The Inter-Agency Task Force on Financing for Development — Outlook for 2017

Since the of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the UN has continued to address global issues such as external debt sustainability and development, promotion of international cooperation to curb and recover illicit financial flows, raising domestic and foreign public and private investment, reaching commitments to official development assistance, critical analysis on proliferation of public-private partnerships for development, domestic resource mobilisation and tax justice, and sectoral financing (education, health, agriculture, etc...).

In addressing the implementation of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda (A/RES/69/313), UN Assistant Secretary-General (ASG) Lenni Montiel has noted that “these challenges are not insurmountable, especially if we address them with a collective resolve and stronger and more coordinated policy efforts to put the world economy on a trajectory of robust inclusivity and sustainable economic growth”.

The Inter-agency Task Force on Financing for Development (IATF), established in late 2015, covers a full range of issues — published in a series of issue briefs. The briefs are analytical input, representing the views of the authoring institutions only. Shari Spiegel, Chief of Financing for Development (FfD) Branch of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat (UN DESA), has described the work of the IATF as “not following up on these clustered areas in depth, but rather working with 50 UN agencies, including some outside agencies like the Financial Stability Board (FSB) and the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), to find out what they are doing already and how to monitor these areas”.

The briefs are analytical input, carried out in preparation for the IATF 2017 report, representing the views of the authoring institutions only. Shari Spiegel, Chief of Financing for Development (FfD) Branch of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat (UN DESA), has described the work of the IATF as “not following up on these clustered areas in depth, but rather working with 50 UN agencies, including some outside agencies like the Financial Stability Board (FSB) and the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), to find out what they are doing already and how to monitor these areas”.

The UN DESA FfD office serves as the IATF coordinator and has a central role, jointly with the institutional stakeholders of the financing for development process. These include the World Bank Group, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Trade Organization (WTO) the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The full list is available on the FfD Office website (http://www.un.org/esa/ffd/special/inter-agency-task-force-members.html).

Paragraph 133 of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda mandates the IATF to:

  • report annually on progress in implementing the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and other financing for development outcomes such as those from the 2002 Monterrey Consensus and the 2008 Doha Declaration;

  • report annually on the means of implementation (MoI) of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (A/RES/70/1), adopted in September 2015, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); and

  • advise the intergovernmental follow-up process on progress, implementation gaps and recommendations for corrective action, while taking into consideration the national and regional contexts.

The inaugural report of the IATF, published in March 2016 (http://www.un.org/esa/ffd/publications/inaugural-2016-iatf-report.html), served as an input to both the 2016 Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Forum on Financing for Development Follow-up (April) and the 2016 High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (July).

The inter-governmentally agreed conclusions and recommendations of the April 2016 ECOSOC Forum on Financing for Development Follow-up further specify the IATF mandate (http://www.un.org/esa/ffd/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/2016-FfD-Forum_outcome-document-20April2016.pdf). The UN ASG Lenni Montiel, noted that “high quality disaggregated data is critical for policy success. Data monitoring and follow-up are the core parts of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and we need to further develop capacity in these areas”.

On 21 November 2016 the IATF briefed Member States and other stakeholders on actions carried out for the 2017 report and other IATF activities, including preparation of an online annex on progress for all commitments and action items, including the MoI for the SDGs.

Use the link below to view the webcast of the 21 November 2016 briefing  (http://webtv.un.org/watch/the-progress-of-the-inter-agency-task-force-on-financing-for-development-iatf-onffd-in-preparing-its-2017-report-and-online-annex/5219553369001).

Information about the IATF can be found on the Financing for Development Office webpage (http://www.un.org/esa/ffd/ffd-follow-up/inter-agency-task-force.html).  

For more information please contact Sarah Dayringer at sarahdayringer@globalpolicy.org.