Evaluating The Preparedness of Parliaments to Engage with The Sdgs

The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) is the global organization of national parliaments with a membership of 183 Member Parliaments and 15 Associate Members. The IPU promotes democratic governance, institutions and values, working with parliaments and parliamentarians to articulate and respond to the needs and aspirations of the people. It works to promote peace, democracy, human rights, gender equality, youth empowerment, climate action and sustainable development through political dialogue, cooperation and parliamentary action. The IPU has supported over half of its members to strengthen parliament capacity to perform their functions. The IPU collaborates with the the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) both nationally and globally for over 40 years.

UNDP has been supporting more than 60 parliaments globally to strengthen parliament as an institution of good governance, inclusive development and public accountability.

In the Pacific, the UNDP Pacific Office (PO) has been supporting Pacific Parliaments to fulfil the core functions of parliaments of law-making, oversight and representation. The PO has supported Pacific Parliaments to reform the parliamentary professional service, provided trainings and activities to strengthen parliamentary library and research services, provided policy support with a focus on SDG advocacy, supported the production of Budget Briefs for members to assist with informed debates on the national budgets, increased opportunities for citizens and CSO engagement in the work of parliament, built capacities for members and staff on substantive and procedural issues as well as skills such as public speaking, dealing with the media, debating, and codes of conduct, supported the development for institutional frameworks to ensure that parliaments have sufficient power and independence to contribute to democratic development.

The IPU collaborates with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) both nationally and globally for over 40 years. In late 2025, the IPU and UNDP have entered into a cooperation agreement to support parliaments in Pacific countries. Within this programme the IPU will support two Pacific parliaments to undertake SDG self-assessments.

** SDG Self-Assessment**

In order to assist parliaments in engaging with the SDGs and contributing to their implementation, the IPU and UNDP developed a self-assessment toolkit. The toolkit is designed to enable parliaments to identify good practices, gaps, opportunities and lessons learned to effectively institutionalize the SDGs and mainstream the various goals in the legislative process.

The conclusions of the self-assessment should allow parliaments to set priorities for action in order to strengthen their response to the SDGs and start their own process of internal benchmarking. The ultimate objective is that parliaments are fit for purpose to play a full role in realizing Agenda 2030.

Two parliaments in the Pacific Region will be assisted to undertake the SDG self-assessment exercise.

** Format**
The self-assessment exercise normally combines two activities:

- A one day information seminar on the SDGs and the role of parliaments in their implementation

The seminar would aim at sharing key concepts and collecting participants’ expectations, thus ensuring there is a common understanding of the self-assessment exercise.
- A four day self-assessment exercise

The exercise would aim at collecting and analyzing the situation and the main facts related to the work of Parliament on the SDGs. The discussions would involve members of parliament and parliamentary staff, as appropriate. They would be informed by questions to be defined based on the IPU/UNDP’s self-assessment toolkit Parliaments and the Sustainable Development Goals.

** Coordination and steering Committee**

The self-assessment exercise would be spearheaded by the Parliament, with the support of IPU and UNDP. The involvement of existing parliamentary mechanisms on the SDGs would be key.

A Steering Group would be set up in consultation with the Speaker of Parliament and/or other parliamentary authroztities designated to lead the process.

The Steering Group would meet on a regular basis so as to agree on the format of the assessment sessions, the themes and questions to be addressed, the documentation to be made available to participants and any follow-up action to be undertaken after the exercise.

The IPU and UNDP would support the Steering Group in planning and ensuring follow-up to this exercise.

** Participants**

Participation in the self assessment exercise will be determined by the Steering Committee. Having said that, the assessment will need to be as inclusive and broad as possible. In past exercises, assessments were carried out by one or two groups of 10-15 persons, comprising of members of parliament and staff respectively. This is a possibility.

In any case, the groups will need to take into account the regional, age and political diversi