11 March 2024, Apia Samoa – A three-day technical workshop is underway at the Tanoa Tusitala Hotel Conference Center from the 11th to the 13th of March in preparation for the Fourth International Conference on Small Islands Developing States (SIDS4), scheduled to take place in Antigua and Barbuda from May 27 to 30, 2024, with the overarching theme of ‘Charting the Course Toward Resilient Prosperity.

During the official formalities of this workshop, the Chief Executive Officer of Samoa’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Peseta Noumea Simi, reflected on the challenges and lessons that were presented throughout the implementation of the SAMOA Pathway in the last decade and which the SIDS can build better on, including gaps in the monitoring of the successes and limitations of the SAMOA Pathway.

She emphasised the significance of this workshop as the first step in guaranteeing that a comprehensive Monitoring and Evaluation Framework (M& E Framework) supports the successor plan to the SAMOA Pathway. This framework will measure the progress and success of all development efforts to enhance small island nations’ prosperity.

The United Nations Resident Coordinator Themba Kalua also reiterated the importance of an M&E framework, adding that it cannot be ‘business as usual.’

“While the SAMOA Pathway has undoubtedly driven progress and helped mobilise resources for SIDS in many priority areas, the lack of a timely M& E framework that is well understood and used by SIDS means we have been unable to measure its impact truly.”

Without an M&E framework, the sustainability of the articulated SIDS priorities will always be questioned.

The technical workshop engages over 40 individuals, including key government officials from select SIDS countries, specialising in National Planning and the monitoring and evaluating National Development or Strategic Plans.

The workshop facilitates sharing expertise and insights drawn from monitoring the implementation of international agreements. It also seeks to identify opportunities for capacity development to enhance data collection and utilisation within SIDS. Additionally, discussions will revolve around defining parameters and guiding principles for creating an M&E Framework for the new SIDS programme of action and exploring potential targets and indicators for this framework.

The recommendations from this workshop on developing the M& E framework will be presented for AOSIS endorsement at a follow-up meeting in New York and then delivered to all Member States at the Second Preparatory Committee on the 1st to 5th of April 2024.

The workshop is coordinated jointly by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) and the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS).

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