Mapping of the strategic action plan (2019-2023) of the Maldives with the sustainable development goals : key findings report.

Abstract

This report was commissioned by the Integrated Governance Programme (IGP) of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Maldives Country Office as part of their ongoing support to the Strategic Action Plan for 2019 -2023 (SAP) formulated by the President’s Office (PO) of the Government of Maldives (GoM). It serves as the narrative report to the mapping exercise conducted to determine the linkages between the SAP and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The mapping matrix was submitted alongside this report as a separate document. The Maldives, after a long planning void, formulated the Strategic Action Plan for the period 2019 to 2023, which serves as the main focus of this mapping exercise. The SAP is an ambitious mediumterm development tool comprising of presidential pledges, a joint coalition election manifesto, constitutional and legislative frameworks, sector plans and international commitments through various global conventions and agreements. The SAP includes policies, strategies and timebound actions across 33 subsectors grouped under five broader thematic areas or sectors. The five sectors of the SAP are Blue Economy, Caring State, Dignified Families, Jazeera Dhiriulhun (island life) and Good Governance. The SAP identifies 435 policy targets which will be used to measure progress and impact. The report includes findings of the aforementioned mapping exercise. The mapping was carried out at two levels. The first level aimed to identify linkages in terms of scope covered (i.e. the extent to which issues/topics/areas identified in the SDG targets have been reflected in the SAP). The second level aimed to measure the level of ambition between the vision set forth in the SDG targets and their corresponding SAP targets (i.e. a measurement of how much similarities exist in terms of the ambition between the two set of targets). The main objective of this mapping exercise is to gauge the interlinkages between the SAP and the SDGs. The mapping will allow the GoM to identify areas (in the SAP) that are already in line with the SDGs as well as determine the gaps that would require additional attention. The results of this exercise will further assist the GoM to recognize specific local conditions and realities that should be reflected in the SDG localization and prioritization exercises, as well as, the important stakeholders for each of the SDG targets.