Sustainable Development Goals

In September 2015, 193 states adopted the Global Goals for Sustainable Development, now called the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at a historic UN summit. Through the new agenda entitled “Transforming our world: the 2030 agenda for sustainable development”, 17 SDGs and 169 targets were agreed upon to achieve three extraordinary things in the next 15 years: End extreme poverty, Fight inequality and injustice and Fix climate change.

Aruba, as part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, also voluntarily committed to this agreement in 2015. The global SDGs are in line with the Aruban vision and policy. Creating awareness for sustainability is therefore an important step to implement the SDGs and the government policies.

In order to implement and monitor the SDGs including targets and indicators, specific policies and strategies were identified and proposed in Aruba’s first SDG Roadmap “A roadmap for SDG Implementation in Aruba”, which was drafted in the year 2017 following the MAPS (Mainstreaming, Acceleration, Policy, Support) mission of the UN Development Group (UNDG) in Aruba. The National SDG Commission, established in January 2017 coordinates the implementation process and reporting on the SDGs. The SDG targets and indicators are adapted to the local context and needs. The SDG Indicator Working Group (IWG) in collaboration with the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) (1) guides the process of identification of the indicators, (2) create a baseline report and (3) develop a monitoring system. The main objectives of the IWG are (1) to develop a National Statistical System (NSS) and a data dashboard, and (2) to improve the statistical capacity of government employees and NGOs.