The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) in collaboration with the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) through its Global Urban Observatory unit organized the Asia-Pacific Regional Training Workshop on Human Settlement Indicators of the SDGs (SDG 11 and other urban related SDGs) at the United Nations Conference Centre (UNCC) in Bangkok, Thailand from 26 to 29 March 2018. The workshop aimed at strengthening the capacity of National Statistical Officers, Ministry officials, city level decision-makers, urban experts and practitioners on the collection, analysis and reporting on human settlements indicators in the Asia-Pacific region. Ultimately, this will improve the availability of and access to data and statistics for cities and urban areas for supporting the monitoring and evaluation of programs and actions as well as informing the formulation of evidence-based policies in cities in the region. Strengthening regional and national statistical systems to monitor and report on Human Settlement Indicators, with information that is systematically disaggregated at city and sub-city level will help ensure that no one is left behind. The training focused on and contributed to the reinforcement of UN-Habitat and UNESCAP tools (City Prosperity Initiative, National Sample of Cities, Disaster Risk Model), facilitated the sharing of country experiences and progress in monitoring of Human Settlement Indicators and helped in identifying challenges and opportunities in the countries.

The workshop was attended by over 30 participants with National Statistical Offices representatives from Bangladesh, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Maldives, Nepal, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Bhutan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Iran, Mongolia, Pakistan,  partners from Huariou Commission, United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), Kemitran Habitat, Slum Dwellers International (SDI), Environmental and Development division of UNESCAP. The key message from the participants was a need to develop and strengthen the already existing mechanisms and commitments to ensure coordinated systems for monitoring SDG 11 and other urban related SDGs from data collection, analysis and reporting all through to implementation phase, as a joint effort between partners and countries.

The presentations made during the workshop can be accessed using this link:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B87QMWwLVgkKZDZsRUl4UjZUNUk?usp=sharing

The workshop had several cross-over sessions with the Fifth Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development (APFSD): Transformation towards sustainable and resilient societies. APFSD is an inclusive regional intergovernmental forum which also serves as a regional preparatory event for the upcoming High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on sustainable development to be held in New York in July 2018. Among other objectives, the forum reviewed in depth the cluster of SDGs to be discussed at the 2018 HLPF including Goal 11, as well as the interlinkages within the cluster and with other Goals.