In an effort to develop capacity among national statisticians and help them monitor the targets of achievement of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2, FAO Pakistan conducted one day training in Islamabad.
This training focused on the methodology to compute two of the indicators related to the overarching Goal 2 of ending hunger, achieving food security and improving nutrition and promoting sustainable agriculture.
The two indicators are:
1. Prevalence of undernourishment; and
2. Prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity in the population, based on the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES)
Accurate and sustainable computation of these two indicators is important because they have been included in the list of indicators of the global monitoring framework for the SDGs.
Mr. Carlo Cafiero, Senior Statistician and Voices of the Hungry Project Manager, conducted this training for around 20 participants representing various organizations from the government and development sector including Ministry of National Food Security and Research and Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
Mr. Carlo Cafiero on the occasion said:
“The global monitoring framework for SDGs is a product of the UN Statistical Commission, which is composed of the Chief Statisticians of all UN member countries. To develop the indicator framework, the UNSC appointed an Interagency and Expert Group composed of 28 member countries in representation of all regions of the world. Membership is on a rotational basis: China, India and Philippines currently represent Asia in this Group. They have endorsed this indicator, which means that all countries in the region should be able to compute them, the reason why FAO is supporting capacity development initiatives like this one”.
Mr. Francisco Gamarro, Deputy FAO Representative was also present on the occasion and said:
“FAO’s work links hunger, undernutrition and poverty with agriculture and natural resources,. The closeness of FAO’s own objectives to the SDGs has helped raise awareness of our role and there is greater recognition of the breadth of our work. ”
The participants observed that the training was useful for them to build sufficient analytical capacity to compute the two indicators correctly, though further support will be needed throughout the process.
FAO Pakistan is helping the Government of Pakistan to integrate the SDGs into their development processes and plans. It is also helping in building capacity to monitor achievements of the set targets. In addition, FAO Pakistan is also lending support to partnership-building around the SDGs, and helping to raise awareness of the SDGs among the general public and stakeholders.

Background

On 1 January 2016, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development — adopted by world leaders in September 2015 at an historic UN Summit — officially came into force. Over the next fifteen years, with these new Goals that universally apply to all, countries will mobilize efforts to end all forms of poverty, fight inequalities and tackle climate change.
The SDGs build on the success of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and aim to go further to end all forms of poverty. The new Goals are unique in that they call for action by all countries, poor, rich and middle-income to promote prosperity while protecting the planet. They recognize that ending poverty must go hand-in-hand with strategies that build economic growth and addresses a range of social needs including education, health, social protection, and job opportunities, while tackling climate change and environmental protection.
Pakistan was quick to embrace the SDGs and in early 2016 a parliamentary SDGs Secretariat was established.