Concept Note
This Side Event will focus on the contribution of peer learning for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. The European Sustainable Development Network (ESDN) has launched its Peer Learning in 2015, and they have become a core activity of the ESDN. Partner organizations, such as the European Environment and Sustainable Development Advisory Councils Network (EEAC Network), the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), have also put in place their respective peer learning activities. This Side Event will seek to share collective experiences made over years of peer learning activities and how these can be improved upon. Youth Delegates from the ESDN Youth Network will also share their experiences in peer learning through the ESDN with other Youth Delegates from Europe.
The European Sustainable Development Network (ESDN) has been active for 20 years as a network of public administrators from 40 European countries dealing with sustainable development strategies in Europe. The ESDN Peer Learning was initiated in 2015. Based on input and suggestions by the ESDN Annual Conference in 2015 as a continuous exchange platform to support national governments in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and to create an exchange mechanism among policymakers in the form of a peer learning approach.
Since the inception of the ESDN Peer Learning in 2015 and following the first ESDN Peer Learning Platform in 2016 on “Policy Coherence and Cooperation for the 2030 Agenda and SDGs Implementation”, the ESDN has organized a Peer Learning Platform each year and has covered a myriad of topics that always look at sustainable development issues through the 2030 Agenda and SDG lens. Such topics have included “Voluntary National Reviews at the HLPF”, “Regional Sustainable Development Implementation”, “Budgeting for the SDGs”, “Sustainable Finance and Sustainability Check”, “Civil Society and Citizen Involvement and Engagement for the 2030 Agenda”, and “Voluntary National Reviews: Challenges, Successes, and Lessons Learned”. The 8th ESDN Peer Learning Platform will take place on 9-10 November 2023 on “Spillover Effects”.
At the halfway point in the 2030 Agenda implementation, the HLPF 2023 provides an excellent opportunity for the ESDN to evaluate the work it has been doing, and also to exchange with, and learn from, other organizations to gain further insights into what others are doing to exchange information, good practices, and discuss successes and challenges in implementing the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs. While the ESDN specifically focuses on exchange between national level civil servants working on sustainable development issues, other networks and organizations cover different practices and stakeholder settings.
The agenda can be found here.