Eight building blocks for coherent implementation of the SDGs

Enhancing policy coherence is one of the most difficult challenges to implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), according to most Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) presented by UN members to the UN High-level Political Forum (HLPF).This chapter looks at plans and initial steps towards adapting institutional frameworks for SDG implementation taken by the 20 OECD countries that have presented VNRs to the HLPF so far: Belgium, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey. It applies eight key elements of the Framework for Policy Coherence for Sustainable Development (PCSD) as a lens to identify good institutional practices for PCSD as required in SDG Target 17.14. The analysis benefits from several examples from the VNRs that serve to illustrate national variations in the approaches and mechanisms used for implementation. This chapter also includes two contributions by two member institutions of the Partnership for Enhancing Policy Coherence for Sustainable Development which have developed analytical tools for coherent implementation of the SDGs. This chapter is complemented by country profiles presented in Chapter 3.