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PILLAR 1

Institutional capacity and skills

Developing and enhancing political and administrative mechanisms, structures, processes, systems and tools is essential to enable governments to harmonise overall government action towards sustainable development. This pillar promotes good country practices and individual and organisational capacities needed by a public service to enhance policy coherence and successfully deliver the SDGs in an integrated manner.

It features the OECD Recommendation on Policy Coherence for Sustainable Development (PCSD), which is open for adherence. The PCSD Recommendation provides a comprehensive standard to help countries equip policy-makers and key stakeholders with the necessary institutional mechanisms and policy tools to enhance PCSD.

Principles and standards

The OECD Recommendation on Policy Coherence for Sustainable Development  presents a set of eight principles for promoting PCSD, which are organised under three main pillars:

  1. A strategic vision for implementing the 2030 Agenda underpinned by a clear political commitment and leadership
  2. Inclusive institutional mechanisms to address policy interactions across sectors, actors and levels of government
  3. A set of tools to anticipate, assess and address domestic, transboundary and long-term

Thematic Areas SDGs

Thematic guidance

The PCSD Framework includes three thematic modules focused on food security, illicit financial flows and green growth. Each thematic module consists of a checklist with self-screening questions and a set of annotations with more detailed information and links to relevant background material.

Online Practical Guidance

These guidance aim to supports governments in designing their own policy coherence strategies and implement the OECD Recommendation on PCSD according to their specific national circumstances. They provide detailed and practical recommendations to support implementation of PCSD principles.

Interactive Self-Assessment Tool

This interactive tool enables policy-makers, practitioners and stakeholders to review their institutional mechanisms, organisational structures and policy-making processes against internationally recognised good practices on Policy Coherence for Sustainable Development, as outlined in the OECD Recommendation on PCSD. It is designed to stimulate dialogue by helping users to identify strengths, gaps and weaknesses as a first step towards improvement.

Online learning tools

The OECD can support capacity building efforts on PCSD through targeted training sessions in capitals, with participation from a wide range of stakeholders both within and beyond governments. The aim is to strengthen understanding of PCSD in practice, promote peer-learning exchanges, and support countries in applying the PCSD Recommendation, adapted to their priorities, specific country context and circumstances.

An online course on Policy Coherence and Systems Thinking for Sustainable Development has been designed in collaboration with UN System Staff College to equip participants with an understanding of why a focus on system interconnections is key for achieving sustainable development. The course explores concepts related to policy coherence and systems thinking, country examples, as well as specific tools and mechanisms for implementation.

Civil Service capacity for SDGs

This section provides knowledge and resources for building civil service capacity for SDG implementation.  It includes a comprehensive overview of available international and EU information sources, analytical content and good practices on SDG implementation, organised in a way that facilitates the work of civil servants (e.g., by theme, function, level of government).

Implementation tools and advice

Implementation tools and advice. Translating commitment to enhance coherence into action. A compendium of available tools developed and piloted by organisations involved in the PCSD Partnership (#SDGAction12066) to support country efforts in enhancing policy coherence for sustainable development. It also includes tools developed by the OECD.