IMI-SDG6 2020 results and plans for 2021

On 28 January and 24 March, the IMI-SDG6 Steering Committee met to review the 2020 results and plan for the 2021 work. UN-Water Members and Partners participated in the open session of the meeting, to provide input on the work ahead, including possibilities for collaboration.

2020 results

In 2020, IMI-SDG6 launched its second round of global data compilations (the ‘2020 Data Drive’) for seven of the SDG 6 global indicators (6.3.1-6.6.1). As part of the drive, custodian agencies offered various types of capacity building support to country focal points. Due to the COVID-19 crisis, most of the planned face-to-face capacity building activities were cancelled. These activities were replaced by scaled-up online activities such as regional, sub-regional and country workshops, instruction videos, helpdesks and bilateral calls for all the indicators.

To encourage as many countries as possible to report on as many indicators possible, indicator-specific efforts were complemented with joint outreach activities to all focal points. A community of practice was created on the LinkedIn platform, to encourage learning across countries, and country directories of the online focal point database were shared, to facilitate cross-sectoral collaboration within countries. To further support the 2020 Data Drive and to promote integration at the country level, a cohort of 30 countries with low levels of reporting in the past were identified and were offered additional support and encouragement.

Learn more about the 2020 results below and through the Steering Committee presentation (see ‘Presentation’ links to the right).

Plans for 2021

For 2021, the main focus is to analyse the country data and report on global progress on the various SDG 6 targets as well as SDG 6 at large. This includes a short and comprehensive publication targeting the 2021 high-level discussions on SDG 6 led by the President of the General Assembly (March 2021), as well as progress reports on nine of the SDG global indicators (July-August 2021).

Further activities include data updates and the translation of the SDG 6 Data Portal, an assessment of tools and practices for analysing SDG 6 data through a gender lense, as well as a global virtual workshop to take stock of the 2020 data drive and outline future priorities.

Learn more about the 2021 work through the Steering Committee presentation (see ‘Presentation’ links to the right).