Our Work on the Sustainable Development Goals in Cook Islands, Niue, Samoa and Tokelau

In collaboration with the Samoa Government, The UN commenced in 2016 its work to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Samoa, in accordance with the country's development needs. Samoa has been a leader in adopting and promoting the goals. The Government's national planning strategy, The Strategy for Development of Samoa, has been fully aligned to the SDGs, and the Government is making steady progress in localising the SDGs. Samoa was also the first Small Island Developing State and one of the first countries globally to report voluntarily on its development progress through its National Voluntary Report in 2016. Aligning the SDGs with development strategy, including with 14 Sector Plans allows to link the SDG implementation to the existing monitoring and evaluation frameworks, and more importantly to the key development financing and budgets for each sector and SDG. All stakeholders in Samoa, including parliamentarians, youth and civil societies, have been engaged in this process through seminars and school forums. We utilise the outreach opportunities provided by existing programmes and sector plans to deliver on messages and localisation of the SDGs. The localisation and implementation of the SDG are coordinated by the Samoa SDGs Task Force chaired by the Chief Executive Officer of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.