Â鶹APP

The fifth expert meeting the Working Group on Geospatial Information of the Inter-agency and Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goal Indicators (IAEG-SDGs: WGGI) brought together 24 participants - 14 of whom are members and invited experts on the Working Group. Another ten national, regional and international experts participated as invited observers. Participants of the fifth expert meeting of the Working Group were joined by another 28 national, regional and international experts for the International Seminar on Â鶹APP Global Geospatial Information Management with the theme "Geospatial Information for Sustainable Development". The meeting was hosted by the Global Urban Observatory/Data and Statistics Unit of UN-Habitat in Nairobi, Kenya.

The primary objective of the Working Group is to ensure, from a statistical and geographic location perspective, that the key principle of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, to leave no one behind, is achieved via the global indicator framework, and that everyone can be counted. The combined geospatial and statistical expertise of the Working Group positioned it appropriately to facilitate and support a "data ecosystem" that leveraged an accessible, integrative and interoperable local-to-global information system for measuring and monitoring the Sustainable Development Goals.

The inclusion of knowledge sharing and peer-to-peer learning event with national, regional and international participation within the construct of its face-to-face working meeting was commended and helpful. The engagements and interactions with stakeholders and beneficiaries provided improved knowledge and understanding of circumstances, approaches and experiences that aided the Working Group in its deliberations and work. The Working Group at its fifth expert meeting clarified and prioritized activities including its two task streams addressing the: i) disaggregation by geographic location, and ii) addressing "production-ready" satellite and other observations time series for the global indicator framework. The Working Group adjourned its fifth expert meeting with agreed execution plans to address the work and tasks before the Working Group, an understanding of the need to work to plan, and to engage and provide expert guidance and advice to IAEG-SDGs and the wider statistical community.

The objective of the fifth expert meeting of the Working Group is to provide its members and invited experts the opportunity to review, consider and discuss its activities and progress to-date, vis-¨¤-vis:

• Provide expert advice and guidance to IAEG-SDGs, and the larger statistical community as to how geospatial information, earth observation and other data sources can reliably and consistently contribute to the production of indicators;
• Provide national and regional experiences and good practices including case studies in geospatial data generation to monitor "leaving no one behind";
• Propose strategies for undertaking methodological work on specific areas for improving disaggregation by geographic location with a focus on national and sub-national reporting; and
• Review options and provide guidance to IAEG-SDGs on the role of National Statistical Offices in considering and applying geospatial information and earth observations primarily as a means to contribute to and validate data as part of official statistics.

In conjunction with the fifth expert meeting of the Working Group, Â鶹APP Statistics Division as the Secretariat for UN-GGIM, with the support of the Global Urban Observatory/Data and Statistics Unit of UN-Habitat will organize the International Seminar on Â鶹APP Global Geospatial Information Management with the theme "Geospatial information for sustainable development".

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