Towards a Global Reporting System for Development Cooperation on the SDGs: Promoting Transformational Potential and Impact

Abstract

The proposed SDGs constitute a comprehensive, universal and interactive agenda of structural transformations as the pathway to sustainable development, leaving no-one behind while creating green economies. This new global development agenda demands a reporting system which both engages a much wider range of development co-operation actors than the traditional Development Co-operation Directorate (DCD-DAC) donors and reflects the radically changing structure and complexion of the global economy and development finance. Existing development cooperation reporting systems are not geared to supporting the programme design, implementation, coordination and review processes implicit in the SDGs. We propose a reporting system based around transformational potential and impact (TPI) statements in upstream programme and project reporting linked to the SDGs and involving all suppliers and forms of externally provided development cooperation, including market finance leveraged by sovereign creditworthiness. Our proposal provides a framework for thinking and acting at the level of transformation and facilitates the mapping of external cooperation to national and regional programmes of structural transformation. The TPI statements could thus constitute a commitment and review system analogous to the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) methodology being developed as the basis for a new global climate change regime to be agreed at the Paris Conference in December 2015.