In her second blog post, Crook Fellow Lauren Toppenberg disscusses the importance of the Inter-Agency and Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goal Indicators (IAEG).

As I mention in my first post, the focus of my research this summer has been on the measurement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The role of measurement in improving human conditions cannot be overstated. No matter how well intentioned it may be, policy aimed at reducing poverty and hunger, or any of the other SDGs, will not make a sustainable impact unless it actually reaches the people who will benefit from its initiatives. We cannot be sure of the effectiveness policy until we are able to evaluate its impacts, and to be able to evaluate its impact, we must first be able to measure the outcomes of whether policies’ benefits reach the people who need them using indicators that can adequately capture the multidimensional nature of the SDG issues. Just as the SDGs have shifted the way we think about goal-setting, it will likewise require a shift in our approach to measuring multifaceted, universal goals.

A key to the success of measuring the SDGs will be the development of robust methods for evaluating progress at national levels. While there are many international organizations, such as the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), that will track the goals at a country level, it will be the responsibility of each individual nation capable of doing so to devise a measurement plan to evaluate its own progress at subnational levels. This process will be complex as it includes identifying appropriate indicators for the state, regional and local levels, and across subpopulations, while also ensuring that the measurement of progress can be comparable within a global indicator framework as well.

In its forty-sixth session, the Statistical Commission of the UN endorsed the formation of the Inter-Agency and Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goal Indicators (IAEG) to lead the development of the SDGs’ global indicator framework. The indicators the IAEG ultimately proposed are the result of an inclusive, open, and transparent process that involved consultations, briefings and feedback from all countries, regional and international agencies, civil society, academia, and the private sector. In making its selection of indicators, IAEG considered issues of relevance, methodological soundness, and universality. In some instances, indicators are multipurpose and applicable to the measurement of more than one target; in other instances, more than one indicator is needed to capture a multidimensional target.

A critical aspect of the IAEG’s indicator development process has been its incorporation of the pledge to leave no one behind as the world embarks on the SDGs by requiring indicator data to be disaggregated by income, sex, age, race, ethnicity, migratory status, disability, geographic location or any other characteristics appropriate for the target population. For some countries with limited data collecting abilities, this will require extensive efforts both internally and externally to build up their data systems to meet these demands.

The extensive work by the IAEG on the development of the global indicators has put the world on the right track for measuring the SDGs, but now it is time for countries, including the United States, to take over and begin developing their own national indicator framework. As we move forward with the development of our own national indicator framework for SDG1 and SDG2, it will be critical to evaluate the validity and representativeness of both the global and national indicators used to measure poverty and hunger as it exists in the United States. Poverty and hunger measurements are not without contention, and the most arduous task of the measurement process will be reaching a consensus across all stakeholders about what dimensions poverty and hunger should be considered before we will be able to identify the indicators that are able to measure all facets of these issues.

Our national indicator framework must also commit to leaving no one behind by examining trends at all levels of society. National statistics are necessary to compare global progress towards the SDGs across countries; however, using only national level data can underestimate, overestimate, or even erase the trends occurring at state and local levels and within specific subpopulations. It we do not capture and analyze data at a disaggregated level, as directed by the IAEG, we will not be able to conclude that any progress we make is inclusive to all people of our country. If we truly want to bring everyone onto a level playing field as we work towards the SDGs, we must approach the goals with an understanding of the inequities that exist in the United States and take active and targeted approaches towards eliminating them through inclusive measurement and evidence-based policy development.