SDG implementation and monitoring requires an efficient roll-out plan involving several key sequential steps irrespective of a country’s context. The government of Bangladesh, particularly the GED has followed these steps religiously and has made a long stride toward creating an enabling environment within government for implementing SDGs. The milestones of such initiatives include: integration of SDGs into national development plans, assignment of ministries to each goal and corresponding targets, identification of data gaps for creating indicators for SDG monitoring, assessment of financial need and financing options for achieving SDGs, formulation of SDG action plan, and conducting numerous stakeholder meetings, workshop and seminars for disseminating the essence of this global commitment.

The Support to Sustainable and Inclusive Planning (SSIP) project of UNDP played an instrumental role in helping GED undertake these initiatives listed above. This project officially took off in June 2013 with the broad objective of strengthening the capacity of policy makers, particularly of GED, so that they can prepare pro-poor, sustainable and inclusive plan for the country.  The project had three components:    
Building of institutional and economic policy analysis capacity
Establishment of inclusive and environmentally sustainable planning processes
Delivery of MDG achievement and post MDG framework
While the component (i) was the mainstay of the SSIP project by design initially, it lost its momentum over time due to lack of fund from UNDP and greater emphasis on 7th FYP, MDGs and SDGs. This project achieved a few important feats in policy domains by mobilizing the stakeholders and building consensus on removal of mismatch of classification of sectors across ministries and preparation of Sector Action Plan. Its support to GED for preparing the 7th FYP was critical for ensuring quality and timely publication. Several important policy researches were also conducted during the project life. In essence, the project was involved in every steps of all key deliverables of GED between 2013 and 2016 – particularly MDGs, 7th FYP, and SDGs. The project officially ended on 31st December 2016.
Given the broad scope of SDGs and the proactive initiatives taken so far, the Government of Bangladesh requires technical assistance for upgrading its current capacity for both implementation and monitoring. In this backdrop UNDP has contracted BIDS to design a follow-up project of SSIP project which “will foster the partnership between the Government and the UNDP and take forward the efforts made so far by the GED for achieving the goals of SDGs”.
The methodology for designing the new project largely relies on stakeholder consultation and reviewing of documents, particularly the ProDoc, Midterm Review and other outputs of SSIP project. The BIDS team will primarily consult with GED, PMO and BBS, the three potential stakeholders of this project. The team will also meet the representatives from private sector (e.g., FBCCI, BGMEA, etc.) to learn about their views on potential role of the private sector in SDG implementation.
An information collection tool will be prepared for the stakeholder’s consultation. The specific questions of the information collection tool will be discussed and finalized with GED. The information collection tool will be sent to the relevant stakeholders before the consultation meeting, allowing them adequate time for effective responses.
Key informant interviews will be organized with the relevant officials and representatives from research, academics, business enterprise, and prominent practitioners from development sector.
The interviews will follow a certain set of queries/questions as a frame of reference. The idea will be to capture the relevant focal persons’ concerns, opinion and recommendations in planning a comprehensive capacity building approach of the action plan. An aggregate finding from these KIIs will provide a certain road map, which will eventually help the design the project.
Team Composition of the study:
Adviser: Dr. KAS Murshid
Study Director: Dr. Kazi Ali Toufique
Senior Researcher: Dr. Kazi Iqbal
Researcher: Dr. Azreen Karim
ProDoc author: Md. Nahid Ferdous Pabon