliability of the results achieved and must thus be considered globally, covering the different stages of the work and all the stakeholders.  

Challenges usually occur with regard to national quality standards for: 

• Policy design and implementation, 
• Coordination (local, national, regional, international),
• Statistics (production, processing and dissemination),
• Data analysis and research,
• Assessment of the performance and the impact of government actions,  
• Overall monitoring and evaluation. 

Issues to be particularly addressed: Good governance, transparency, accountability, ownership, participation of non-governmental actors (civil society, private sector, academia & science), inclusive development, policy coherence, evidence-based policies, impact assessments, monitoring and evaluation. International quality norms are particularly clear for official statistics (data production and dissemination). For non-official statistics as e.g. administrative data and other sources (open data, big data), a specific quality framework must be developed. 

A national commitment to quality and standards could take many forms: 

• The setting-up (or strengthening if it already exists) of a national association or society of independent professionals in the area of quality frameworks, which could promote international standards and recommendations such as e.g. the ones from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM). These organisations could also support the various national actors involved in the monitoring of the SDGs in their respective roles and efforts and help them in internalising and implementing the international quality frameworks in their respective systems and processes,  
• The support to the National Supreme Audit Institutions for the role they play in the promotion of good governance, transparency and accountability in government and society. The International Standards of Supreme Audit Institutions (ISSAI) Framework make available the complete and updated collection of professional standards and best practice guidelines for public sector auditors; a specific SDG Audit Model (ISAM) is currently under construction will be globally available and piloted from 2020. , 
• The support to the actors within the National Statistical System, and in particular to the National Statistical Office (as the lead agency for a data driven SDG monitoring system), in the implementation of the fundamental principles and standards, the related code of practices and quality standards related to statistics, such as the Generic Statistical Business Process Model (GSBPM), the National Statistics Quality Assurance Framework (NQAF) or the excellence model of the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM).