Dean Najam Presents Expert Review of SDGs at UN HLPF
Dean Adil Najam of the Boston University Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies was invited by the President of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations to be the assigned expert reviewer providing expert commentary on the first set of national reports on their progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Dean Najam presented his review comments at the Ministerial meeting of the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development, held on July 20, 2016.
Najam was the expert respondent for the national report panel consisting of the Philippines, Estonia and Togo. The Togo report was presented by the Prime Minister, and the other two from Ministerial level representatives. In his expert response Najam highlighted the importance of this HLPF meetings which was the first of its kind and therefore precedent-setting for the HLPF as well as for the SDGs. He also presented a framework of the key elements that the SDGs implementation should focus on, including additionality, means of implementation and the importance of mutual learning.
Adil Najam is the Inaugural Dean of the Pardee School, former Vice Chancellor of the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) in Pakistan, and a leading expert on issues of global environment and development policy.