SDG Indicator Baseline Report for Myanmar - …

1 SDG Indicator Baseline Report for Myanmar - 0 - Measuring Myanmar s starting point for the Sustainable Development Goals SDG Indicator Baseline Report Central Statistical Organization and UNDP August 2017 This Report has been possible because of the generous support of the governments of Australia, Denmark, Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent those of UNDP or CSO. Copyright: UNDP and CSO 2017. All rights reserved SDG Indicator Baseline Report for Myanmar - 1 - Foreword from Ministry of Planning and Finance As all of us are aware, Post 2015 Development Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has been adopted at United Nations General Assembly which was held on 28-30 September, 2015 which came into effect on 1st January 2016.

2 The 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 targets which we are announcing today demonstrate the scale and ambition of this new universal Agenda to achieve in 2030. It is a comprehensive, ambitious plan of action for people to end poverty, to protect the planet, to ensure for the people enjoying peace and prosperity through a revitalized global partnership. They are integrated and indivisible, and balance the three dimensions of sustainable development: the economic, social and environmental. Since we came into the office, it has been set that the Development Policy of the country is people centered, inclusive and sustainable.

3 The twelve points of the economic policies also support to the implementation of SDGs in Myanmar . Identifying the needs and gaps, stakeholders consultation to formulate the plan and setting the priorities and sequencing is also a big task for us since we have limited resources to implement on the ground. This is the time for us, to provide the awareness raising on SDGs to all the stakeholders for the development, streamlining the regional and sectoral planning process and preparing for the monitoring and evaluation of the implementation. To facilitate the all of tasks mentioned above, the reliable and accurate data that reflect the current situations of the country is indispensible.

4 Hence, it is a great pleasure for me to produce a Baseline Indicator Report : "Measuring Myanmar 's Starting Point for the Sustainable Development Goals" for the SDGs implementation in Myanmar . The Report is very fundamental tool to measure the progress of Myanmar 's SDGs implementation. I fully appreciate and thanks to Central Statistical Organization for the achievement of formulating this Baseline Data Report . I also would like to express my sincere thanks to UNDP for providing technical assistance on developing metadata utilization for the measurement of SDGs indicators. In conclusion, Myanmar looks forward to the strengthened cooperation and collaboration with the international community and relevant development stakeholders including Members of the Parliament (MPs), Private Sector, Citizens, NGOs and INGOs to assure the SDGs' Concept of "No One Left Behind" in the implementation of the SDGs.

5 Union Minister Ministry of Planning and Finance SDG Indicator Baseline Report for Myanmar - 2 - Foreword from UNDP Many people have acknowledged that Myanmar is experiencing a triple transition from war to peace, from military rule to democracy, and from a closed to an open market economy. But there is in fact a fourth dimension to this transition. The shift from exclusive, unsustainable development to more inclusive, more sustainable development At the end of 2015, world leaders from 193 countries including Myanmar - joined hands and adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a set of 17 global goals that provide a vision for ending poverty, fighting inequality and injustice, and tackling climate change over the next 15 years.

6 These goals represent the views of people from all parts of the world on the question what is the world we want in 2030 . Myanmar s delegation at the international summit on the SDGs stated that Myanmar will redouble its effort to achieve sustainable development by mainstreaming the SDGs in its national development agenda . As a result, both globally and in Myanmar we are now at the beginning of what will be a 15-year push to put the global goals into action. In each of the 193 countries, including Myanmar , efforts will be undertaken to achieve this better world. As the UN Secretary-General put it, We have a big, bold agenda before us.

7 Now we must work to make it real . An important aspect of achieving goals is to keep track of the progress made. Only if we know where we stand in all areas of development do we know on which issues to focus our attention. And only if we monitor our achievements can we really deliver to these ambitious global goals. This is why the Sustainable Development Goals come with a set of more than 200 statistical indicators, measuring things like maternal mortality rates to percentage of children that are undernourished, or the number of persons affected by natural disasters. Statistical agencies in all countries will be responsible to Report regularly to the international level about the progress achieved in each country.

8 For Myanmar , the Central Statistical Organization (CSO) is the lead agency in charge of SDG Indicator monitoring. It is therefore my great pleasure that under the leadership of CSO and with support from UNDP, this Report compiles and presents the data that is currently available in Myanmar s National Statistical System to monitor the Sustainable Development Goals. Data producers across government have openly shared their data sources, and together have compiled Baseline data for a remarkable 60% of SDG indicators. Given that this Indicator framework is new and includes many statistical indicators not previously prioritized, this is a significant achievement.

9 I encourage Myanmar s decision-makers to make good use of the guidance contained in this data, and that the statistical departments will build on this strong Baseline and continue to monitor on a regular basis the achievements of Myanmar s transition to sustainable development. UNDP stands ready to provide support. Peter Batchelor Country Director UNDP SDG Indicator Baseline Report for Myanmar - 3 - Acknowledgements from the Director General of the Central Statistical Organization First of all, I would like to express my deepest sense of gratitude to His Excellency Union Minister U Kyaw Win, Ministry of Planning and Finance, for his valuable support and guidance and encouragement to take this step for the publication of the Baseline Report for Myanmar which is a very fundamental tool to measure the progress of SDG implementation.

10 Since the National Statistics Offices around the world have to take the role of Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) on the progress of the SDG implementation, improved National Statistical System becomes an essential element of SDG development in Myanmar . The Central Statistical Organization and its counterparts of the Statistics Units from the line ministries have been trying to improve the National Statistical System with the implementation of the National Strategy for the Development of Statistics (NSDS). In monitoring SDG implementation, we have to try to make a key focus on disaggregated data.