Planning Ministry runs a dialogue session with representatives of civil society to participate in the drafting of the 2021 VNR

The Ministry of Planning and Economic Development held a dialogue session chaired by Dr. Ahmed Kamali, Deputy Minister; with civil society representatives to participate in drafting the third Egyptian voluntary national report for the year 2021.The dialogue session took place in the presence of Dr. Mona Essam, Head of the Sustainable Development Unit, and Dr. Reham Rizk, Head of the Modeling Unit.Dr. Hala El-Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development indicated the importance of adopting a participatory approach and consulting with all development partners, including the private sector and civil society regarding the drafting of the Egyptian voluntary national report for 2021 in preparation for participation in the high-level political forum for sustainable development at the United Nations 2021.El-Said noted that civil society is a major partner in this year's voluntary report.El-Said explained that the aim of preparing the third voluntary report for Egypt is to clearly define national priorities, provide a realistic overview of the progress made in achieving the sustainable development goals, in addition to identifying the gaps and the support required to fill them, and integrating the sustainable development goals into the general budget process for consistently allocating resources.During the session, Dr. Ahmed Kamali said that the most important challenges associated with the process of preparing the third voluntary national report are the Covid-19 pandemic, pointing to the importance of the role of civil society in achieving sustainable development, which is represented in providing innovative and sustainable solutions, contributing opinions and submitting proposals to governments, and localizing the UN goals for sustainable development at the local level, in the provinces and villages.
In addition to supplying the data available on the ground to follow up the progress made in implementing the sustainable development goals, and to strengthen governance and a participatory approach to benefit the citizen This is through the active participation of civil society organizations with local authorities and citizens and social mobilization, as well as contributing as a mediator and a primary partner in delivering the services provided by the government and other parties because of their wide local presence.The Deputy Minister of Planning explained that there are many contributions expected from civil society in preparing the national voluntary report, including highlighting the best practices and initiatives undertaken by civil society organizations in implementing the sustainable development goals in Egypt and providing available data to be used in assessing the situation. The national report was also prepared by inviting interested partners to participate in presenting the third voluntary national report for Egypt at the HLPF in July 2021, as well as showing willingness - for interested parties - to participate in the upcoming side events on the sidelines of the forum.For her part, Dr. Mona Essam reviewed during the session; the proposed structure for the third voluntary national review report for Egypt, as it referred to the lessons learned from the previous voluntary reporting process for Egypt, which was represented as a tool for developing and accelerating the implementation of the sustainable development goals.
Essam indicated that the process of preparing the third national report went through several stages, including assessing the current situation in Egypt through monitoring and updating data and initiatives to identify gaps, and the Technical Secretariat of the National Committee concerned with following up on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals held a series of periodic meetings.
For their part, representatives of civil society organizations expressed their appreciation for the role played by the Ministry of Planning in preparing the third voluntary national report for Egypt, and their gratitude for the Ministry's endeavor to involve civil society in this national work, and expressed their willingness to provide support in this regard.