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IPS298 Renee Sorchik et al.
4. Discussion and Conclusion
While about half of the countries examined have adopted 15 or more of
the 23 child-related targets, and 84 percent have adopted at least one of the
priority targets, many countries have not yet set national target values. The
prevalence of SDG monitoring and evaluation publications and voluntary
national reviews may suggest countries are embracing the 2030 agenda and
are full-heartedly tackling the world’s greatest challenges, but ‘you can’t
manage what you can’t measure’ and there is no way to measure progress
against a target with no aim. Furthermore, in slightly more than one-third of
country-target pairs examined (36%), there was no designated indicator to
measure progress against targets incorporated into national development
strategies. Even if a national target value had been set, without an indicator to
measure the target, it is not possible to monitor country progress.
If this sub-set of targets can be used as a proxy for the larger SDG agenda,
it would appear that middle- and low-income countries are not generally
setting national target values that are more ambitious than the global values.
However, as 45 percent of national target values still remain to be set, the
ambition level of countries could drastically change going forward.
The results of this study suggest there is still work to be done for partner
agencies to support countries in setting national target values and building
robust monitoring frameworks to measure progress against national targets.
Countries will need support to increase national statistical capacity in order to
fill the gaps in data quality and availability to meet the needs for monitoring.
Supporting national target setting and monitoring will require further
attention and support if the 2030 goals are to be reached.

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