Sri Lanka’s Second Voluntary National Review (VNR)-2022

Sri Lanka’s Second Voluntary National Review (VNR) was presented at the United Nations High-level Political Forum (UN HLPF) convened under the auspices of the UN Economic and Social Commission in New York.

The VNR is part of the formal inter-governmental follow-up and review process on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It represents a country’s progress on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda to its peers and other stakeholders at the global level. Sri Lanka’s Second VNR was conducted with the participation of over 700 stakeholders representing government, private sector, civil society, academia and international development partners and analyses the current status and trends, gaps and challenges, and opportunities for achieving the SDGs in line with Sri Lanka’s commitments to the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development. 

The VNR process was guided by a national level steering committee consisting of representatives from the Sustainable Development Council of Sri Lanka (SDCSL), the Department of National Planning (NPD), Department of Project Management and Monitoring (DPMM), Department of Census and Statistics (DCS), Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), Finance Commission of Sri Lanka, Ministry of Environment and the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) along with the United Nations Resident Coordinator's Office (UNRCO), the World Bank (WB) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) as observers. 

Moreover, inputs from the multi-sectoral consultations on “Volunteers as Key Contributors in Accelerating the 2030 Agenda” conducted by the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) were integrated into the report, further supported by the National Situation Analysis (NSA) on Volunteerism and the Online Survey on Volunteerism conducted during the month of March 2022. 

As confirmed by global assessments on sector and sub-sector level progress, the VNR Report highlights that despite the recent challenges, Sri Lanka has made steady progress in achieving the SDGs. However, the persistent systemic and structural issues that create impediments to progress need to be addressed through effective and innovative solutions to advance the implementation of the SDGs and to ensure an ‘inclusive transformation towards a sustainably developed nation for all’. 

The Report could be used by a myriad of stakeholders whose collective action is required for Sri Lanka to progress towards the achievement of the 2030 Agenda.